THE  UNIVERSITY 


OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 

944 

G34biEb 

Abr: 


OUTLINES 

OF  THE 

HISTORY  OF  FRANCE. 


https://archive.org/details/outlinesofhistorOOguiz_0 


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LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Vtt--'--  - 


FRANCOIS  PIERRE  GUILLAUME  GUIZOT. 


OUTLINES 


OF  THE 

HISTORY  OF  FRANCE 

EEOM  THE  EAELIEST  TIMES  TO  THE  OUTBEEAK  OE 
THE  EE  VOLUTION. 


AN  ABRIDGMENT  OF  M.  GUIZOT'S  POPULAR 
HISTORY  OF  FRANCE. 


WITH  CHRONOLOGICAL  INDEX,  HISTORICAL  AND  CENEALOCICAL  TABLES,  PORTRAITS,  ETC. 


BY 

GUSTAVE  MASSON,  B.A.  Univ.  Gall. 

OFFICIER  D’ACADEMIE,  ASSISTANT  MASTER  AND  LIBRARIAN,  HARROW  SCHOOL, 
AND  MEMBER  OF  THE  “ SOCIETE  DE  L’HISTOIRE  DE  FRANCE.” 


BOSTON: 

ESTES  AND  LAURIAT, 


299  to  305  Washington  Street. 


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TO 


THE  HEY.  H.  M.  BUTLER,  D.D., 

HEAD  MASTER, 

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) 

AND  TO  THE  ASSISTANT  MASTERS  OF  HARROW  SCHOOL, 


THESE 


“ OUTLINES  OF  THE  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE  ** 

|i  i ' ’ | 

ARE  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 


BY  THEIR  FAITHFUL  SERVANT  AND  COLLEAGUE, 


GUSTAVE  MASSON. 


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PREFACE. 


In  preparing*  the  following  abridgment  oi*  M.  Guizot's  History 
of  France,  I have  scrupulously  abstained  from  altering  the 
translation,  except  in  a limited  number  of  cases,  where  con- 
densation was  absolutely  necessary.  One  of  the  distinctive 
features  of  the  original  work  is  the  number  of  characteristic 
extracts  taken  from  the  picturesque  pages  of  contemporary 
chroniclers  and  annalists.  As  it  was  impossible  to  retain  these 
consistently  with  the  nature  of  a mere  resume , I have  given, 
instead,  a tolerably  complete  list  of  all  the  sources  of  French 
history,  so  that  the  reader  may  be  able  to  refer  without  diffi- 
culty to  the  authors  quoted  or  alluded  to  by  M.  Guizot.  This 
seemed  a natural  opportunity  for  mentioning  a few  standard 
works  on  French  legislation,  civil,  political,  and  ecclesiastical, 
on  literature,  etc.  I could  not  do  more  here  than  name  one 
writer  in  each  speciality;  for  further  details  the  student  is 
referred  to  the  “ Catalogue  de  PFIistoire  de  France"  (Biblio- 
theque  Nationale),  10  vols.,  4to.;  M.  Ludovic  Lalanne's 
“ Dictionnaire  Ilistorique  de  la  France"  (published  by  Messrs. 
Hacliette  of  Paris),  1 vol.,  8vo.;  and  M.  Alfred  Franklin's 
“ Sources  de  PHistoire  de  France"  (Paris,  Didot,  8vo.),  three 
storehouses  of  the  most  valuable  information  on  the  historv 
of  France. 

I can  only  trust,  in  conclusion,  that  this  unpretending 
volume,  with  its  pictorial  illustrations,  and  its  necessary 


VI 


PREFACE. 


appendix  of  genealogical,  chronological,  and  historical  tables, 
will  be  favourably  received  by  the  public ; and  I gladly 
acknowledge  that  whatever  merit  it  possesses  must  be  ascribed 
to  the  illustrious  author  and  English  translator  of  “ I/Histoire 
de  France  racontee  a mes  petits-enfants/'* 

GUSTAVE  MASSON. 


H ARROW-  ON-THE-HllX, 

June  loth,  1879. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Preface 

Chronological  Table  ..... 
Chapter  I.  The  Gauls  and  the  Romans  . 


it 

II. 

Christianity  in  Gaul.  The  Barbarians. 
The  Merovingian  Dynasty.  Charle- 
magne   

it 

III. 

The  Carlo vingians.  Feudal  France.  The 
Crusades 

it 

IT. 

The  Kingship,  the  Commoners  and  the 
Third  Estate 

it 

y. 

The  Hundred  Years’  War  . 

a 

YI. 

Louis  XI.  Charles  YIII.  Louis  XII. 
(1461—1515) 

it 

VII. 

The  Renaissance  and  the  Reformation. 
Francis  I.  and  Henry  II.  (1515 — 1559) 

a 

VIII. 

The  Wars  of  Religion.  Francis  II. 
(1559).  Henry  III.  (1589) 

a 

IX. 

Reign  of  Henry  IY.  (1589 — 1593).  Louis 
XIII.,  Richelieu  and  the  Court 

a 

X. 

Richelieu  and  Mazarin  . . . . 

a 

XI. 

Louis  XI V.,  his  foreign  policy,  successes 

AND  REVERSES  . 

it 

XII. 

Louis  XIY.  Home  administration.  Lite- 
rature, TnE  Court  and  Society 

it 

XIII. 

Louis  XY,  the  RegeXcy,  Cardinal  Dubois 
and  Cardinal  de  Fleury  (1715 — 1748) 

it 

XIV. 

Louis  XI.  The  Colonies.  The  Seven 
Years’  War  (1748 — 1774).  Literature 
and  philosophy 

it 

XV. 

Louis  XYI.  (1778—1789)  . . 

Appendix  A. 

Sources  of  the  History  of  France 

u 

B. 

Principal  features  of  the  feudal  system 

tt 

C,  D. 

TABLE  OF  THE  FEUDAL  DISMEMBERMENT  OF 
THE  KINGDOM  OF  FRANCE 

a 

E. 

Table  showing  the  constitution  of  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  * . . . 

Genealogical  Tables  . . 577- 

Index  

TAGS 

V 

ix 

1 


23 

52 

96 

140 

201 

241 

285 

316 

346 

375 

399 

447 


481 

532 

566 

574 

575 

576 
■584 
585 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

M.  Guizot  ......  (frontispiece) 

Gerbert 62 

Sire  de  Joinville 90 

Charles  Y 162 

Bertrand  Du  Guesclin  . . . . . 168 

John  the  Fearless 174 

Jacques  Cieur 196 

Louis  XII 226 

Francis  1 242 

Henry  II 306 

Henry  IY.  . . 320 

Sully 332 

Louis  XIY . . 376 

Pascal . 420 

Bossuet 422 

Peter  Corneille  . . . . . .428 

Louis  XIY.  in  his  old  age 442 

The  Regent  Orleans 448 

Cardinal  Dubois  454 

Louis  XY. 472 

Madame  de  Pompadour  . . . 496 

Buffon 524 

Necker  at  Saint  Ouen 550 

Marie  Antoinette  . . . . . .558 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


b,  d,  fl,  stand  respectively  for  born,  died , and  flourished. 


B.C. 

687  The  Gauls  in  Germany  and  Italy. 

340  The  Gauls  in  Greece. 

283  A Roman  army  destroyed  by  the 
Gauls  at  Aretium. 

279  The  Gauls  near  Delphi. 

241  The  Gauls  attacked  by  Eumenes  and 
Attalus. 

154  Marseilles  calls  in  the  assistance  of 
the  Romans. 

122  Sextius  founds  Aquae  Sextiae  in  Pro- 
vence. 

118  Foundation  of  NTarbo  Martius. 

102  Marius  defeats  the  Teutons  in  two 
battles. 

100  Birth  of  Julius  Caesar. 

68  Caesar  obtains  the  government  of 
Cisalpine  Gaul  for  five  years. 
Attacks  the  Helvetii. 

51  Gaul  made  a Roman  province. 

A.D. 

70  Civilis  surrenders. 

79  Death  of  Sabinus  and  of  his  wife 
Eponina. 

273  The  Emperor  Aurelian  in  Gaul. 

„ Battle  of  Chalons-sur-Marne. 

277  Frobus  goes  on  an  expedition  to 
Gaul,  in  which  country  the  Franks 
settle  about  this  time. 

305  The  Franks  defeated  by  Constantius 
in  Gaul. 

355  The  Franks  take  Cologne,  and  de- 
stroy it;  Julian  named  prefect  of 
Transalpine  Gaul. 

357  Julian  defeats  six  German  kings  at 
Strasburg. 

413  The  kingdom  of  the  Burgundians 
begins  under  Gondicarius. 

420  Pharamond  supposed  to  begin  the 
kingdom  of  the  Franks. 

426  Aetius  defeats  the  Franks  on  the 
borders  of  the  Rhine. 

438  The  Franks  obtain  a permanent 
footing  in  Gaul. 

451  Battle  of  Chalons. 

458  Childeric,  king  of  the  Franks,  de- 
posed by  his  subjects. 

462  The  Ripuarian  Franks  take  Cologne 
from  the  Romans. 


A.D. 

463  Childeric  recalled  by  the  Franks. 

477  Marseilles,  Arles,  and  Aix  occupied 
by  the  Visigoths. 

Merovingian  dynasty. 

481  Death  of  Childeric ; his  son  Clovis  ^ 
succeeds  to  the  throne. 

486  Battle  of  Soissons  gained  by  Clovis 
against  Siagrius,  the  Roman 
general  in  Gaul. 

493  Marriage  of  Clovis  with  Clotilda. 

496  Clovis,  king  of  France,  is  baptized 
after  the  battle  of  Tolbiac. 

501  Gondebaud,  king  of  the  Burgundians, 
publishes  his  code,  entitled  “ La 
Loi  Gombette.” 

507  Battle  of  Vouille,  near  Poictiers ; 
Alaric  is  defeated  and  slam  by 
Clovis. 

509  Clovis  receives  the  titles  of  Patrician 

and  Consul. 

510  Clovis  makes  Paris  the  capital  of  the 

French  dominions. 

511  Clovis  dying,  his  dominions  are 

divided  among  his  children. 

524  Battle  of  Voiron  ; Chlodomir,  king 
of  Orleans,  is  killed  by  Gondemar, 
king  of  Burgundy. 

531  Thierry,  king  of  Metz,  seizes  Thurir  - 

gia  from  Hermanfroi. 

532  The  kingdom  of  Burgundy  ends, 

being  conquered  by  Childebert 
and  Clotaire,  kings  of  Paris  and 
Soissons. 

556  Civil  wars  in  France ; the  dominions 
of  Theodebald,  king  of  Metz,  are 
divided  between  Clotaire,  king  of 
Soissons,  and  Childebert,  king  of 
Paris. 

558  Childebert  dies,  and  is  succeeded  by 
his  son  Clotaire,  who  becomes 
sovereign  of  all  France. 

560  Chramn,  natural  son  of  Clotaire, 
defeated  and  burnt  alive. 

567  Death  of  Charibert,  king  of  Paris ; 
his  territories  are  divided  among 
his  brothers  ; but  the  city  of  Paria 
is  held  by  them  in  common. 


X 


History  of  France . 


A D. 

557  Rivalry  of  tjie  two  queens,  Brune- 
haut  and  Fredegonde. 

612  Theodebert  II.,  king  of  Austrasia, 

defeated  and  confined  in  a monas- 
tery by  his  brother,  Thierry  II., 
king  of  Orleans  and  Burgundy. 

613  Clotaire  king  of  all  France  ; death 

of  Brunehaut,  widow  of  Sigebert, 
king  of  Austrasia. 

628  Clotaire  II.,  king  of  France,  dies, 
and  is  succeeded  by  his  son  Dago- 
bert. 

631  Childeric,  son  and  successor  of 
Chari bert,  poisoned  by  Dagobert, 
who  remains  sole  monarch  of 
France. 

638  Dagobert,  king  of  France,  is  suc- 
ceeded by  his  two  sons,  Sigebert 
II.  in  Austrasia,  and  Clovis  II. 
in  Neustria  and  Burgundy.  The 
Maires  du  Palais  begin  to  usurp 
the  royal  authority. 

678  Death  of  Dagob«rt  II.,  'king  of 
Neustria  ; Martin  and  Pepin 
Iteristal,  Mayors  of  the  palace. 
Thierry  III.  is  suffered  to  enjoy 
the  title  of  king  of  Austrasia. 

691  Clovis  III.  king. 

715  Charles  Martel,  son  of  Pepin  Heris- 
tal,  governs  as  Mayor  of  the 
palace. 

717  Charles  Martel  defeats  king  Chil- 
peric  II.  and  the  Neustrians. 

732  Charles  Martel  defeats  the  Saracens. 

735  Charles  Martel  becomes  master  of 
Aquitaine. 

737  On  the  death  of  of  Thierry  III., 
Charles  Martel  governs  France, 
with  the  title  of  Duke,  for  six 
years. 

741  Charles  Martel  dies,  and  is  succeeded 
by  his  sons,  Carloman  in  Aus- 
trasia and  Thuringia,  and  Pepin 
in  Neustria,  Burgundy  and  Pro- 
vence. 

? 742  Pepin  places  Childeric  III.  on  the 
throne  of  Neustria  and  Burgundy. 
— Charlemagne  b. 

Carlo  ringian  dynasty . 

752  Pepin  deposes  Childeric,  confines 
him  in  a monastery,  and  is  conse- 
crated at  Soissons. 

754  Pepin's  expedition  into  Italy. 

758  Pepin  reduces  the  Saxons  in  Ger- 
many. 

^763  Pepin  dies  at  St.  Denis,  and  is  suc- 
ceeded by  his  sons  Charles  and 
Carloman. 

771  Carloman  dyingin  November, Charle- 


A.D. 

magne  remains  sovereign  of  all 
France. 

^ 772  Charlemagne  begins  the  Saxon  war, 
which  continues  thirty  years. 

773  Charlemagne  defeats  the  troops  of 

Didier,  king  of  the  Lombards,  and 
lays  siege  to  Pavia. 

774  Surrender  of  Pavia,  and  capture  of 

Didier. 

776  The  abbey  church  of  St.  Denis 
near  Paris  founded. 

778  Battle  of  Roucevaux. 

^784  Charlemagne  defeats  Witikind  and 
the  Saxons. 

791  Charlemagne  defeats  the  Avari,  in 
Pannonia 

793  The  Saracens  ravage  Gallia  Nar- 
bonnensis,  where  they  are  at 
length  defeated  by  Charlemagne, 
800  Charlemagne  crowned  king  of  Italy 
and  emperor  of  the  West. 

W80S  Partition  of  the  empire. 

813  Charlemagne  associates  his  son 

Louis,  surnamed  the  Debonnair, 
or  the  Pious,  to  the  Western  Em- 
pire. 

814  Charlemagne  dies  ; succeeded  as  em- 

peror and  king  by  his  son  Louis. 
817  Louis  divides  his  empire  among  his 
children. 

840  Louis  the  Debonnair  dies  ; his  eldest 

son,  Lothaire,  has  Italy,  with  the 
t;tle  of  Emperor  ; Charles  the 
u-  Bald  the  kingdom  of  France  ; and 
Louis,  that  of  Bavar.a  or  Ger- 
1 many. 

841  Battle  of  Fontanet. 

843  New  partition  of  the  French  do- 
minions in  an  assembly  at  Thion- 
ville. 

814  Charles  the  Bald  defeated  in  Aqui- 
taine by  Pepin  II. 

877  Charles  the  Bald  poisoned  His  son, 
Louis  II.,  surnamed  the  Stam- 
merer, succeeds  him. 

879  Louis  the  Stammerer  dies,  and  is 
succeeded  by  his  sons  Louis  III. 
and  Carloman.  Boson  seizes 
Dauphiny  and  Provence,  and 
begins  the  kingdom  of  Arles. 

~ 880  The  Normans  invade  France,  and 
destroy  several  abbeys. 

\/  881  Louis  III.,  king  of  France,  defeats 
the  Normans  at  Saucourt. 

882  Louis  III.  of  France  dies,  leaving  his 
brother  Carloman  sole  sovereign. 
Hincmar  d. 

887  Paris  besieged  by  the  Normans. 

888  On  the  death  of  Charles  his  do- 
minions are  divided  into  five 
kingdoms : Eudes  becomes  king 


Chronological  Table . 


of  Western  France  and  Aqui- 
taine. 

893  Charles  the  Simple  crowned  king  ot 
France. 

898  Charles  the  Simple  is  reoogmzed 
king  of  France. 

i-905  The  Normans  take  the  town  of 
Rouen. 

~906  The  Normans  conquer  Colentm  and 
and  Maine,  and  ravage  Brittany, 
Picardy,  and  Champagne. 

912  Charles  the  Simple  cedes  to  Normans 
a part  of  Neustria,  which  thence- 
forward is  called  Normandy. 

922  Robert  elected  and  anointed  king 

of  France  at  Rheims. 

923  Rodolph , duke  of  Burgundy,  is  elected 

and  crowned  king  of  France. 
Charles  the  Simple  is  confined  in 
the  castle  of  Peronne. 

929  Charles  the  Simple  dies  in  prison. 

936  Louis  IV.  surnamed  d’Outremer, 
son  of  Charles  the  Simple,  anointed 
king  of  France. 

Capetian  Dynasty. 

^ 987  Louis  V.,  king  of  France,  dies.  Hugh 
Capet  is  anointed  at  Rheims. 

994  Charles,  duke  of  Lorraine,  the  only 
survivor  of  the  race  of  Charle- 
magne, dies  in  prison  at  Orleans. 

996  Hugh  Capet  d.  Robert  succeeds  to 
the  crown. 

1031  Henry  I.  king  of  France. 

* 1066  Conquest  of  England  by  William, 
duke  of  Normandy,  in  the  battle 
of  Senlac. 

1095  Council  held  at  Clermont ; preach- 
ing of  the  crusade. 

.M  1096  The  crusades  begin. 

1097  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  and  the  cru- 

saders take  Nice. 

1098  Battle  of  Doryloeum. 

1099  Jerusalem  taken  by  the  crusaders. 

1100  Godfrey  of  Bouillon  d. 

1108  Philip  I.  d. 

1112  Robert  Wace  b. 

1113  War  begins  between  England  and 

France. 

1115  Peter  the  Hermit  d. 

1119  Louis  VI.,  king  of  France,  defeated 
at  Brenneville.  Baldwin,  II.,  king 
of  Jerusalem,  defeats  the  Turks 
at  Antioch. 

y 1124  War  between  France  and  Germany. 

1137  Louis  VII.  king  of  France. 

1143  Vitry  besieged  and  burnt  by 
Louis  VII. 

1147  Second  crusade  preached  by  Bernard 
of  Clair vaux.  Giraud  le  Roux, 
troubadour,  fi. 


1148  The  crusaders  besiege  Damascus 

without  success.  The  emperor 
Conrad  and  king  Louis  VII • arrive 
at  Jerusalem. 

1149  Louis  VII.  returns  to  France. 

1150  Villehardouin  b.  Arnauld  Daniel, 

trouoadour  fi.  Tli e coursd  amour. 
1152  Suger  d. 

1179  Louis  VII.,  king  of  France,  arrives 

in  England,  on  a pilgrimage  to 
the  shrine  of  Becket. 

1180  Philip  Augustus  king  of  France. 

Robert  Wace  d. 

1187  Jerusalem  taken  by  Saladin  (2nd  of 

October). 

1188  A third  crusade  undertaken  for  the 

recovery  of  Jerusalem.  The  tax 
called  Saladin’s  tithe  imposed  in 
most  countries  of  Christendom. 

1190  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  king  of 

England,  and  Philip  Augustus  go 
to  the  holy  wars.  The  walls  and-V 
gates  of  Paris  are  built. 

1191  St.  Jean  d’Acre  taken  by  the  crusa- 

ders. Philip  Augustus  returns  to 
France.— Chrestien  de  Troyes  d. 
1196  Philip  Augustus  marries  Agnes  of 
Merania. 

1201  A war  begins  between  John,  king 
of  England,  and  Philip  Augustus 
of  France.  Thibaut  de  Cham- 
pagne b.  Agnes  of  Merania  d. 
1203  John,  king  of  England,  accused  of 
the  murder  of  his  nephew  Arthur, 
is  cited  to  appear  before  an 
assembly  of  the  peers  of  France  ; 
his  estates  in  that  country  are 
confiscated.  The  French  and 
Venetian  crusaders  take  Constan- 
tinople on  the  10th  of  July. 

1210  Crusade  against  the  Albigenses. 

Chronicle  of  the  crusade  composed 
in  the  Langue  d’oc. 

1213  Villehardouin,  d.  Jaufre  and  Bru- 

nissende,  a Prover^al  romance, 
compoed  about  that  time. 

1214  Philip  Augustus  defeats  the  emperor 

Otho,  near  Bouvines. 

1215  Louis  IX.,  king  of  France,  b. 

1216  Philip  Augustus  invades  England, 

and  is  received  by  the  barons  ; 
but  on  the  death  of  John,  Henry 
III.  is  crowned  king. 

1218  Simon  de  Montfort  d. 

1222  Joinville  b. 

1223  Louis  VIII.  king  of  France. 

1226  Louis  IX.  king  of  France.  Regency 
of  Blanche  of  Castile. 

1234  Louis  IX.  marries  Marguerite  of 
Provence. 

1242  Battle  of  Taillebourg. 


Xll 


History  of  France . 


A.D. 

1248  Louis  IX.  sets  out  for  the  crusade. 

1249  Damietta,  in  Egypt,  taken  by  Louis 

on  the  5th  of  June. 

1250  Battle  of  Mansourah.  Louis  de- 

feated aud  taken  prisoner  in 
Egypt.  Marcabrus,  troubadour,  fl . 
1252  Blanche  of  Castile  d. 

1254  St  Louis  leaves  Palestine. 

1258  Stephen  Boileau  provost  of  Paris. 

^ 1264  Henry,  king  of  England,  taken 
prisoner  by  the  barons  at  the 
battle  of  Lewes.  St.  Louis  arbi- 
trates between  them. 

1270  Louis  dies  at  Tunis,  his  son  Philip 
the  Bold  succeeds  him. 

1278  Peter  de  la  Brosse  hanged  at 
Paris. 

1282  The  Sicilians,  excited  by  Peter  III., 
king  of  Arragon,  massacre  all 
the  French  they  can  find  in  their 
Island. 

1285  Philip  IV.  king  of  France. 

1296  Bull  “ Clericis  Laicos.” 
vd297  Flanders  invaded  by  the  French. 

1301  Bevolt  at  Bruges.  Bull  “Ausculta 

fili.” 

1302  Battle  of  Courtrai.  States- General 

convoked. 

1303  Pope  Boniface  VIII.  arrested.  He 

dies. 

1304  Battle  of  Mons-en-Puelle.  Pope 

Benedict  XI.  d. 

1308  The  States-General  assembled  at 
Tours  approve  the  measures 
directed  against  the  Templars. 
1314  Molay,  grand  master  of  the  order  of 
Templars,  and  a great  number  of 
knights  companions,  burned  alive 
at  Paris,  on  the  11th  of  March. 
Death  of  Pope  Clement  V-,  and  of 
Philip  the  Handsome.  States- 
General  ( August). 

yl315  Louis  X.  emancipates  the  serfs  on 
the  royal  dominions.  Enguerrand 
de  Marigny  d. 

L319  Joinville  d. 

Branch  of  the  Valois. 

1328  Philip  VI.,  king  of  France,  gains  the 
battle  of  Cassel. 

* L336  Edward  III.  of  England  supports 

the  cause  of  the  Flemings  against 
Philip  VI.  of  France. 

1337  Froissart  b 

^ 1340  Edward  III  defeats  the  French  in  a 
naval  engagement  near  Sluys : 
truce  of  four  years. 

1341  Beginning  of  the  war  for  the 
succession  of  Brittany,  between 
Charles  of  Blois  and  John  of 


AD. 

Montfort.  Petrarch  crowned  at  the 
Capitol. 

.y-1344  Edward  III.  renews  the  war  with 
France. 

1346  Battle  of  Cressy. 

1347  Calais  surrenders  to  Edward  III., 

after  a siege  of  eleven  months  and 
a few  days.  William  of  Ock- 
ham d. 

1348  The  black  plague.  The  Jews  per- 

secuted. 

1349  Cession  of  Vienness  and  of  Mont- 

pellier to  France. 

1350  Philip  VI.  d 

vl356  John  II.,  king  of  France,  taken 
prisoner  in  the  battle  of  Poictiers, 
September  19th,  and  sent  to 
England. 

VT358  Treaty  of  Calais,  between  Edward 
III.  of  England  and  the  French. 
Stephen  Marcel.  ^The  Jacque- 
rie^ 

1360  King  John,  set  at  liberty,  returns  to 
France.  Treaty  of  Bretigny. 
Buridan  d. 

1364  Battle  of  Cocherel  (6th  of  May), 
and  of  Auray  (29th  of  Sept.) 
John  II.  dies  in  England,  his  son 
Charles  V.  succeeds  him,  and  is 
crowned  at  Rheims.  A Univer- 
sity founded  at  Angers. 

1367  Battle  of  Navarette. — De  Guesclin 
made  a prisoner. 

1376  Edward,  prince  of  Wales,  surnamed 
the  Black  Prince,  d ■ (June  8th). 
*'T377  Edward  III.,  king  of  England,  d. 

Brittany  invaded  by  Oliver  de 
Clisson. 

1380  Du  Guesclin  d.  Charles  V.  d. 

1382  Battle  of  Rosebecque.  The  Mal~ 
leteers.  Nicolas  Oiesme  d. 

1392  Murder  of  Oliver  de  Clisson. 

1400  Chaucer  d. 

1407  The  duke  of  Orleans  murdered. 

1408  Valentine  of  Milan  d.  The  king  of 

France  excommunicated  by  the 
Pope. 

•^1410  Beginning  of  the  civil  war  in 
France. 

V1415  Battle  of  Agincourt  (October  23). 

1418  Massacre  of  the  Armagnac  faction 

in  Paris. 

1419  The  Duke  of  Burgundy  murdered  at 

Moutereau. 

1420  Treaty  of  Troyes  signed  on  the  21st 

of  May.  A Parliament  estab- 
lished at  Toulouse  (March  20). 

1421  Battle  of  Beauge  on  the  3rd  of 

Apiil,  in  which  the  duke  of 
Clarence  is  killed. 

1422  Henry  V-,  king  of  England,  d.  at 


Chronological  Table. 


xiii 


A.D. 

Vincennes  in  France.  Charles  VI., 
king  of  France,  d. 

1423  Battle  of  Crevant  (June). 

1428  The  duke  of  Bedford  defeats  the 
French  at  Verneuil  (August  16). 
1428  The  siege  of  Orleans  begins  on  the 
12th  of  October. 

y:  1429  Battle  of  Herrings  (12th  February). 

Joan  of  Arc  obliges  the  English 
to  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans. 

' 1431  Trial  and  death  of  Joan  of  Arc. 
V^1435  Treaty  of  Arras. 

1436  Paris  recovered  by  the  French,  on 

the  13th  of  April. 

1437  Siege  of  Montereau.  Charles  VII. 

makes  his  solemn  entry  in  Paris. 
1440  The  “ Praguery  ” 

1444  Truce  between  England  and  France 
signed  at  Tours. 

w!449  War  renewed  between  England  and 
France. 

1450  Battle  of  Formigny  gained  over  the 

Engdsh.  Agnes  Sorel  d. 

1451  The  English  evacuate  Rouen  and 

several  places  in  France.  Cam- 
paign  in  Guyenne. 

1453  Talbot  d. 

1456  Jacques  Cceur  d. 

1461  Louis  XI.  king  of  France. 

1464  The  league  against  Louis  XI.  of 

France,  called  “ La  Guerre  du 
Bien  Public.” 

1465  Treaties  of  Con  flans  and  of  Saint- 

Maur. 

1467  Philip  the  Good,  duke  of  Burgundy,  d. 

1468  Louis  XL  at  Peronne.  Revolt  of  the 

Liegese. 

1476  Charles,  duke  of  Burgundy,  defeated 

at  Granson  (20th  of  June). 

1477  The  duke  of  Burgundy  slain  at 

Nancy. 

1479  Battle  of  Guinegate. 

1483  Louis  XI.  d.  Rabelais  b.  Luther  6. 

Charles  VIII.  king  of  France. 

1484  The  States-Gem  ral  convoked  at 

Tours. 

1488  Battle  of  St.  Aubin  : the  duke  of 
Brittany  is  defeated  and  the  duke 
of  Orleans  taken  prisoner  (28th  of 
June). 

v- 1492  Brittany  united  to  the  French  crown. 
r 1494  Charles  VIII.,  king  of  France,  goes  on 
an  expedition  into  Italy. 

1495  Battle  of  Fornovo  between  Charles 
VIII.  and  the  Venetians  (6th  July). 
Clement  Marot  b. 

Branch  of  Orleans. 

1498  Death  of  Charles  VIII.,  king  of 

France  (April  7th). 

1499  Louis  XII.,  king  of  France,  takes 


A-D. 

possession  of  Milaness,  and  enters 
Milan  on  the  6th  of  October. 

1500  Insurrection  at  Milan. 

1501  Louis  XII.  of  France  and  Fer- 

dinand V.  of  Spain  seize  on  the 
kingdom  of  Naples. 

1503  The  power  of  the  French  in  Naples" 

ends  with  the  loss  of  the  battles  of 
Cerignola,  Seminara,  and  Gari-  y 
gliano.  Pope  Alexander  VI.  d. 
Michel  de  T Hospital  b. 

1504  Truce  between  France  and  Spain. 

1508  The  pope  and  the  emperor  join  the 

king  of  France  in  the  treaty  of 
Cambray,  against  the  Venetians. 

1509  Battle  of  Agnadello,  (14th  of  May). 

Calvin  b.  Btienne  Dolet  b.  Mar- 
tial d’ Auvergne  d 

1510  Cardinal  d’Amboise  d. 

1512  Battle  of  Ravenna.  Gaston  de  Foix  d. 

1513  The  French  defeated  by  the  Swiss 

in  the  battle  of  Novarra.  Jacques 
Amyot  b.  Pope  Julius  II.  d. 

1514  Anne  of  Brittany  d. 

Branch  of  Angouleme. 

1515  Battle  of  Melegnano  between  the 

French  and  Swiss.  Louis  XII.  d. 
Ramus  b. 

1516  Treaty  of  Noyons  signed  on  the  16th 

of  August. 

1520  Interview  between  Henry  VIII.  of 

England  and  Francis  I.  of  France 
(4th  of  June).  Pierre  Viret  b. 

1521  League  between  the  emperor  Charles  ^ 

V.  of  Spain  and  Henry  VIII.  of 
England,  against  the  king  of 
France. 

1523  League  against  Francis  I.  of  France, 
by  Pope  Clement  VIT.,  the  em- 
peror, and  the  Venetians  Ba- 
yard d.  The  memoirs  of  Commines 
published. 

1525  Fiancis  I.  taken  prisoner  in  the 

battle  of  Pavia  (24th  of  February), 
and  sent  to  Madrid. 

1526  Treaty  of  Madrid  (14th  of  Januaiy  '. 

Francis  is  restored  to  liberty.  The 
Holy  League. 

1527  Henri  Estienne  b.  Brantome  b. 

1529  Peace  of  Cambray,  between  Charles 

V.  and  Francis  I.  Louis  de  Ber- 
quin  put  to  death.  Ltienne  Pas- 
quier  b. 

1536  League  between  Francis  I.  of  France, 
and  Solyman  II.,  sultan  of  the 
Turks,  against  the  emperor  Charles 
V.  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye  b. 

1513  Treaty  of  alliance  between  Sultan 
Solyman  and  Francis  I.  of  France 
against  the  emperor  Charles  V. 


XIV 


History  of  France . 


A.T>. 

1544  Battle  of  Cerisoles.  Treaty  of  Crespy 
(18th  of  September).  Bonaven- 
ture  des  Periers  d.  Clement 
Marot  d.  Du  Bartas  b. 

1515  Massacre  of  the  Yaudois.  Robert 
Garnier  b. 

1547  Henry  II.  king  of  France. 

^1548  Rebellion  in  the  South  of  France. 

La  Boetie  writes  his  Contre  un. 
First  edition  of  the  Salic  law. 

1556  Charles  Y.  resigns  the  crown  of 

Spain  and  all  his  other  dominions 
and  retires  to  the  monastery  of 
St.  Just.  Malherbe  b. 

1557  Battle  of  St.  Quentin  (10th  of 

August). 

y 1558  The  French  recover  Calais  from  the 
English.  Mellin  de  St.  Gelais  d. 

1559  Henry  II.  d.  Peace  of  Cateau- 

Cambresis.  fidict  of  ficouen.  Am- 
yot  translates  Plutarch.  Anne 
Dubourg  put  to  death 

1560  Conspiracy  of  Amboise.  Francis 

II.  d.  Charles  IX.,  king.  Joa- 
chim du  Bellay  d. 

1562  Massacre  of  Yassy.  Battle  of  Dreux 

(19th  December). 

1563  The  duke  of  Guise  is  assassinated  by 

Poltrot  (24th  February).  Peace 
of  Amboise. 

1567  The  religious  wars  recommence  in 
France  ; battle  of  St  Denis,  be- 
tween the  prince  of  Conde  and  the 
constable  Montmorency,  in  which 
the  latter  is  mortally  wounded. 

'S  1569  The  Huguenots  defeated  in  the 
battles  of  Jarnac,  on  the  13th 
May,  and  of  Moncontour,  on  the 
3rd  October 

'^1572  Massacre  of  the  Huguenots  at  Paris, 
on  Sunday,  the  24th  August. 
Ramus  d.  Jean  Goujon  d 
1574  Charles  IX.  d.  Hotman  publishes 
his  Franco- Gallia. 

1576  Edict  of  pacification  in  France. 

1584  The  Cardinal  de  Bourbon  proposed 
as  eventual  king  of  France.  La 
Croix  du  Maine  publishes  his 
Bibliotheque  Fran^aise. 

1587  Battle  of  Coutras  (10th  of  October) 

the  Duke  de  Joyeuse  is  defeated 
by  Henry,  king  of  Navarre.  An 
Arabic  lectureship  is  created  at 
the  college  royal. 

1588  The  duke  of  Guise  and  his  brother 

the  cardinal  murdered  at  Blois. 

Dynasty  of  the  Bourbons. 

1589  Henry  III.  of  France  murdered 

(22nd  of  July).  Henry  IY.  of 


A.D. 

Navarre  succeeds  to  the  vacant 
throne.  Battle  of  Arques.  Ron- 
sard,  Hotman  d . 

1590  Battle  of  Ivry  (4th  of  March). 
Germain  Pilon,  Jean  Cousin,  Du 
Bartas,  Cujas,  Ambrose  Pare, 
Palissy  d.  Theophile  de  Yiaud  b. 
^1591  The  Pope  excommunicates  Henry 
IY.  : the  parliament  of  Paris 
oppose  the  sentence.  Guy  Co- 
quille’s  Libei  tes del’ eglisede France 
published.  La  Noue  d. 

Pi  593  Henry  IY.  abjures  the  Protestant 
religion,  on  Sunday,  the  25th  of 
of  July,  at  St.  Denis.  The  Satire 
Menippee  published.  Amyot  d. 

1594  Henry  IY.  anointed  at  Chartres  : 

attempt  on  his  life  (17th  Decem- 
ber). Pierre  Pithoujt.  Balzac,  St. 
Amand  b. 

1595  Battle  of  Fontaine-Franijaise.  Des- 

marets  de  St.  Sorlin  b. 

1598  Edict  of  Nantes  (April).  Peace  of 
Yervins  signed  on  the  22nd  of  the 
same  month.  Yoiture  b. 

1602  Marshal  Biron’s  conspiracy  detected 
and  punished. 

1610  Henry  IY.  assassinated  by  Ravaillac 
(4th  of  May).  Louis  Xllt.  king 
of  France.  Scarron,  La  Calpre- 
n&de  b, 

1617  Murder  of  Concini. 

*1621  The  civil  war  renewed  with  the 
Huguenots  in  France,  and  con- 
tinues nine  years.  The  Benedic- 
tines of  the  congregation  of  St. 
Maur  receive  their  statutes.  , La 
Fontaine  b. 

1628  Rochelle  besieged  and  taken  by 
Louis  XIII.  (18th  of  October). 
vd-629  Peace  restored  between  France  and 
England.*  Malherbe  d.  Corneille 
brings  out  M elite,  his  first  play. 

1630  Treaty  of  Cherasco.  “ Journee  des 
Dupes.”  Hardy,  Agrippa  d’Au- 
bigne  d. 

1632  Battles  of  Lutzen  and  of  Castel- 
naudary.  Flechier,  Bourdaloue  b. 

1636  Treaty  between  Louis  XIII.  of 
France,  and  Christina,  queen  of 
Sweden  (10th  of  March).  Port 
Royal  des  Champs  founded.  Le 
Cid  brought  out.  Boileau  b. 

1612  Conspiracy  of  Cinq-Mars.  Riche- 
lieu d. 

1 643  Louis  XIII.  d (4th  of  May).  The 
duke  d’Enghien,  afterwards  prince 
of  Conde,  defeats  the  Spaniards  at 
Rocroy  (9th  of  \ ay).  St.  Cyran  d. 

1648  The  prince  of  Conde  defeats  the 
archduke  at  Sens  (10th  of  August). 


Chronological  Table. 


xv 


A.D. 

Treaty  of  Munster  (14th  ofOctober) 
between  France,  Sweden  and  the 
empire.  The  civil  war  of  the 
^ Fronde  breaks  out  in  Paris.  Mer- 
fcsnne,  Voiture  d.  La  Sueur 
finishes  his  series  of  paintings 
illustrating  the  history  of  St. 
Bruno. 

1659  Peace  restored  between  France  and 
Spain,  by  the  treaty  called  the 
“Peace  of  the  Pyrenees.”  Louis 
XIV.  marries  the  Infanta  of  Spain. 
Moliere  and  the  Precieiises  ridi- 
cules. 

1661  Cardinal  Mazarin  d.  Bossuet’s  first 
sermon  before  Louis*  XIV. 

1667  War  renewed  between  France  and 

Spain.  Moliere  and  Tartuffe. 
Baeine  and  Andromaque. 

1668  A triple  alliance  between  Great 

Britain,  Sweden,  and  the  States- 
General,  against  France  (23rd  of 
January).  Peace  of  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  between  France  and  Spain 
(22nd  of  April).  Baeine  and  Les 
Plaideurs,  Moliere  and  L'Avare.  Le 
Sage  b. 

1672  War  declared  by  Fnglandand  France, 

against  the  Dutch.  A treaty  be- 
tween the  empire  and  Holland, 
against  France  (15th  of  July). 
Boileau  and  Le  Lutrin.  Moliere 
and  Les  Femmes  savantes. 

1673  The  English  and  French  defeat  the 

Dutch  (28th  of  May)  at  Schon- 
yelt ; again  (4th  of  June),  and 
(11th  of  August),  in  the  mouth  of 
the  Texel.  Louis  XIV.  declares 
war  against  Spain  (9th  ofOctober). 
Baeine  and  Mithridate. 

1674  Battle  of  Seneffe,  in  Flanders,  be- 

tween the  prince  of  Orange  and 
the  prince  of  Conde  (1st  of  August). 
First  settlement  of  the  French  at 
Pondicherry.  Marshal  Turenne 
defeats  the  Imperialists  Chape- 
lain  d.  Baeine  and  Iphigenie. 
Malebranclie  and  the  Recherche 
de  la  Verite. 

1675  Conference  for  a peace  held  at 

Nimeguen.  Madame  de  la  Valliere 
takes  the  veil. 

1678  Peace  of  Nimeguen  '31st  of  July). 
La  Fontaine  publishes  his  second 
series  of  fables.  Ducange's  Latin 
Glossary 

1681  The  city  of  Strasburg  submits  to 
Louis  XIV.  Mabillon  publishes 
his  De  re  diplomatics. 

1684  Luxemburg  taken  by  Louis  XIV. 
A truce  between  France  and 


a.d. 

Spain  concluded  at  Batisbon  (31st 
of  July)  and  between  France  and 
the  empire  (5th  of  August).  P. 
Corneille  d. 

1685  Louis  XIV.  revokes  the  edict  of 

N antes. 

1686  Treaty  of  alliance  between  Germany, 

Great  Britain,  and  Holland  against 
France.  Conde  d. 

1689  The  French  fleet  defeated  by  the 

English  and  Dutch  in  Bantry  Bay 
(1st  of  May).  Baeine  and  dJsther. 

1690  Battle  of  Fleurus  ; Luxemburg  de- 

feats the  allies  (21st  of  June). 

The  allied  English  and  Dutch  fleets 
defeated  by  the  French  off  Beachy 
Head  (30th  of  June). 

1691  A congress  at  the  Hague,  in  Jan. 

Mons  taken  by  the  French  (30th 
of  March).  Louvois  d.  Baeine 
and  Athalie. 

1692  Battle  of  La  Hogue:  the  English  v* 

defeat  the  French  fleet  (19th  of 
May).  Namur,  in  Flanders,  be- 
sieged and  taken  by  Louis  XIV. 
(25th  of  May).  Luxemburg  de- 
* feats  the  allies  at  Steinkirk  (24th 
of  July). 

1693  The  English  and  Dutch  fleets  de- 

feated by  the  French  off  Cape  St.  v 
Vincent  (16th  of  June).  The  duke 
of  Savoy  defeated  by  Marshal 
Catinat,  at  Marsaglia  (24th  of 
September).  Pelisson,  Bussy- 
Babutin,  Mdme.  de  La  Fayette, 
Mdlle  de  Montpe osier  d. 

1697  Peace  of  Byswick  (llth  of  Septem- 

ber) between  Great  Britain  and  #■ 
France — France  and  Holland — 
France  and  Spain ; and  on  the 
20th  of  October,  between  France 
and  the  empire.  Sauteuil  d.  The 
Abbe  Prevost  b. 

1698  The  first  treaty  of  partition  between 

Great  Britain,  France  and  Hol- 
land signed  (19th  of  August)  for 
the  dismemberment  of  Spain,  to 
Charles  II.,  king  of  that  country, 
makes  his  will  in  favour  of  a prince 
of  the  house  of  Bourbon.  Le 
Nain  de  Tillemont  d. 

1700  Charles  II.,  king  of  Spain,  d.  (21st 
ofOctober).  The  duke  of  Anjou, 
grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  succeeds 
by  the  name  of  Philip  V. 

1702  Battle  of  Luzzara,  in  Italy  (Ittr  of 
August);  the  Imperialists  de- 
feated by  the  French  ; the  French 
fleet  destroyed  in  the  port,  of  Vigo,  -V 
by  the  British  and  Dutch  (12th  of 
October).  Jean  Bart  d. 


XVI 


History  of  France . 


A.D. 

1704  Battle  of  Hochstedt  or  Blenheim 
(2nd  of  August).  Bossuet,  Bour- 
daloue  d. 

1706  Battle  of  Ramilies  (12th  of  May) 
the  French  are  defeated  by  the 
duke  of  Marlborough. 

^1708  Battle  of  Audenarde  (30th  of  June), 
the  French  defeated  by  the  duke 
of  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eu- 
gene. Regnard  and  Le  Legataire 
unirersel,  Le  Sage  and  Turcaret. 

1709  Battle  of  Malplaquet  (31st  of  Aug.), 

the  Fiench  defeated  by  the  allies. 
Mons  taken  by  the  allies  (21st  of 
October).  Port  Royal  des  Champs 
destroyed . 

1710  Battle  of  Villa  Viciosa  (29th  of  No- 

vember), the  Imperialists,  under 
Count  Stahremburg,  are  defeated 
by  Philip  V 

1712  Negotiations  for  a general  *peace 
opened  at  Utrecht.  Jean  Jacques 
Rousseau  b. 

X 1713  Peace  of  Utrecht,  concluded  by 
France  and  Spain,  with  England, 
Savoy,  Portugal,  Prussia,  and 
Holland,  signed  on  the  30th  of 
March  O.S.  Fenelon  publishes 
his  Traite  de  V existence  de  Dieu. 

1714  The  bull  “ Unigenitus”  received  in 

France. 

1715  Louis  XIV.  d.  (21st  of  August),  sue 

ceeded  by  his  great  - grandson, 
Louis  XV.  under  the  regency  of 
the  duke  of  Orleans.  Malebranche, 
Fenelon  d.  Le  Sage’s  Gil  Bias. 

1717  Triple  alliance  between  Great  Bri- 

tain, France,  and  Holland,  signed 
at  the  Hague  (24th  of  December) . 
The  memoirs  of  Cardinal  de  Retz 
published.  Massillon’s  Petit  Ca- 
reme  preached. 

1718  Quadruple  alliance  between  Ger- 

many, Great  Britain,  France,  and 
Holland,  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  treaties  of  Utrecht  and 
Baden.  Conspiracy  of  Cellamare. 
Great  Britain  declares  war  against 
Spain  (11th  of  December  ) Vol- 
taire and  (Edipe,  his  first  tragedy. 

1719  The  Mississippi  scheme  at  its  height 

in  France.  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon  d. 

1720  The  French  Mississippi  company  dis- 

solved. The  plague  breaks  out  at 
Marteilles,  and  causes  great  dis- 
tress. 

1723  Duke  of  Orleans  d.  Voltaire  pub- 
lishes his  Poeuie  de  la  Ligne  (La 
Henriade) . 

1725  Treat  * of  Hanover,  between  Great 


A.D. 

Britain,  France,  and  Russia, 
against  Germany  and  Spain  (3rd 
September). 

1733  Stanislaus  proclaimed  king  of  Po- 
land (5th  of  0 tober'. 

1731  The . Imperialists  defeated  by  the 
French  and  Piedmontese  at  Parma 
(18th  of  June),  and  in  the  battle 
of  Guastalla,  by  the  king  of  Sar- 
dinia, and  the  Marshals  Coigny 
and  Broglie  (8th  of  September). 
Montesquieu’s  Grandeur  et  De- 
cadence des  Romains. 

1735  Ti  eaty  of  Vienna  (3rd  of  October). 
Voltaire  publishes  his  Lettres  phrto- 
sophiques. 

1740  The  Emperor  Charles  VI  d.  (9th  of 

October).  Voltaire  publishes  bis 
Essai  sur  les  mceurs. 

1741  The  archduchess  Maria  Theresa 

crowned  queen  of  Hungary,  at 
Presburg  (25th  of  June). 

1743  Battle  of  Dettingen  (L6th  of  June). 
Cardinal  de  Fleury  d.  Voltaire 
and  Merope. 

^745  Battle  of  Fontenoy,  the  French  de- 
feat the  allies,  commanded  by  the 
duke  of  Cumberland. 

1746  (April  16th)  Battle  of  Culloden. 

,,  (September  30th)  Count  Saxe  de- 
feats the  allies  at  Raucoux.  Van- 
venargues  and  the  Introduction  a, 
la connaissance  de  V esprit  humain. 

jd.748  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  between 
Great  Britain,  France,  Spain, 
Austria,  Sardinia,  and  Holland 
(7th  of  October).  Montesquieu’s 
Esprit  des  lois. 

p 1754  (April  17)  the  French  attack  an  Eng- 
lish fort  on  Monongahela,  and 
Logstown  on  the  Ohio.  General 
Braddock  defeated  and  killed  by 
the  French  (.July  9),  near  Fort  Du 
Quesne,  on  the  Ohio. 

\/1756  May  29,  Admiral  Byng  defeated  by 
the  French.  The  duke  of  Riche- 
lieu takes  Port  Mahon  (June  28). 

1757  Damien  attempts  to  assassinate 
Louis  XV.  The  French  garrison 
of  Chandernugger  surrenders  to 
the  British  (March  23).  Battle 
of  Hastenbeck,  the  French  defeat 
the  duke  of  Cumberland  (July  26). 
The  marquis  of  Montcalm  besieges 
Fort  George  (August  3),  the  Eng- 
lish surrender  on  the  9th.  Con- 
vention of  Cfe'ter-Seven,  between 
Marshal  Richelieu  and  the  duke 
of  Cumberland  (September  8). 
Battle  of  Rosbach  (November  5). 

175S  March  14th.  The  French  garrison  in 


Chronological  Table . 


xvii 


A.D. 

Minden  capitulates  The  French 
defeated  at  Crevelt  (June  23). 
Helvetius  publishes  Be  V Esprit. 
Quesnay’s  Tableau  economique. 

1759  (September30.)  The  British  defeated 

by  the  French  in  the  East  Indies, 
near  Arcot.  Rousseau’s  Nouvelle 
Helo'ise. 

1760  (April28th  ) The  English  defeated  by 

the  French  near  Quebec.  Mdme. 
de  Souza  b. 

1761  (August  15th.)  The  family  compact 

concluded  between  Louis  XV.  of 
France  and  Charles  III.  of  Spain. 
Voltaire’s  L’Ingenu. 

1762  (August  6.)  The  Jesuits  suppressed 

in  France.  Treaty  of  peace  signed 
at  Fontainebleau,  between  France, 
Spain  and  Great  Britain.  Rous- 
seau’s Emile. 

1763  (February  10.)  Peace  of  Paris,  be- 
y 1 tween  Great  Britain,  France  and 

Spain,  acceded  to  by  Portugal, 
l’abbe  Prevost  d. 

17 67  (May  15.)  Corsica  ceded  to  France, 
by  the  Genoese.  Benjamin  Con- 
stant, Fievee,  b. 


\.D. 

1769  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  Cuvier,  Cha- 
teaubriand, b. 

1774  (May  10)  Louis  XV.  of  France  d. 

Succeeded  by  Louis  XVI. 

1778  (February  6.)  Treaty  of  alliance  and 

defence  between  France  and  the  p* 
Americans.  Pondichery  taken  by 
the  British.  ^Rousseau,  Voltaire, 
d.  Buffon’s  Epoques  de  lo  nature. 

1782  (April  12th  ) Sir  George  Rodney  de- 

feats the  French  fleet  under  Count 
de  Grasse,  off  Dominica  Another 
engagement  near  Trincomalee,  on 
the  same  day  ; and  a third  in  Sep- 
tember. 

1783  (January  20.)  Preliminaries  of  peace 

between  Great  Britain,  Fiance  and  ^ 
Spain,  by  which  the  independence 
of  Amer  ica  is  confirmed. 

1788  (November  6.)  The  French  notables, 

convoked  by  Louis  XVI.,  as-semble 
at  Paris  Buffon  d.  Bernardin 
de  St.  Pierre’s  Paul  et  Virginie 

1789  (May  4.)  The  States  General  of 

France  assemble.  The  Bastille 
at  Paris  destroyed  (July  14). 
Chenier  s Charles  IX* performed. 


* 


* 

9 


■ 


. 


' 


■ 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  GAULS  AND  THE  ROMANS. 

Three  or  four  centuries  before  tbe  Christian  era,  on  that  vast  Gaul : its 
territory  comprised  between  tbe  ocean,  the  Pyrenees,  the  Mediter-  tants> " 
ranean,  the  Alps,  and  the  Rhine,  lived  six  or  seven  millions  of 
men  a bestial  life,  enclosed  in  dwellings  dark  and  low,  the  best  of 
them  built  cf  wood  and  clay,  covered  with  branches  or  straw,  made 
in  a single  round  piece,  open  to  daylight  by  the  door  alone,  and 
confusedly  heaped  together  behind  a rampart,  not  inartistically 
composed,  of  timber,  earth,  and  stone,  which  surrounded  and  pro- 
tected what  they  were  pleased  to  call  a town.  ' 

Of  even  such  towns  there  were  scarcely  any  as  yet,  save  in  the 
most  populous  and  least  uncultivated  portion  of  Gaul ; that  is  to 
say,  in  the  southern  and  eastern  regions,  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains of  Auvergne  and  the  Cevennes,  and  along  the  coasts  of  the 
Mediterranean.  In  the  north  and  the  west  were  paltry  hamlets, 
as  transferable  almost  as  the  people  themselves  ; and  on  some  islet 
amidst  the  morasses,  or  in  some  hidden  recess  of  the  forest,  were 
huge  entrenchments  formed  of  the  trees  that  were  felled,  where  the 
population,  at  the  first  sound  of  the  war-cry,  ran  to  shelter  them- 
selves, with  their  flocks  and  all  their  movables.  Gaul  was  not 
occupied  by  one  and  the  same  nation,  with  the  same  traditions  and 
the  same  chiefs.  Tribes,  very  different  in  origin,  habits  and  dato 
of  settlement,  were  continually  disputing  the  territory.  In  tho 
south  were  Iberians  or  Aquitanians,  Phoenicians  and  Greeks  ; in  the 
north  and  north-west  Kymrians  or  Belgians  ; every  where  else 

B 


2 


History  of  France . 

Gauls  or  Celts,  the  most  numerous  settlers,  -who  had  the  honour  of 
giving  their  name  to  the  country.  Who  were  the  first  to  come, 
then?  and  what  was  the  date  of  the  first  settlement?  Nobody 
knows.  Of  the  Greeks  alone  does  history  mark  with  any  precision 
the  arrival  in  southern  Gaul.  The  Phoenicians  preceded  them  by 
several  centuries  ; hut  it  is  impossible  to  fix  any  exact  time.  The 
information  is  equally  vague  about  the  period  when  the  Kymrians 
invaded  the  north  of  Gaul.  As  for  the  Gauls  and  the  Iberians, 
there  is  not  a word  about  their  first  entrance  into  the  country,  for 
they  are  discovered  there  already  at  the  first  appearance  of  the 
country  itself  in  the  domain  of  history. 

Iberians.  The  Iberians,  whom  Roman  writers  call  Aquitanians,  dwelt  at 
the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees,  in  the  territory  comprised  between  the 
mountains,  the  Garonne,  and  the  ocean.  They  belonged  to  the 
race  which,  under  the  same  appellation,  had  peopled  Spain,  and 
which  abides  still  in  the  department  of  the  Lower  Pyrenees,  under 
the  name  of  Basques  ; a peoplet1  distinct  from  all  its  neighbours 
in  features,  costume,  and  especially  language,  which  resembles  none 
of  the  present  languages  of  Europe,  contains  many  words  which 
are  to  be  found  in  the  names  of  rivers,  mountains,  and  towns  of 
olden  Spain,  and  which  presents  a considerable  analogy  to  the 
idioms,  ancient  and  modern,  of  certain  peoples  of  northern  Africa. 
The  Phoenicians  did  not  leave,  as  the  Iberians  did,  in  the  south  of 
Prance  distinct  and  well- authenticated  descendants. 

Greeks.  As  merchants  and  colonists,  the  Greeks  were,  in  Gaul,  the  suc- 
cessors of  the  Phoenicians,  and  Marseilles  was  one  of  their  first  and 
Marseilles,  most  considerable  colonies  ; she  extended  her  walls  all  round  the 
its  colonies  bay  and  her  enterprises  far  away.  She  founded,  on  the  southern 
coast  of  Gaul  and  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Spain,  permanent  settle- 
ments, which  are  to  this  day  towns  : eastward  of  the  Rhone,  Her- 
cules’ harbour,  Monoecus  (Monaco),  Niccea  (Nice),  Antipolis  (An- 
tibes) ; westward,  Heraclea  Cacabaria  (Saint  Gilles),  Agatha  (Agde) 
Emporice  (Ampurias  in  Catalonia),  &c.,  &c.  In  the  valley  of  the 
Rhone,  several  towns  of  the  Gauls,  Cabellio  (Cavaillon),  Avenio 
(Avignon),  Arelate  (Arles),  for  instance,  were  like  Greek  colonies, 
so  great  there  was  the  number  of  travellers  or  established  merchants 
who  spoke  Greek.  With  this  commercial  activity  Marseilles  united 
intellectual  and  scientific  activity ; her  grammarians  were  among 
the  first  to  revise  and  annotate  the  poems  of  Homer ; and  bold 
travellers  from  Marseilles,  Euthymenes  and  Pytheas  by  name, 
cruised,  one  along  the  western  coast  of  Africa  beyond  the  straits  of 

1 Pr.  “ peuplade,”  from  people,  on  the  analogy  of  circlet  from  circle. — Trans. 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans . 


3 


Gibraltar,  and  the  other  the  southern  and  western  coasts  of  Europe, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Tanais  (Don),  in  the  Black  Sea,  to  the  lati- 
tudes and  perhaps  into  the  interior  of  the  Baltic.  They  lived, 
both  of  them,  in  the  second  half  of  the  fourth  century  b.c.,  and 
they  wrote  each  a Periplus,  or  tales  of  their  travels,  which  have 
unfortunately  been  almost  entirely  lost. 

Beyond  a strip  of  land  of  uneven  breadth,  along  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  save  the  space  peopled  towards  the  south-west  by  the 
Iberians,  the  country,  which  received  its  name  from  the  former  of 
the  two,  was  occupied  by  the  Gauls  and  the  Kymrians  ; by  the 
Gauls  in  the  centre,  south-east,  and  east,  in  the  highlands  of  modern 
France,  between  the  Alps,  the  Vosges,  the  mountains  of  Auvergne 
and  the  Cevennes ; by  the  Kymrians  in  the  north,  north-west,  and 
west,  in  the  lowlands,  from  the  western  boundary  of  the  Gauls  to 
the  ocean. 

Whether  the  Gauls  and  the  Kymrians  were  originally  of  the  Kymrians. 
same  race,  or  at  least  of  races  closely  connected  ; whether  they 
were  both  anciently  comprised  under  the  general  name  of  Celts  ; 
and  whether  the  Kymrians,  if  they  were  not  of  the  same  race  as 
the  Gauls,  belonged  to  that  of  the  Germans,  the  final  conquerors  of 
the  Boman  empire,  are  questions  which  the  learned  have  been 
a long,  long  while  discussing  without  deciding.  Each  of  these 
races,  far  from  forming  a single  people  bound  to  the  same  destiny 
and  under  the  same  chieftains,  split  into  peoplets,  more  or  less 
independent,  who  foregathered  or  separated  according  to  the  shifts 
of  circumstances,  and  who  pursued  each  on  their  own  account  and 
at  their  own  pleasure,  their  fortunes  or  their  fancies.  Three  grand 
leagues  existed  amongst  the  Gauls ; that  of  the  Arvernians,  formed 
of  peoplets  established  in  the  country  which  received  from  them 
the  name  of  Auvergne ; that  of  the  AMuans,  in  Burgundy,  whose 
centre  was  Bibrade  (Autun);  and  that  of  the  Sequanians,  in 
Eranche-Comte,  whose  centre  was  Vesontio  (Besan^on).  Amongst 
the  Kymrians  of  the  West,  the  Armoric  league  bound  together  the 
tribes  of  Brittany  and  lower  Kormandy.  These  alliances,  intended 
to  group  together  scattered  forces,  led  to  fresh  passions  or  interests, 
which  became  so  many  fresh  causes  of  discord  and  hostility. 

From  the  earliest  times  to  the  first  century  before  the  Christian  Migra- 
era,  Gaul  appears  a prey  to  an  incessant  and  disorderly  movement  tionsofthe 
of  the  population ; they  change  settlement  and  neighbourhood  ; 
disappear  from  one  point  and  reappear  at  another ; cross  one 
another ; avoid  one  another ; absorb  and  are  absorbed.  And  the 
movement  was  not  confined  within  Gaul ; the  Gauls  of  every  race 
went,  sometimes  in  very  numerous  hordes,  to  seek  far  away  plunder 

b 2 


4 History  of  France. 

and  a settlement.  Spain,  Italy,  Germany,  Greece,  Asia  Minor  and 
Africa  have  been  in  turn  the  theatre  of  those  Gallic  expeditions 
which  entailed  long  wars,  grand  displacements  of  peoples,  and  some- 
times the  formation  of  new  nations.  Let  us  make  a slight  acquaint- 
ance with  this  outer  history  of  the  Gauls  ; for  it  is  well  worth 
while  to  follow  them  a space  upon  their  distant  wanderings.  We 
will  then  return  to  the  soil  of  France  and  concern  ourselves  solely 
with  what  has  passed  within  her  boundaries. 

It  is  only  with  the  sixth  century  before  our  era  that  we  light 
upon  the  really  historical  expeditions  of  the  Gauls  away  from 
Gaul,  those,  in  fact,  of  which  we  may  follow  the  course  and 
estimate  the  effects. 

B.C.  587.  Towards  the  year  587  B.c.,  almost  at  the  very  moment  when 
The  Gauls  phoceans  had  just  founded  Marseilles,  two  great  Gallic  hordes 
many  and  got  in  motion  at  the  same  time  and  crossed,  one  the  Rhine,  the 
in  Italy,  other  the  Alps,  making  one  for  Germany,  the  other  for  Italy. 

The  former  followed  the  course  of  the  Danube  and  settled  in 
Illyria,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river.  It  is  too  much,  perhaps,  to 
say  that  they  settled  ; the  greater  part  of  them  continued  wan- 
dering and  fighting,  sometimes  amalgamating  with  the  peoplets 
they  encountered,  sometimes  chasing  them  and  exterminating  them, 
whilst  themselves  were  incessantly  pushed  forward  by  fresh  bands 
coming  also  from  Gaul.  Thus  marching  and  spreading,  leaving 
here  and  there  on  their  route,  along  the  rivers,  and  in  the  valleys 
of  the  Alps,  tribes  that  remained  and  founded  peoples,  the  Gauls 

B.C.  340,  had  reached,  towards  the  year  340  b.c.,  the  confines  of  Macedonia  ; 

The  Gauls  additional  hordes,  in  great  numbers,  arrived  amongst  them  about 
in  Greece.  ° 7 ° 

the  year  281  B.c.  They  had  before  them  Thrace,  Macedonia, 

Thessaly,  Greece,  rich,  but  distracted  and  weakened  by  civil  strife. 

They  effected  an  entrance  at  several  points,  devastating,  plundering, 

loading  their  cars  with  booty,  and  dividing  their  prisoners  into  two 

parts ; one  offered  in  sacrifice  to  their  gods,  the  other  strung  up  to 

trees  and  abandoned  to  the  gais  and  matars,  or  javelins  and  pikes 

of  the  conquerors. 

B.C.  279,  Three  years  later,  another  and  a more  formidable  invasion  came 
n«ar  bursting  upon  Thessaly  and  Greece.  It  was,  according  to  the 
phi.  unquestionably  exaggerated  account  of  the  ancient  historians, 

200,000  strong,  and  commanded  by  a famous,  ferocious,  and 
insolent  chieftain  ( Brenn ),  whom  the  Latins  and  Greeks  call 
Brennus.  His  idea  was  to  strike  a blow  which  should  simul- 
taneously enrich  the  Gauls  and  stun  the  Greeks.  He  meant  to 
plunder  the  temple  at  Delphi,  the  most  venerated  place  in  all 
Greece,  whither  flowed  from  century  to  century  all  kinds  of 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans . 


5 


offerings,  and  where,  no  doubt,  enctfmous  treasure  was  deposited ; 
thoroughly  defeated,  however,  the  barbarians  traversed,  flying  and 
fighting,  Thessaly  and  Macedonia ; and  on  returning  whence  they 
had  set  out,  they  dispersed,  some  to  settle  at  the  foot  of  a neigh- 
bouring mountain,  under  the  command  of  a chieftain  named  Ba - 
thanet  or  Baedhannat , i. e.  son  of  the  wild  boar;  others  to 
march  back  towards  their  own  country ; the  greatest  part  to 
resume  the  same  life  of  incursion  and  adventure.  But  they 
changed  the  scene  of  operations ; they  crossed  the  Hellespont 
and  passed  into  Asia  Minor ; there,  at  one  time  in  the  pay  of  the 
kings  of  Bithynia,  Pergamos,  Cappadocia,  and  Syria,  or  of  the 
free  commercial  cities  which  were  struggling  against  the  kings,  at 
another  carrying  on  wars  on  their  own  account,  they  wandered  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  divided  into  three  great  hordes,  which 
parcelled  out  the  territories  among  themselves,  overran  and  plun- 
dered them  during  the  fine  weather,  entrenched  themselves  during 
winter  in  their  camp  of  cars,  or  in  some  fortified  place,  sold  their 
services  to  the  highest  bidder,  changed  masters  according  to 
interest  or  inclination,  and  by  their  bravery  became  the  terror 
of  these  effeminate  populations,  and  the  arbiters  of  these  petty 
states. 

At  last  both  princes  and  people  grew  weary.  Antiochus,  King 
of  Syria,  attacked  one  of  the  three  bands  which  formed  the 
barbarian  multitude — that  of  the  Tectosagians,  conquered  it,  and 
cantoned  it  in  a district  of  Upper  Phrygia.  Later  still,  about 
241  b.c.,  Eumenes,  sovereign  of  Pergamos,  and  Attalus,  his 
successor,  drove  and  shut  up  the  other  two  bands,  the  Tolistoboians 
and  Trocmians,  likewise  in  the  same  region.  The  victories  of  B.C.  241. 
Attalus  over  the  Gauls  excited  veritable  enthusiasm.  He  was  and^Tfta 
celebrated  as  a special  envoy  from  Zeus.  He  took  the  title  of  lus  defea  t 
King , which  his  predecessors  had  not  hitherto  borne.  Attacked  tlle  Gauls- 
in  their  strongholds  on  Mount  Olympus  and  Mount  Magaba, 

189  B.c.,  the  three  Gallic  bands,  after  a short  but  stout  resistance, 
vrere  at  last  conquered  and  subjugated;  and  thenceforth  losing  all 
national  importance,  they  amalgamated  little  by  little  with  the 
Asiatic  populations  around  them. 

Nevertheless  the  fusion  of  the  Gauls  of  Galatia  with  the  natives 
always  remained  very  imperfect ; for  towards  the  end  of  the 
fourth  century  of  the  Christian  era  they  did  not  speak  Greek, 
as  the  latter  did,  but  their  national  tongue,  that  of  the  Kymro- 
Belgians ; and  St.  Jerome  testifies  that  it  differed  very  little 
from  that  which  was  spoken  in  Belgica  itself,  in  the  region  of 
Treves. 


6 


History  of  France . 


The  details  of  the  struggle  "between  the  Gauls  and  the  Romans 
"belong  specially  to  Roman  history ; they  have  been  transmitted 
to  us  only  by  Roman  historians;  and  the  Romans  it  was  who 
were  left  ultimately  in  possession  of  the  battle-field,  that  is, 
of  Italy. 

B.C.  391 — Four  distinct  periods  may  be  recognized  in  this  history  ; and 

Struggles  eac^  mar^s  a different  phase  in  the  course  of  events,  and,  so  to 
oftheGauls  speak,  an  act  of  the  drama.  During  the  first  period,  which  lasted 
Roman?6  f°rty-tw0  years,  from  391  to  349  b.c.,  the  Gauls  carried  on  a war 
1st  epoch,  of  aggression  and  conquest  against  Rome. 

To  this  epoch  belonged  those  marvels  of  daring  recorded  in 
Roman  tradition,  those  acts  of  heroism  tinged  with  fable,  which 
are  met  with  amongst  so  many  peoples,  either  in  their  earliest  age 
or  in  their  days  of  great  peril.  In  the  year  361  b.c.,  Titus 
Manlius,  and  twelve  years  later,  M.  Valerius,  a young  military 
tribune,  were  the  two  Roman  heroes  who  vanquished  in  single 
combat  the  two  Gallic  giants  who  insolently  defied  Rome.  The 
gratitude  towards  them  was  general  and  of  long  duration,  for  two 
centuries  afterwards  (in  the  year  167  b.c.)  the  head  of  the  Gaul 
with  his  tongue  out  still  appeared  at  Rome,  above  the  shop  of  a 
money-changer,  on  a circular  sign-board,  called  “the  Kymrian 
shield  ” ( scutum  Cimbricum).  After  seventeen  years’  stay  in 
Latium,  the  Gauls  at  last  withdrew,  and  returned  to  their  adopted 
country  in  those  lovely  valleys  of  the  Po  which  already  bore  the 
name  of  Cisalpine  Gaul.  They  began  to  get  disgusted  with  a 
wandering  life.  Their  population  multiplied  ; their  towns  spread  ; 
their  fields  were  better  cultivated  ; their  manners  became  less 
barbarous.  For  fifty  years  there  was  scarcely  any  trace  of 
hostility  or  even  contact  between  them  and  the  Romans.  But  at 
the  beginning  of  the  third  century  before  our  era,  the  coalition  of 
the  Samnites  and  Etruscans  against  Rome  was  near  its  climax  ; 
they  eagerly  pressed  the  Gauls  to  join,  and  the  latter  assented 
easily.  Then  commenced  the  second  period  of  struggles  between 
the  two  peoples. 

2nd  epoch.  During  this  second  period  Rome  was  more  than  once  in  danger. 
Battie^of  year  B,G*  ^au^s  destroyed  one  of  her  armies  near 

Aretium.  Aretium  (Arezzo),  and  advanced  to  the  Roman  frontier,  saying, 
“We  are  bound  for  Rome;  the  Gauls  know  how  to  take  it.” 
Seventy-two  years  afterwards  the  Cisalpine  Gauls  swore  they  would 
not  put  off  their  baldricks  till  they  had  mounted  the  Capitol,  and 
they  arrived  within  three  days’  march  of  Rome. 

In  spite  of  sometimes  urgent  peril,  in  spite  of  popular  alarms, 
Rome,  during  the  course  of  this  period,  from  299  to  258  b.c., 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans . 


7 


maintained  an  increasing  ascendency  over  the  Gauls.  She  always 
cleared  them  off  her  territory,  several  times  ravaged  theirs,  on  the 
two  hanks  of  the  Po,  called  respectively  Transpadan  and  Cispadan 
Gaul,  and  gained  the  majority  of  the  great  battles  she  had  to 
fight.  Finally,  in  the  year  283  B.c.,  the  propraetor  Drusus,  after 
having  ravaged  the  country  of  the  Senonic  Gauls,  carried  off  the 
very  ingots  and  jewels,  it  was  said,  which  had  been  given  to  their 
ancestors  as  the  price  of  their  retreat. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  third  century  before  our  era,  the  triumph  Hannibal, 
of  Rome  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  seemed  nigh  to  accomplishment,  when 
news  arrived  that  the  Romans’  most  formidable  enemy,  Hannibal, 
meditating  a passage  from  Africa  into  Italy  by  Spain  and  Gaul, 
was  already  at  work,  by  his  emissaries,  to  ensure  for  his  enterprise 
the  concurrence  of  the  Transalpine  and  Cisalpine  Gauls.  The 
Senate  ordered  the  envoys  they  had  just  then  at  Carthage  to 
traverse  Gaul  on  returning,  and  seek  out  allies  there  against 
Hannibal.  However,  this  scheme  failed,  and  the  delights  of 
victory  and  of  pillage  brought  into  full  play  the  Cisalpine  Gauls’ 
natural  hatred  of  Rome.  After  Ticinus  and  Trebia,  Hannibal  had 
no  more  zealous  and  devoted  troops.  This  was  the  third  period  of  ^ 
the  struggle  between  the  Gauls  and  the  Romans  in  Italy.  Rome,  170. 
well  advised  by  this  terrible  war  of  the  danger  with  which  she  was 
ever  menaced  by  the  Cisalpine  Gauls,  formed  the  resolution  of  no  , 
longer  restraining  them,  but  of  subduing  them  and  conquering 
their  territory.  She  spent  thirty  years  (from  200  to  170  b.c.)  in 
the  execution  of  this  design,  proceeding  by  means  of  war,  of  found- 
ing Roman  colonies,  and  of  sowing  dissension  among  the  Gallic 
peoplets.  In  vain  did  the  two  principal,  the  Boians  and  the 
Insubrians,  endeavour  to  rouse  and  rally  all  the  rest : some  hesi- 
tated ; some  absolutely  refused,  and  remained  neutral.  Day  by 
day  did  Rome  advance.  At  length,  in  the  year  190  b.c.,  the 
wrecks  of  the  112  tribes  which  had  formed  the  nation  of  the  Boians, 
unable  any  longer  to  resist,  and  unwilling  to  submit,  rose  as  one 
man,  and  departed  from  Italy. 

The  Senate,  with  its  usual  wisdom,  multiplied  the  number  of 
Roman  colonies  in  the  conquered  territory,  treated  with  moderation  Gaul, 
the  tribes  that  submitted,  and  gave  to  Cisalpine  Gaul  the  name  of 
the  Cisalpine  or  Hither  Gallic  Province,  which  was  afterwards 
changed  for  that  of  Go, Ilia,  Togata  or  Homan  Gaul.  Then,  de- 
claring that  nature  herself  had  placed  the  Alps  between  Gaul  and 
Italy  as  an  insurmountable  barrier,  the  Senate  pronounced  “ a curse 
on  whosoever  should  attempt  to  cross  it.” 

It  was  Rome  herself  that  soon  crossed  that  barrier  of  the  Alps 


8 History  of  France. 

which  she  had  pronounced  fixed  by  nature  and  insurmountable. 
Scarcely  was  she  mispress  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  when  she  entered  upon 
a quarrel  with  the  tribes  which  occupied  the  mountain-passes.  It 
is  likely  that  the  Gallic  mountaineers  were  not  careful  to  abstain, 
they  and  their  flocks,  from  descending  upon  the  territory  that  had 
become  Roman.  The  Romans,  in  turn,  penetrated  into  the  ham- 
lets, carried  off  flocks  and  people,  and  sold  them  in  the  public 
markets  at  Cremona,  at  Placentia,  and  in  all  their  colonies. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  second  century  b.c.  Marseilles,  then 
an  ally  of  Rome,  was  at  war  with  certain  Gallic  tribes,  her  neigh- 
bours, wdiose  territory  she  coveted.  Two  of  her  colonies,  Nice  and 
Antibes,  were  threatened.  She  called  on  Rome  for  help.  A 
Roman  deputation  went  to  decide  the  quarrel ; but  the  Gauls 
refused  to  obey  its  summons,  and  treated  it  with  insolence.  The 
deputation  returned  with  an  army,  succeeded  in  beating  the  re- 
fractory tribes,  and  gave  their  land  to  the  Massilians.  The  same 
thing  occurred  repeatedly  with  the  same  result.  Within  the 
space  of  thirty  years  nearly  all  the  tribes  between  the  Rhone  and 
the  Var,  in  the  country  which  was  afterwards  Provence,  were 
subdued  and  driven  back  amongst  the  mountains,  with  notice  not 
to  approach  within  a mile  of  the  coast  in  general,  and  a mile  and 
a half  of  the  places  of  disembarkation.  But  the  Romans  did  not 
B.C.  123.  stop  there.  They  did  not  mean  to  conquer  for  Marseilles  alone. 
Tbe  Ko-  j ^ year  123  B c some  leagues  to  the  north  of  the  Greek 
Gaul.  city,  near  a little  river,  then  called  the  Ccenus  and  now-a-days 
the  Arc,  the  consul  C.  Sextius  Calvinus  had  noticed,  during  his 
campaign,  an  abundance  of  thermal  springs,  agreeably  situated 
amidst  wood-covered  hills.  There  he  constructed  an  enclosure, 
aqueducts,  baths,  houses,  a town  in  fact,  which  he  called  after 
himself,  Aquce  Sextice,  the  modern  Aix,  the  first  Roman  establish- 
ment in  Transalpine  Gaul.  As  in  the  case  of  Cisalpine  Gaul,  with 
Roman  colonies  came  Roman  intrigue,  and  dissensions  got  up  and 
War  be-  fomented  amongst  the  Gauls.  The  Gauls,  moreover,  ran  of 
tween  tbe  themselves  into  the  Roman  trap.  Two  of  their  confederations, 
and  tbe  the  iEduans,  of  whom  mention  has  already  been  made,  and  the 
Allobro-  Allobrogians,  who  were  settled  between  the  Alps,  the  Isere,  and 
gians.  the  Rhone,  were  at  war.  A third  confederation,  the  most  powerful 
in  Gaul  at  this  time,  the  Arvernians,  who  were  rivals  of  the 
iEduans,  gave  their  countenance  to  the  Allobrogians.  The 
iEduans,  with  whom  the  Massilians  had  commercial  dealings, 
solicited  through  these  latter  the  assistance  of  Rome.  A treaty 
was  easily  concluded.  The  iEduans  obtained  from  the  Romans  the 
title  friends  and  allies  ; and  the  Romans  received  from  the  iEduans 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans. 


9 


that  of  brothers,  which  amongst  the  Gauls  implied  a sacred  tie. 

The  consul  Domitius  forthwith  commanded  the  Allobrogians  to 
respect  the  territory  of  the  allies  of  Rome.  War  broke  out;  the 
Allobrogians,  with  the  usual  confidence  and  hastiness  of  all  bar- 
barians, attacked  alone,  without  waiting  for  the  Arvernians,  and 
were  beaten  at  the  confluence  of  the  Rhone  and  the  Sorgue,  a little 
above  Avignon.  The  next  year,  121  b.c.,  the  Arvernians  in  their  fl^eArver 
turn  descended  from  the  mountains,  and  crossed  the  Rhone  with  all  nians cross 
their  tribes  ; they  were  beaten,  as  the  Allobrogians  had  been.  tlle  Rkone. 
Rome  treated  the  Arvernians  with  consideration;  but  the  Allo- 
brogians lost  their  existence  as  a nation.  The  Senate  declared 
them  subject  to  the  Roman  people ; and  all  the  country  comprised 
between  the  Alps,  the  Rhone  from  its  entry  into  the  Lake  of 
Geneva  to  its  mouth,  and  the  Mediterranean,  was  made  a Roman 
consular  province.  In  the  three  following  years,  indeed,  the 
consuls  extended  the  boundaries  of  the  new  province,  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Rhone,  to  the  frontier  of  the  Pyrenees  southward. 

In  the  year  110  B.c.  the  Kymrians  or  Cimbrians,  and  the  B.C.  110. 
Teutons,  having  their  numbers  swelled  by  other  tribes,  Gallic  or  r^sKand 
German,  the  Ambrons,  among  others,  entered  Gaul,  at  first  by  way  the  Teu- 
of  Belgica,  and  then,  continuing  their  wanderings  and  ravages  in  tons* 
central  Gaul,  they  at  last  reached  the  Rhone,  on  the  frontiers  of  the 
Roman  province.  There  four  successive  armies  were  defeated  and 
slaughtered  by  the  barbarians ; but  at  last  Marius  attacked  them 
(102  b.c.)  near  Aix  (Aquce  Sextice).  The  battle  lasted  two  days  ; B.C.  102. 
the  first  against  the  Ambrons,  the  second  against  the  Teutons.  Defeated 
Both  were  beaten,  in  spite  of  their  savage  bravery,  and  the  equal  by  Marius, 
bravery  of  their  women,  who  defended,  with  indomitable  obstinacy, 
the  cars  with  which  they  had  remained  almost  alone,  in  charge  of 
the  children  and  the  booty.  There  remained  the  Kymrians,  who 
had  repassed  the  Helvetic  Alps  and  entered  Italy  on  the  north- 
east, by  way  of  the  Adige.  Marius  marched  against  them  in  July 
of  the  following  year,  101  b.c.,  and  defeated  them  in  the  Raudine 
Plains,  a large  tract  near  Yerceil. 

The  victories  of  Marius  arrested  the  torrent  of  the  invasion,  but 
did  not  dry  up  its  source.  The  great  movement  which  drove  from 
Asia  to  Europe,  and  from  eastern  to  western  Europe,  masses  of 
roving  populations,  followed  its  course,  bringing  incessantly  upon 
the  Roman  frontiers  new  comers  and  new  perils.  A greater  man 
than  Marius,  J ulius  Caesar  in  fact,  saw  that  to  effectually  resist  these 
clouds  of  barbaric  assailants,  the  country  into  which  they  poured 
must  be  conquered  and  made  Roman.  The  conquest  of  Gaul  wa3 


10 


History  of  France . 


the  accomplishment  of  that  idea,  and  the  decisive  step  towards  the 
transformation  of  the  Roman  republic  into  a Roman  empire. 

Ariovutus.  In  spite  of  the  victories  of  Marius,  and  the  destruction  or  disper- 
sion of  the  Teutons  and  Cimbrians,  the  whole  of  Gaul  remained 
seriously  disturbed  and  threatened.  In  eastern  and  central  Gaul, 
in  the  valleys  of  the  Jura  and  Auvergne,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Saone,  the  Allier,  and  the  Doubs,  the  two  great  Gallic  confedera- 
tions, that  of  the  iEduans  and  that  of  the  Arvernians,  were  dis- 
puting the  preponderance,  and  making  war  one  upon  another, 
seeking  the  aid,  respectively,  of  the  Romans  and  of  the  Germans. 
Every  where  floods  of  barbaric  populations  were  pressing  upon 
Gaul,  were  carrying  disquietude  even  where  they  had  not  them- 
selves yet  penetrated,  and  causing  presentiments  of  a general  com- 
motion. The  danger  burst  before  long  upon  particular  places  and 
in  connexion  with  particular  names  which  have  remained  historical. 
In  the  war  with  the  confederation  of  the  iEduans,  that  of  the 
Arvernians  called  to  their  aid  the  German  Ariovistus,  chieftain  of 
a confederation  of  tribes  which,  under  the  name  of  Suevians,  were 
roving  over  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  ready  at  any  time  to  cross 
the  river.  Ariovistus,  with  15,000  wrarriors  at  his  back,  was  not 
slow  in  responding  to  the  appeal.  The  HEduans  were  beaten ; and 
Ariovistus  settled  amongst  the  Gauls,  who  had  been  thoughtless 
enough  to  appeal  to  him.  Numerous  bands  of  the  Suevians  came 
and  rejoined  him ; and  in  twro  or  three  years  after  his  victory  he 
had  about  him,  it  was  said,  120,000  warriors.  He  had  appro- 
priated to  them  a third  of  the  territory  of  his  Gallic  allies,  and  he 
imperiously  demanded  another  third  to  satisfy  other  25,000  of  his 
old  German  comrades,  who  asked  to  share  his  booty  and  his  new 
country.  One  of  the  foremost  ^Eduans,  Divitiacus  by  name,  went 
and  invoked  the  succour  of  the  Roman  people,  the  patrons  of  his 
confederation.  The  Roman  Senate,  with  the  indecision  and  in- 
dolence of  all  declining  powers,  hesitated  to  engage,  for  the 
iEduans’  sake,  in  a war  against  the  invaders  of  a corner  of  Gallic 
territory.  At  the  same  time  that  they  gave  a cordial  welcome  to 
Divitiacus,  they  entered  into  negotiations  with  Ariovistus  himself ; 
they  gave  him  beautiful  presents,  the  title  of  King,  and  even  of 
friend  ; the  only  demand  they  made  was  that  he  should  live  peace- 
ably in  his  new  settlement,  and  not  lend  his  support  to  the  fresh 
invasions  of  which  there  were  symptoms  in  Gaul,  and  which  were 
becoming  too  serious  for  resolutions  not  to  be  taken  to  repel  them. 

A people  of  Gallic  race,  the  Helvetians,  who  inhabited  the  present 
Switzerland,  where  the  old  name  still  abides  beside  the  modern, 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans. 


II 


found  themselves  incessantly  threatened,  ravaged,  and  invaded  by 
the  German  tribes  which  pressed  upon  their  frontiers.  After  some 
years  of  perplexity  and  internal  discord,  the  whole  Helvetic  nation 
decided  upon  abandoning  its  territory,  and  going  to  seek  in  Gaul, 
westward,  it  is  said,  on  the  borders  of  the  ocean,  a more  tranquil 
settlement.  Being  informed  of  this  design,  the  Roman  Senate  and 
Caesar,  at  that  time  consul,  resolved  to  protect  the  Roman  province 
and  their  Gallic  allies,  the  iEduans,  against  this  inundation  of 
roving  neighbours.  The  Helvetians  none  the  less  persisted  in 
their  plan ; and  in  the  spring  of  the  year  of  Rome  696  (58  b.c.) 
they  committed  to  the  flames,  in  the  country  they  were  about  to 
leave,  twelve  towns,  four  hundred  villages,  afid  all  their  houses 
loaded  their  cars  with  provisions  for  three  months,  and  agreed  to 
meet  at  the  southern  point  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva.  But  when  they 
would  have  entered  Gaul,  they  found  there  Ceasar,  who  after  having 
got  himself  appointed  proconsul  for  five  years,  had  arrived  suddenly 
at  Geneva,  prepared  to  forbid  their  passage.  Thus  foiled,  they  at- 
tempted to  take  another  road,  and  to  cross  not  the  Rhone  but  the 
Saone,  and  march  thence  towards  western  Gaul.  But  whilst  they 
were  arranging  for  the  execution  of  this  movement,  Caesar,  who  had 
up  to  that  time  only  four  legions  at  his  disposal,  returned  to 
Italy,  brought  away  five  fresh  legions,  and  arrived  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Saone  at  the  moment  when  the  rear-guard  of  the  Hel- 
vetians was  embarking  to  rejoin  the  main  body  which  had  already 
pitched  its  camp  on  the  right  bank.  Caesar  cut  to  pieces  this  rear- 
guard, crossed  the  river  in  his  turn  with  his  legions,  pursued  the 
emigrants  without  relaxation,  came  in  contact  with  them  on  several 
occasions,  at  one  time  attacking  them  or  repelling  their  attacks,  at 
another  receiving  and  giving  audience  to  their  envoys  without  ever 
consenting  to  treat  with  them,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year  he  had 
so  completely  beaten,  decimated,  dispersed  and  driven  them  back, 
that  of  368,000  Helvetians  who  had  entered  Gaul,  but  110,000 
escaped  from  the  Romans,  and  were  enabled  by  flight  to  regain 
their  country. 

iEduans,  Sequanians,  or  Arvernians,  all  the  Gauls  interested  in 
the  struggle  thus  terminated,  were  eager  to  congratulate  Csesar  upon 
his  victory  ; but  if  they  were  delivered  from  the  invasion  of  the 
Helvetians,  another  scourge  fell  heavily  upon  them  ; Ariovistus 
and  the  Germans,  who  were  settled  upon  their  territory,  op- 
pressed them  cruelly,  and  day  by  day  fresh  bands  were  continually 
coming  to  aggravate  the  evil  and  the  danger.  They  adjured 
Csesar  to  protect  them  from  these  swarms  of  barbarians.  The 


B.C.  58. 
The  Hel 
vetians 
attempt  to 
invade 
Gaul. 


12 


History  of  France. 


Caesar  ex- 
pels ihe 
Helve- 
tians. 


A.U.C.  6t6 
—705. 
Campaigns 
of  Caesar  in 
Gaul. 


Roman  general  gave  ear  to  the  prayer  of  the  Gauls ; after  having 
uselessly  attempted  to  negotiate  with  the  German  chieftain,  find- 
ing that  Ariovistus  with  all  his  forces  was  making  towards 
Vesontio  (Besan^n),  the  chief  town  of  the  Sequanians,  he  forthwith 
put  himself  in  motion,  occupied  Vesontio,  established  there  a 
strong  garrison,  and  fetching  a considerable  compass  to  spare  his 
soldiers  the  passage  of  thick  forests,  after  a seven  days’  march, 
arrived  at  a short  distance  from  the  camp  of  Ariovistus.  Several 
days  in  succession  he  offered  battle ; but  Ariovistus  remained 
within  his  lines.  Csesar  then  took  the  resolution  of  assailing  the 
German  camp.  At  his  approach,  the  Germans  at  length  moved 
out  from  their  entrenchments,  arrayed  by  peoplets,  and  defiling  in 
front  of  cars  filled  with  their  women,  who  implored  them  with 
tears  not  to  deliver  them  in  slavery  to  the  Romans.  The  struggle 
was  obstinate,  and  not  without  moments  of  anxiety  and  partial 
check  for  the  Romans ; but  the  genius  of  Caesar  and  strict  dis- 
cipline of  the  legions  carried  the  day.  The  rout  of  the  Germans 
was  complete ; they  fled  towards  the  Rhine,  which  was  only  a few 
leagues  from  the  field  of  battle.  Ariovistus  himself  was  amongst 
the  fugitives ; he  found  a boat  by  the  river-side,  and  re-crossed 
into  Germany,  where  he  died  shortly  afterwards,  “to  the  great  grief 
of  the  Germans,”  says  Caesar.  The  Suevian  bands,  who  were 
awaiting  on  the  right  bank  the  result  of  the  struggle,  plunged 
back  again  within  their  own  territory.  And  so  the  invasion  of 
the  Germans  was  stopped  as  the  emigration  of  the  Helvetians 
had  been ; and  Caesar  had  only  to  conquer  Gaul. 

The  expulsion  of  the  Helvetian  emigrants  and  of  the  German 
invaders  left  the  Romans  and  Gauls  alone  face  to  face ; and  from 
that  moment  the  Romans  were,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Gauls,  foreigners, 
conquerors,  oppressors.  Conspiracies  were  hatched,  insurrections 
soon  broke  out  in  nearly  every  part  of  Gaul,  in  the  heart  even  of 
the  peoplets  most  subject  to  Roman  dominion.  Every  movement 
of  the  kind  was  for  Caesar  a provocation,  a temptation,  almost  an 
obligation  to  conquest.  He  accepted  them  and  profited  by  them, 
with  that  promptitude  in  resolution,  boldness  and  address  in 
execution,  and  cool  indifference  as  to  the  means  employed,  which 
were  characteristic  of  his  genius.  During  nine  years,  from  a.u.c. 
696  to  705,  and  in  eight  successive  campaigns,  he  carried  his 
troops,  his  lieutenants,  himself,  and,  ere  long,  war  or  negotiation, 
corruption,  discord,  or  destruction  in  his  path,  amongst  the  different 
nations  and  confederations  of  Gaul,  Celtic,  Kymric,  Germanic, 
Iberian  or  hybrid,  northward  and  eastward,  in  Belgica,  between 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans . 


13 


the  Seine  and  the  Rhine ; westward,  in  Armorica,  on  the  borders 
of  the  ocean  ; south-westward,  in  Aquitania  ; centre-ward  amongst 
the  peoplets  established  between  the  Seine,  the  Loire  and  the 
Saone.  He  was  nearly  always  victorious,  and  then  at  one  time 
he  pushed  his  victory  to  the  bitter  end,  at  another  stopped  at 
the  right  moment,  that  it  might  not  be  compromised.  He  did 
not  confine  himself  to  conquering  and  subjecting  the  Gauls  in 
Gaul ; his  ideas  were  ever  out-stripping  his  deeds,  and  he  knew 
how  to  make  his  power  felt  even  where  he  had  made  no  attempt 
to  establish  it.  Twice  he  crossed  the  Rhine  to  hurl  back  the 
Germans  beyond  their  river,  and  to  strike  to  the  very  hearts  of 
their  forests  the  terror  of  the  Roman  name  (a.u.c.  699,  700).  He 
equipped  two  fleets,  made  two  descents  on  Great  Britain  (a.tj.c. 

699,  700),  several  times  defeated  the  Britons  and  their  principal 
chieftain  Caswallon  (Cassivellaunus),  and  set  up,  across  the  channel, 
the  first  landmarks  of  Roman  conquest.  He  thus  became  more 
and  more  famous  and  terrible,  both  in  Gaul,  whence  he  sometimes 
departed  for  a moment,  to  go  and  look  after  his  political  pros- 
pects in  Italy,  and  in  more  distant  lands,  where  he  was  but  an  ap- 
parition. Nor  were  the  rigours  of  administration  less  than  those  His  adroi- 
of  warfare.  Caesar  wanted  a great  deal  of  money,  not  only  to  main-  nistratiou. 
tain  satisfactorily  his  troops  in  Gaul,  but  to  defray  the  enormous 
expenses  he  was  at  in  Italy,  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  his  par- 
tisans, or  securing  the  favour  of  the  Roman  people.  It  was  with 
the  produce  of  imposts  and  plunder  in  Gaul  that  he  undertook  the 
reconstruction  at  Rome  of  the  basilica  of  the  Forum,  the  site 
whereof,  extending  to  the  temple  of  Liberty,  was  valued,  it  is 
said,  at  more  than  twenty  million  five  hundred  thousand  francs 
(820,000Z.). 

After  six  years’  struggling  Caesar  was  victor;  he  had  successively  A.TJ.C. 7C2, 
dealt  with  all  the  different  populations  of  Gaul ; he  had  passed  Jtorix 
through  and  subjected  them  all,  either  by  his  own  strong  arm,  or 
thanks  to  their  rivalries.  In  the  year  of  Rome  702  he  was  sud- 
denly informed  in  Italy,  whither  he  had  gone  on  his  Roman 
business,  that  most  of  the  Gallic  nations,  united  under  a chieftain 
hitherto  unknown,  were  rising  with  one  common  impulse,  and 
recommencing  war.  Amongst  the  Arvernians  lived  a young  Gaul 
whose  real  name  has  remained  unknown,  and  whom  history  has 
called  Vercingetorix,  that  is,  chief  over  a hundred  heads,  general- 
in-chief.  He  came  of  an  ancient  and  powerful  family,  and  his 
father  had  been  put  to  death  in  his  own  city  for  attempting  to 
make  himself  king.  Caesar  knew  him,  and  had  taken  some  pains 
to  attach  him  to  himself.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  Arvernian 


Defeat 

Vercin- 

getorix 


14  History  cf  France. 

aristocrat  had  absolutely  declined  the  overtures  ; but  when  the 
hope  of  national  independence  was  aroused,  Vercingetorix  was  its 
representative  and  chief.  He  descended  with  his  followers  from 
the  mountains,  and  seized  Gergovia,  the  capital  of  his  nation. 
Thence  his  messengers  spread  over  the  centre,  the  north-west,  and 
west  of  Gaul ; the  greater  part  of  the  peoplets  and  cities  of  those 
regions  pronounced  from  the  first  moment  for  insurrection.  Ver- 
cingetorix was  immediately  invested  with  the  chief  command,  and 
he  made  use  of  it  with  all  the  passion  engendered  by  patriotism 
and  the  possession  of  power;  he  regulated  the  movement,  demanded 
hostages,  fixed  the  contingents  of  troops,  imposed  taxes,  inflicted 
summary  punishment  on  the  traitors,  the  dastards  and  the  indif- 
ferent, and  subjected  those  who  turned  a deaf  ear  to  the  appeal 
of  their  common  country  to  the  same  pains  and  the  same  mutila- 
tions that  Caesar  inflicted  on  those  who  obstinately  resisted  the 
Roman  yoke. 

At  the  news  of  this  great  movement  Caesar  immediately  left 
Italy,  and  returned  to  Gaul.  Starting  at  the  beginning  of  702  a.u.c., 
he  passed  two  months  in  traversing  within  Gaul  the  Roman 
province  and  its  neighbourhood,  in  visiting  the  points  threatened 
by  the  insurrection,  and  the  openings  by  which  he  might  get 
at  it,  in  assembling  his  troops,  in  confirming  his  wavering  allies ; 
and  it  was  not  before  the  early  part  of  March  that  he  moved  with 
his  whole  army  to  Agendicum  (Sens),  the  very  centre  of  revolt, 
and  started  thence  to  push  on  the  war  with  vigour.  In  less  than 
three  months  he  had  spread  devastation  throughout  the  insurgent 
country  ; fye  had  attacked  and  taken  its  principal  cities,  Vellaunod- 
unum  (Trigueres),  Genabum  (Gien),  Noviodunum  (Sancerre),  and 
Avaricum  (Bourges),  delivering  up  every  where  country  and  city, 
lands  and  inhabitants,  to  the  rage  of  the  Roman  soldiery,  maddened 
at  having  again  to  conquer  enemies  so  often  conquered.  To  strike 
a decisive  blow,  he  penetrated  at  last  to  the  heart  of  the  country 
of  the  Arvernians,  and  laid  siege  to  Gergovia,  their  capital  and  the 
birthplace  of  Vercingetorix. 

The  firmness  and  the  ability  of  the  Gallic  chieftain  were  not 
inferior  to  such  a struggle ; Caesar  encountered  an  obstinate  re- 
sistance; whilst  Vercingetorix,  encamped  on  the  heights  which 
surrounded  his  birthplace,  every  where  embarrassed,  sometimes 
attacked,  and  incessantly  threatened  the  Romans.  The  eighth 
legion,  drawn  on  one  day  to  make  an  imprudent  assault,  was 
repulsed,  and  lost  forty-six  of  its  bravest  centurions.  Caesar  de- 
termined to  raise  the  siege,  and  to  transfer  the  struggle  to  places 
where  the  population  could  be  more  safely  depended  upon.  It  was 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans . 


15 

the  first  decisive  check  he  had  experienced  in  Gaul,  the  first  Gallic 
town  he  had  been  unable  to  take,  the  first  retrograde  movement 
he  had  executed  in  the  face  of  the  Gallic  insurgents  and  their 
chieftain.  Yercingetorix  could  not  and  would  not  restrain  his 
joy;  it  seemed. to  him  that  the  day  had  dawned  and  an  excellent 
chance  arrived  for  attempting  a decisive  blow.  He  had  under  his 
orders,  it  is  said,  80,000  men,  mostly  his  own  Arvernians,  and 
a numerous  cavalry  furnished  by  the  different  peoplets  his  allies. 

He  followed  all  Caesar’s  movements  in  retreat  towards  the  Saone, 
and  on  arriving  at  Longeau,  not  far  from  Larigres,  near  a little  river 
called  the  Yingeanne,  he  halted  and  pitched  his  camp  about  nine 
miles  from  the  Romans.  The  action  began  between  the  cavalry  on 
both  sides  ; a portion  of  the  Gallic  had  taken  up  position  on  the 
road  followed  by  the  Roman  army,  to  bar  its  passage ; but  whilst 
the  fighting  at  this  point  was  getting  more  and  more  obstinate,  the 
German  horse  in  Caesar’s  service  gained  a neighbouring  height, 
drove  off  the  Gallic  horse  that  were  in  occupation,  and  pursued 
them  as  far  as  the  river,  near  which  was  Yercingetorix  with  his 
infantry.  Disorder  took  place  amongst  this  infantry  so  unexpectedly 
attacked.  Caesar  launched  his  legions  at  them,  and  there  was  a 
general  panic  and  rout  among  the  Gauls.  Yercingetorix  had 
great  trouble  in  rallying  them,  and  he  rallied  them  only  to  order  a 
general  retreat,  for  which  they  clamoured.  Hurriedly  striking  his 
camp,  he  made  for  Alesia  (Semur  in  Auxois),  a neighbouring  town 
and  the  capital  of  the  Mandubians,  a peoplet  in  clientship  to  the 
iEduans.  Caesar  immediately  went  in  pursuit  of  the  Gauls  ; killed, 
he  says,  3000  ; made  important  prisoners  ; and  encamped  with  his 
legions  before  Alesia  the  day  but  one  after  Yercingetorix,  with  his 
fugitive  army,  had  occupied  the  place  as  well  as  the  neighbouring 
hills,  and  was  hard  at  work  intrenching  himself,  probably  without 
any  clear  idea  as  yet  of  what  he  should  do  to  continue  the  struggle. 

Caesar  at  once  took  a resolution  as  unexpectedly  as  it  was  dis- 
creetly bold.  Here  was  the  whole  Gallic  insurrection,  chieftain  and 
soldiery,  united  together  within  or  beneath  the  walls  of  a town 
of  moderate  extent.  He  undertook  to  keep  it  there  and  destroy 
it  on  the  spot,  instead  of  having  to  pursue  it  every  whither  with- 
out ever  being  sure  of  getting  at  it.  The  struggle  was  fierce,  but  siege  of 
short.  Every  time  that  the  fresh  Gallic  army  attacked  the  be-  Alesia. 
siegers,  Yercingetorix  and  the  Gauls  of  Alesia  sallied  forth,  and 
joined  in  the  attack.  Csesar  and  his  legions,  on  their  side,  at  one 
time  repulsed  these  double  attacks,  at  another  themselves  took  the 
initiative,  and  assailed  at  one  and  the  same  time  the  besieged  and 
the  auxiliaries  Gaul  had  sent  them.  The  feeling  was  passionate 


1 6 History  of  France. 

on  both  sides : Roman  pride  was  pitted  against  Gallic  patriotism. 
But  in  four  or  five  days  the  strong  organization,  the  disciplined 
valour  of  the  Roman  legions,  and  the  genius  of  Caesar  triumphed. 
The  Gallic  reinforcements,  beaten  and  slaughtered  without  mercy, 
dispersed ; and  Yercingetorix  and  the  besieged  were  crowded  back 
within  their  walls  without  hope  of  escape. 

Alesia  taken,  and  her  brave  defender  a prisoner,  Gaul  was 
subdued.  Caesar,  however,  had  in  the  following  year  (a.u.c.  703) 
a campaign  to  make  to  subjugate  some  peoplets  who  tried  to  main- 
tain their  local  independence.  A year  afterwards,  again,  attempts 
at  insurrection  took  place  in  Belgica,  and  towards  the  mouth  of  the 
Loire ; but  they  were  easily  repressed ; they  had  no  national  or 
formidable  characteristics ; Csesar  and  his  lieutenants  willingly 
contented  themselves  with  an  apparent  submission,  and  in  the 
year  705  a.u.c.  the  Roman  legions,  after  nine  years’  occupation  in 
the  conquest  of  Gaul,  were  able  to  depart  therefrom  to  Italy  and  the 
East  for  a plunge  into  civil  war. 

Ganl  under  From  the  conquest  of  Gaul  by  Caesar  to  the  establishment  there 

Roman  do-  0£  jrranks  under  Clovis,  she  remained  for  more  than  five 

minion.  . . 

centuries  under  Roman  dominion  ; first  under  the  Pagan,  afterwards 

under  the  Christian  empire.  In  her  primitive  state  of  independence 
she  had  struggled  for  ten  years  against  the  best  armies  and  the 
greatest  man  of  Rome  ; after  five  centuries  of  Roman  dominion  she 
opposed  no  resistance  to  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians,  Germans, 
Goths,  Alans,  Burgundians,  and  Franks,  who  destroyed  bit  by  bit 
the  Roman  empire.  In  this  humiliation  and,  one  might  say, 
annihilation  of  a population  so  independent,  so  active,  and  so 
valiant  at  its  first  appearance  in  history,  is  to  be  seen  the  charac- 
teristic of  this  long  epoch.  It  is  worth  while  to  learn  and  to 
understand  how  it  was. 

Gaul  lived,  during  those  five  centuries,  under  very  different 
rules  and  rulers.  They  may  be  summed  up  under  five  names 
which  correspond  with  governments  very  unequal  in  merit  and 
defect,  in  good  and  evil  wrought  for  their  epoch  : 1st,  the  Caesars, 
from  Julius  to  Nero  (from  49  b.c.  to  a.d.  68)  ; 2nd,  the  Flavians, 
from  Vespasian  to  Domitian  (from  a.d.  69  to  95)  ; 3rd,  the 
Antonines,  from  Nerva  to  Marcus  Aurelius  (from  a.d.  96  to  180)  ; 
4th,  the  imperial  anarchy,  or  the  thirty-nine  emperors  and  the 
thirty-one  tyrants,  from  Com  modus  to  Carinus  and  Numerian 
(from  a.d.  180  to  284) ; 5th,  Diocletian  (from  a.d.  284  to  305). 
Through  all  these  governments,  and  in  spite  of  their  different 
results  for  their  contemporary  subjects,  the  fact  already  pointed  out 
as  the  general  and  definite  charasteristic  of  that  long  epoch,  to  wit, 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans. 


T7 


the  moral  and  social  decadence  of  Gaul  as  well  as  of  the  Eoman 
empire,  never  ceased  to  continue  and  spread. 

On  quitting  conquered  Gaul  to  become  master  at  Eome,  Caesar  New  divi- 
neglected  nothing  to  assure  his  conquest  and  make  it  conducive  to 
the  establishment  of  his  empire.  He  formed  of  all  the  Gallic 
districts  that  he  had  subjugated  a special  province,  which  received 
the  name  of  Gallia  Comata  (Gaul  of  the  long-hair),  whilst  the  old 
province  was  called  Gallia  Togata  (Gaul  of  the  toga).  Caesar 
caused  to  he  enrolled  amongst  his  troops  a multitude  of  Gauls, 

Belgians,  Arvernians,  and  Aquitanians,  of  whose  bravery  he  had 
made  proof.  He  even  formed,  almost  entirely  of  Gauls,  a special 
legion,  called  Alauda  (lark),  because  it  bore  on  the  helmets  a lark 
with  out-spread  wings,  the  symbol  of  wakefulness.  At  the  same 
time  he  gave  in  Gallia  Comaia , to  the  towns  and  families  that 
declared  for  him,  all  kinds  of  favours,  the  rights  of  Eoman  citizen- 
ship, the  titles  of  allies,  clients,  and  friends,  even  to  the  extent 
of  the  Julian  name,  a sign  of  the  most  powerful  Eoman  patronage. 

After  Csesar,  Augustus,  left  sole  master  of  the  Eoman  world,  Augustus, 
assumed  in  Gaul,  as  elsewhere,  the  part  of  pacificator,  repairer,  con-  ^ a^agctera 
servator,  and  organizer,  whilst  taking  care,  with  all  his  moderation,  vernrae-t. 
to  remain  always  the  master.  He  divided  the  provinces  into  im- 
perial and  senatorial,  reserving  to  himself  the  entire  government 
of  the  former,  and  leaving  the  latter  under  the  authority  of  the 
senate.  Gaul  “ of  the  long  hair,”  all  that  Caesar  had  conquered, 
was  imperial  province.  Augustus  divided  it  info  three  districts, 
Lugdunensian  (Lyonese),  Belgian,  and  Aquitanian.  He  recognized 
therein  sixty  nations  or  distinct  cityships  which  continued  to  have 
themselves  the  government  of  their  own  affairs,  according  to  their 
traditions  and  manners,  whilst  conforming  to  the  general  laws  of 
the  empire  and  abiding  under  the  supervision  of  imperial  governors, 
charged  with  maintaining  every  where,  in  the  words  of  Pliny  the 
Younger,  “the  majesty  of  Eoman  peace.”  The  administrative 
energy  of  Augustus  was  not  confined  to  the  erection  of  monuments 
and  to  festivals ; he  applied  himself  to  the  development  in  Gaul  of 
the  material  elements  of  civilization  and  social  order.  His  most 
intimate  and  able  adviser,  Agrippa,  being  settled  at  Lyons  as 
governor  of  the  Gauls,  caused  to  be  opened  four  great  roads,  starting 
from  a mile- stone  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  Lyonese  forum,  and 
going,  one  centrewards  to  Saintes  and  the  ocean,  another  south- 
wards to  Narbonne  and  the  Pyrenees,  the  third  north-westwards 
and  towards  the  Channel  by  Amiens  and  Boulogne,  and  the  fourth 
north-westwards  and  towards  the  Ehine.  Agrippa  founded  several 
considerable  colonies,  amongst  others  Cologne,  which  bore  his  name ; 

o 


Tiberius 
and  Cali- 
gula. 


Claudius. 


1 8 History  of  France . 

and  he  admitted  to  Gallic  territory  bands  of  Germans  who  ashed 
for  an  establishment  there. 

But  side  by  side  with  this  work  in  the  cause  of  civilization 
and  organization,  Augustus  and  his  Boman  agents  were  pursuing 
a work  of  quite  a contrary  tendency.  They  laboured  to  extirpate 
from  Gaul  the  spirit  of  nationality,  independence  and  freedom  ; 
they  took  every  pains  to  efface  every  where  Gallic  memories  and 
sentiments.  Gallic  towns  were  losing  their  old  and  receiving 
Boman  names  : August onemetum,  Augusta,  and  Augustodunum  took 
the  place  of  Gergovia , Noviodunum,  and  Bibrade.  The  national 
Gallic  religion,  which  was  Druidism,  was  attacked  as  well  as  the 
Gallic  fatherland,  with  the  same  design  and  by  the  same  means. 

Tiberius  carried  on  in  Gaul,  but  with  less  energy  and  less  care 
for  the  provincial  administration,  the  pacific  and  moderate  policy 
of  Augustus.  He  had  to  extinguish  in  Belgica,  and  even  in  the 
Lyonese  province,  two  insurrections  kindled  by  the  sparks  that 
remained  of  national  and  Druidic  spirit.  He  repressed  them 
effectually,  and  without  any  violent  display  of  vengeance.  He 
was  succeeded  by  Germanicr-is’  unworthy  son,  Caligula,  who  did 
just  one  sensible  and  useful  thing  during  the  whole  of  his  stay  in 
Gaul  : he  had  a light  house  constructed  to  illumine  the  passage 
between  Gaul  and  Great  Britain.  Some  traces  of  it,  they  say, 
have  been  discovered. 

His  successor,  Claudius,  brother  of  the  great  Germanicus,  and 
married  to  his  own  niece,  the  second  Agrippina,  was  born  at  Lyons, 
at  the  very  moment  when  his  father,  Drusus,  was  celebrating  there 
the  erection  of  an  altar  to  Augustus.  During  his  whole  reign  he 
showed  to  the  city  of  his  birth  the  most  lively  good-will,  and  the 
constant  aim  as  well  as  principal  result  of  this  good-will  was  to 
render  the  city  of  Lyons  more  and  more  Boman  by  effacing  all 
Gallic  characteristics  and  memories.  He  undertook  to  assure  to  all 
free  men  of  “ long-haired  ” Gaul  the  same  Boman  privileges  that 
were  enjoyed  by  the  inhabitants  of  Lyons ; and,  amongst  others, 
that  of  entering  the  senate  of  Borne  and  holding  the  great  public 
offices.  He  was,  however,  neither  liberal  nor  humane  towards  a 
notable  portion  of  the  Gallic  populations,  to  wit,  the  Druids. 
During  his  stay  in  Gaul  he  proscribed  them  and  persecuted  them 
without  intermission ; forbidding,  under  pain  of  death,  their  form 
of  worship  and  every  exterior  sign  of  their  ceremonies.  He  drove 
them  away  and  pursued  them  even  into  Great  Britain,  whither  he 
conducted,  a.d.  43,  a military  expedition.  In  proportion  as  Claudius 
had  been  popular  in  Gaul  did  his  adopted  son  and  successor,  Nero, 
quickly  become  hated.  At  the  vacancy  that  occurred  after  his 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans. 


19 

death,  and  amid  the  claims  of  various  pretenders,  the  authority  of 
the  Roman  name  and  the  pressure  of  the  imperial  power  diminished 
rapidly  in  Gaul ; and  the  memory  and  desire  of  independence  were 
re-awakened.  In  the  northern  part  of  Belgica,  towards  the  mouths  A.D.  70 
of  the  Rhine,  where  a Batavian  peoplet  lived,  a man  of  note  amongst 
his  compatriots  and  in  the  service  of  the  Romans,  amongst  whom 
he  had  received  the  name  of  Claudius  Civil  is,  embraced  first 
secretly,  and  afterwards  openly,  the  cause  of  insurrection.  Petilius 
Cerealis,  a commander  of  renown  for  his  campaigns  on  the  Rhine, 
was  sent  off  to  Belgica  with  seven  fresh  legions.  He  was  as  skilful 
in  negotiation  and  persuasion  as  he  was  in  battle.  The  struggle 
that  ensued  was  fierce,  hut  brief ; and  nearly  all  the  towns  and 
legions  that  had  been  guilty  of  defection  returned  to  their  Roman 
allegiance.  • Civilis,  though  not  more  than  half  vanquished,  himself 
asked  leave  to  surrender.  The  Batavian  might,  as  was  said  at  the 
time,  have  inundated  the  country,  and  drowned  the  Roman  armies. 
Vespasian,  therefore,  not  being  inclined  to  drive  men  or  matters  to 
extremity,  gave  Civilis  leave  to  go  into  retirement  and  live  in  peace 
amongst  the  marshes  of  his  own  land.  The  Gallic  chieftains  alone, 
the  projectors  of  a Gallic  empire,  were  rigorously  pursued  and 
chastised. 

During  the  period  known  in  history  as  the  age  of  the  Antonines  The  Ante® 
(a.d.  96 — 180),  five  notable  sovereigns,  Nerva,  Trajan,  Hadrian,  Dines- 
Antoninus  Pius,  and  Marcus  Aurelius  swayed  the  Roman  empire. 

It  would  be  a great  error  to  take  them  as  representatives  of  the 
society  amidst  which  they  lived,  and  as  giving,  in  a certain  degree, 
the  measure  of  its  enlightenment,  its  morality,  its  prosperity,  its 
disposition  and  condition  in  general.  Those  five  princes  were  not 
only  picked  men,  superior  in  mind  and  character  to  the  majority  of 
their  contemporaries,  but  they  were  men  almost  isolated  in  their 
generation : in  them  there  was  a resumption  of  all  that  had  been 
acquired  by  Greek  and  Roman  antiquity  of  enlightenment  and 
virtue,  practical  wisdom  and  philosophical  morality  : they  were  the 
heirs  and  the  survivors  of  the  great  minds  and  the  great  politicians 
of  Athens  and  Rome,  of  the  Areopagus  and  the  Senate.  They 
were  not  in  intellectual  and  moral  harmony  with  the  society  they 
governed,  and  their  action  upon  it  served  hardly  to  preserve  it 
partially  and  temporarily  from  the  evils  to  which  it  was  committed 
by  its  own  vices  and  to  break  its  fall.  When  they  were  thoughtful 
and  modest,  as  Marcus  Aurelius  was,  they  were  gloomy  and  dis- 
posed to  discouragement,  for  they  had  a secret  foreboding  of  the 
uselessness  of  their  efforts.  The  empe- 

After  the  death  of  Marcus  Aurelius  decay  manifested  and  ^rcus6* 

C 2 Aurelius. 


20 


History  of  France. 


A.D.  245 — 
313. 

Diocletian. 


developed  itself,  almost  without  interruption  for  the  space  of  a 
century,  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  it  being  the  disorganization 
and  repeated  falls  of  the  government  itself.  The  series  of  em- 
perors given  to  the  Roman  world  by  heirship  or  adoption,  from 
Augustus  to  Marcus  Aurelius,  was  succeeded  by  what  may  be 
termed  an  imperial  anarchy;  in  the  course  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  years  the  sceptre  passed  into  the  hands  of  thirty-nine 
sovereigns  with  the  title  of  emperor  {Augustus),  and  was  clutched 
at  by  thirty-one  pretenders,  whom  history  has  dubbed  tyrants,  and 
amongst  whom  were  Italians,  Africans,  Spaniards,  Gauls,  Britons, 
Illyrians,  and  Asiatics  ; in  the  number  could  be  found  some  cases 
of  eminence  in  war  and  politics,  and  some  even  of  rare  virtue  and 
patriotism,  such  as  Pertinax,  Septimius  Severus,  Alexander  Severus, 
Decius,  Claudius  Gothicus,  Aurelian,  Tacitus,  and  Probus.  Gaul 
had  her  share  in  this  series  of  ephemeral  emperors  and  tyrants ; 
one  of  the  most  wicked  and  most  insane,  though  issue  of  one  of 
the  most  valorous  and  able,  Caracalla,  son  of  Septimius  Severus, 
was  born  at  Lyons,  four  years  after  the  death,  of  Marcus  Aurelius. 
A hundred  years  later  Narbonne  gave,  in  two  years,  to  the  Roman 
world  three  emperors,  Carus  and  his  two  sons,  Carinus  and  Eume- 
rian.  Amongst  the  thirty-one  tyrants  who  did  not  attain  to  the 
title  of  Augustus,  six  were  Gauls ; and  the  last  two,  Amandus  and 
iElianus,  were,  a.d.  285,  the  chiefs  of  that  great  insurrection  of 
peasants,  slaves  or  half-slaves,  who,  under  the  name  of  Bagaudians 
(signifying,  according  to  Ducange,  a wandering  troop  of  insurgents 
from  field  and  forest),  spread  themselves  over  the  north  of  Gaul, 
between  the  Rhine  and  the  Loire,  pillaging  and  ravaging  in  all 
directions,  after  having  themselves  endured  the  pillaging  and 
ravages  of  the  fiscal  agents  and  soldiers  of  the  Empire. 

When  public  evils  have  reached  such  a pitch,  and  nevertheless 
the  day  has  not  yet  arrived  for  the  entire  disappearance  of  the 
system  that^  causes  them,  there  arises  nearly  always  a new  power, 
which,  in  the  name  of  necessity,  applies  some  remedy  to  an  in- 
tolerable condition.  On  the  present  occasion  that  power  was 
wielded  by  a Dalmatian  soldier,  named  Diocletian,  who  having 
been  raised  to  the  throne,  set  to  work  ably,  if  not  successfully,  to 
master  the  difficulty  of  government.  Convinced  that  the  empire 
was  too  vast,  and  that  a single  man  did  not  suffice  to  make  head 
against  the  two  evils  that  were  destroying  it — war  against  bar- 
barians on  the  frontiers,  and  anarchy  within — he  divided  the  Roman 
world  into  two  portions,  gave  the  West  to  Maximian,  one  of  his  com- 
rades, a coarse  but  valiant  soldier,  and  kept  the  East  himself.  To 
the  anarchy  that  reigned  within  he  opposed  a general  despotic  admi- 


The  Gauls  and  the  Romans. 


21 


nistrative  organization,  a vast  hierarchy  of  civil  and  military  agents, 
every  where  present,  every  where  masters,  and  dependent  upon  the 
emperor  alone.  By  his  incontestable  and  admitted  superiority, 
Diocletian  remained  the  soul  of  these  two  bodies.  At  the  end  of 
eight  years  he  saw  that  the  two  empires  were  still  too  vast ; and  to 
each  Augustus  he  added  a Caesar— Galerius  and  Constantius  Chiorus 
— who,  save  a nominal,  rather  than  a real,  subordination  to  the  two 
emperors,  had,  each  in  his  own  State,  the  imperial  power  with  the 
same  administrative  system.  In  this  partition  of  the  Roman  world 
Gaul  had  the  best  of  it ; she  had  for  master  Constantius  Chiorus,  a 
tried  warrior,  but  just,  gentle,  and  disposed  to  temper  the  exercise 
of  absolute  power  with  moderation  and  equity.  He  had  a son, 
Constantine,  at  this  time  eighteen  years  of  age,  whom  he  was 
educating  carefully  foi^  government  as  well  as  for  war.  Weary, 
however,  of  his  burden,  and  disgusted  with  the  imperfection  of  his 
work,  Diocletian  abdicated,  a.d.  305.  He  had  persuaded  or  rather 
dragged  his  first  colleague,  Maximian,  into  abdication  after  him ; 
and  so  (Valerius  in  the  East,  and  Constantius  Chiorus  in  the  West, 
remained  sole  emperors.  After  the  retirement  of  Diocletian, 
ambitions,  rivalries  and  intrigues  were  not  slow  to  make  hea  l ; 
Maximian  reappeared  on  the  scene  of  empire,  but  only  to  speedily 
disappear  (a.d.  310),  leaving  in  his  place  his  son  Maxentius. 
Constantius  Chiorus  had  died  a.d.  306,  and  his  son,  Constantine, 
had  immediately  been  proclaimed  by  his  army  Caesar  and  Augustus. 

Galerius  died  a d.  311,  and  Constantine  remained  to  dispute  the  Constan- 
mastery  with  Maxentius  in  the  West,  and  in  the  East  with  Maxi- 
minus  and  Licinius,  the  last  colleagues  taken  by  Diocletian  and 
Galerius.  On  the  29th  of  October,  a.d.  312,  after  having  gained 
several  battles  against  Maxentius  in  Italy,  at  Milan,  Brescia,  and 
Verona,  Constantine  pursued  and  defeated  him  before  Rome,  on 
the  borders  of  the  Tiber,  at  the  foot  of  the  Milvian  bridge ; and 
the  son  of  Maximian,  drowned  in  the  Tiber,  left  to  the  son  of 
Constantius  Chiorus  the  Empire  of  the  West,  to  which  that  of  the 
East  was  destined  to  be  in  a few  years  added,  by  the  defeat  and 
death  of  Licinius.  Constantine,  more  clear-sighted  and  more 
fortunate  than  any  of  his  predecessors,  had  understood  his  era,  and 
opened  his  eyes  to  the  new  light  which  was  rising  upon  the  world. 

Ear  from  persecuting  the  Christians,  he  had  given  them  protection, 
countenance,  and  audience ; and  towards  him  turned  all  their 
hopes.  He  had  even,  it  is  said,  in  his  last  battle  against  Maxen- 
tius, displayed  the  Christian  banner,  the  cross,  with  this  inscrip- 
tion: Hoc  signo  vinces  (“With  this  device  thou  shalt  conquer’’). 

There  is  no  knowing  what  was  at  that  time  the  state  of  his  soul, 


22 


History  of  France , 


and  to  what  extent  it  was  penetrated  by  the  first  rays  of  Christian 
faith ; but  it  is  certain  that  he  was  the  first  amongst  the  masters  of 
the  Itoman  world  to  perceive  and  accept  its  influence.  With  him 
Paganism  fell,  and  Christianity  mounted  the  throne.  With  him 
the  decay  of  Roman  society  stops,  and  the  era  of  modern  society 
commences. 


CHAPTER  II. 


CHRISTIANITY  IN  GAUL. — THE  BARBARIANS.— THE  MEROVINGIAN 
DYNASTY. — CHARLEMAGNE. 

When  Christianity  began  to  penetrate  into  Gaul,  it  encountered 
there  two  religions  very  different  one  from  the  other,  and  infinitely 
more  different  from  the  Christian  religion  ; these  were  Druidism 
and  Paganism— hostile  one  to  the  other,  but  with  a hostility 
political  only,  and  unconnected  with  those  really  religious  questions 
that  Christianity  was  coming  to  raise. 

Druidism,  considered  as  a religion,  was  a mass  of  confusion,  Druidism, 
wherein  the  instinctive  notions  of  the  human  race  concerning  the 
origin  and  destiny  of  the  world  and  of  mankind  were  mingled  with 
the  oriental  dreams  of  metempsychosis — that  pretended  transmigra- 
tion, at  successive  periods,  of  immortal  souls  into  divers  creatures. 

This  confusion  was  worse  confounded  by  traditions  borrowed  from 
the  mythologies  of  the  East  and  the  North,  by  shadowy  remnants 
of  a symbolical  worship  paid  to  the  material  forces  of  nature,  and 
by  barbaric  practices,  such  as  human  sacrifices,  in  honour  of  the 
gods  or  of  the  dead.  A general  and  strong,  but  vague  and  inco- 
herent, belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  was  its  noblest 
characteristic.  But  with  the  religious  elements,  at  the  same  time 
coarse  and  mystical,  were  united  two  facts  of  importance  : the 
Druids  formed  a veritable  ecclesiastical  corporation ; and  in 


24 


History  of  France . 


Paganism. 


Christi- 

anity 


4 


TheChnrch 
at  Lyons. 


the  wars  with  Borne  this  corporation  became  the  most  faithful 
representatives  and  the  most  persistent  defenders  of  Gallic  inde- 
pendence and  nationality. 

The  Grseco-Boman  Paganism  was,  at  this  time,  far  more  powerful 
than  Druidism  in  Gaul,  and  yet  more  lukewarm  and  destitute  of 
all  religious  vitality.  It  was  the  religion  of  the  conquerors  and  of 
the  State,  and  was  invested,  in  that  quality,  with  real  power ; but 
beyond  that,  it  had  but  the  power  derived  from  popular  customs 
and  superstitions.  As  a religious  creed,  the  Latin  Paganism  was  at 
bottom  empty,  indifferent,  and  inclined  to  tolerate  all  religions  in 
the  State,  provided  only  that  they,  in  their  turn,  were  indifferent 
at  any  rate  towards  itself,  and  that  they  did  not  come  troubling  the 
State,/ either  by  disobeying  her  rulers  or  by  attacking  her  old 
deities,  dead  and  buried  beneath  their  own  still  standing  altars. 

Such  were  the  two  religions  with  which  in  Gaul  nascent  Chris- 
tianity had  to  contend.  Compared  with  them,  it  was,  to  all 
appearance,  very  small  and  very  weak ; but  it  was  provided  with 
the  most  efficient  weapons  for  fighting  and  beating  them,  for  it 
had  exactly  the  moral  forces  which  they  lacked.  To  the  pagan 
indifference  of  the  Boman  world  the  Christians  opposed  the  pro- 
found conviction  of  their  faith,  and  not  only  their  firmness  in 
defending  it  against  all  powers  and  all  dangers,  but  also  their 
ardent  passion  for  propagating  it,  without  any  motive  but  the 
yearning  to  make  their  fellows  share  in  its  benefits  and  its  hopes. 
And  it  was  not  in  memory  of  old  and  obsolete  mythologies,  but  in 
the  name  of  recent  deeds  and  persons,  in  obedience  to  laws  pro- 
ceeding from  God,  One  and  Universal,  in  fulfilment  and  continua- 
tion of  a contemporary  and  superhuman  history — that  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  Man — that  the  Christians  of 
the  first  two  centuries  laboured  to  convert  to  their  faith  the  whole 
Boman  world.  It  is  impossible  to  assign  with  exactness  the  date 
of  the  first  foot-prints  and  first  labours  of  Christianity  in  Gaul. 
It  was  not,  however,  from  Italy,  nor  in  the  Latin  tongue  and 
through  Latin  writers,  but  from  the  East  and  through  the  Greeks, 
that  it  first  came  and  began  to  spread.  Marseilles  and  the  different 
Greek  colonies,  originally  from  Asia  Minor,  and  settled  upon  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  or  along  the  Bhone,  mark  the  route, 
and  were  the  places  whither  the  first  Christian  missionaries  carried 
their  teaching : on  this  point  the  letters  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
writings  of  the  first  two  generations  of  their  disciples  are  clear  and 
abiding  proof.  Lyons  became  the  chief  centre  of  Christian  preach- 
ing and  association  in  Gaul.  As  early  as  the  first  half  of  the  second 
century  there  existed  there  a Christian  congregation,  regularly 


Christianity  in  GanL 


25 


organized  as  a Church,  and  already  sufficiently  important  to  he  in 
intimate  and  frequent  communication  with  the  Christian  Churches 
of  the  East  and  West.  There  is  a tradition,  generally  admitted, 
that  St.  Pothinus,  the  first  Bishop  of  Lyons,  was  sent  thither  from 
the  East  by  the  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  St.  Polycarp,  himself  a disciple 
of  St.  John.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  Christian  Church  of 
Lyons  produced  Gaul’s  first  martyrs,  amongst  whom  was  the 
Bishop,  St.  Pothinus. 

It  was  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  most  philosophical  and  most 
conscientious  of  the  emperors,  that  there  was  enacted  for  the  first 
time  in  Gaul,  against  nascent  Christianity,  that  scene  of  tyranny 
and  barbarity  which  was  to  he  renewed  so  often  and  during  so 
many  centuries  in  the  midst  of  Christendom  itself ; for  in  the  year 
177,  that  is  only  three  years  after  the  victory  of  Marcus  Aurelius  tion  of  the 
over  the  Germans,  there  took  place,  undoubtedly  by  his  orders,  the  Christians, 
persecution  which  caused  at  Lyons  the  first  Gallic  martyrdom. 

This  was  the  fourth,  or,  according  to  others,  the  fifth  great  imperial 
persecution  of  the  Christians. 

Most  tales  of  the  martyrs  were  written  long  after  the  event,  and 
came  to  he  nothing  more  than  legends  laden  with  details  often 
utterly  puerile  or  devoid  of  proof.  The  martyrs  of  Lyons  in  the 
second  century  wrote,  so  to  speak,  their  own  history ; for  it  was 
their  comrades,  eye-witnesses  of  their  sufferings  and  their  virtue, 
who  gave  an  account  of  them  in  a long  letter  addressed  to  their 
friends  in  Asia  Minor,  and  written  with  passionate  sympathy  and 
pious  prolixity,  hut  hearing  all  the  characteristics  of  truth. 

The  persecution  of  the  Christians  did  not  stop  at  Lyons,  or 
with  Marcus  Aurelius ; it  became,  during  the  third  century,  the 
common  practice  of  the  emperors  in  all  parts  of  the  empire  : from 
a.d.  202  to  312,  under  the  reigns  of  Septimius  Severus,  Maximinus  A.D.  202— 
the  Eirst,  Decius,  Valerian,  Aurelian,  Diocletian,  Maximian,  and  _.  S13, 
Galerius,  there  are  reckoned  six  great  general  persecutions,  without  cutions. 
counting  others  more  circumscribed  or  less  severe.  The  emperors 
Alexander  Severus,  Philip  the  Arabian,  and  Constantius  Chlorus 
were  almost  the  only  exceptions  to  this  cruel  system ; and  nearly 
always,  wherever  it  was  in  force,  the  Pagan  mob,  in  its  brutality  or 
fanatical  superstition,  a<fded  to  imperial  rigour  its  own  atrocious 
and  cynical  excesses. 

But  Christian  zeal  was  supeiior  in  perseverance  and  efficacy  to 
Pagan  persecution.  St.  Pothinus  the  Martyr  was  succeeded  as 
bishop  at  Lyons  by  St.  Irenaeus,  the  most  learned,  most  judicious, 
and  most  illustrious  of  the  early  heads  of  the  Church  in  Gaul. 

Originally  from  Asia  Minor,  probably  from  Smyrna,  he  had  migrated 


A.D.  312. 
Constan- 
tine em- 
braces 
Christi- 
anity. 


26  History  of  France . 

to  Gaul,  at  what  particular  date  is  not  known,  and  had  settled  as  a 
simple  priest  in  the  diocese  of  Lyons,  where  it  was  not  long  before 
he  exercised  vast  influence,  as  well  on  the  spot  as  also  during  certain 
missions  entrusted  to  him,  and  amongst  them  one,  they  say,  to  the 
Pope  St.  Eleutherius  at  Rome.  Whilst  Bishop  of  Lyons,  from 
ad.  177  to  202,  he  employed  the  five  and  twenty  years  in  propa- 
gating the  Christian  faith  in  Gaul,  and  in  defending,  by  his  writings, 
the  Christian  doctrines  against  the  discord  to  which  they  had  already 
been  subjected  in  the  East,  and  which  was  beginning  to  penetrate  to 
the  West.  In  202,  during  the  persecution  instituted  by  Septimius 
Severus,  St.  Irenseus  crowned  by  martyrdom  his  active  and  influ- 
ential life.  It  was  in  his  episcopate  that  there  began  what  may  be 
called  the  swarm  of  Christian  missionaries,  who,  towards  the  end  of 
the  second  and  during  the  third  centuries,  spread  over  the  whole 
of  Gaul,  preaching  the  faith  and  forming  churches.  Some  went 
from  Lyons  at  the  instigation  of  St.  Irenseus  ; others  from  Rome, 
especially  under  the  pontificate  of  Pope  St.  Fabian,  himself  mar- 
tyred in  249 ; St.  Felix  and  St.  Fortunatus  to  Valence,  St.  Ferreol 
to  Besan^n,  St.  Marcellus  to  Chalons ^sur-Saone,  St.  Benignus  to 
Dijon,  St.  Trophimus  to  Arles,  St.  Paul  to  Narbonne,  St.  Saturninus 
to  Toulouse,  St.  Martial  to  Limoges,  St.  Andeol  and  St.  Privatus 
to  the  Cevennes,  St.  Austremoine  to  Clermont-Ferrand,  St.  Gatian 
to  Tours,  St.  Denis  to  Paris,  and  so  many  others  that  their  names 
are  scarcely  known  beyond  the  pages  of  erudite  historians,  or«the 
very  spots  where  they  preached,  struggled,  and  conquered,  often  at 
the  price  of  their  lives.  Such  were  the  founders  of  the  faith  and  of 
the  Christian  Church  in  France.  At  the  commencement  of  the 
fourth  century  their  work  was,  if  not  accomplished,  at  any  rate 
triumphant ; and  when,  a.d.  312,  Constantine  declared  himself  a 
Christian,  he  confirmed  the  fact  of  the  conquest  of  the  Roman 
world,  and  of  Gaul  in  particular,  by  Christianity.  No  doubt  the 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  not  as  yet  Christians  ; but  it  was 
clear  that  the  Christians  were  in  the  ascendant  and  had  command 
of  the  future.  Of  the  two  grand  elements  which  were  to  meet 
together,  on  the  ruins  of  Roman  society,  for  the  formation  of 
modern  society,  the  moral  element,  the  Christian  religion,  had 
already  taken  possession  of  souls  ; the  devastated  territory  awaited 
the  coming  of  new  peoples  known  to  history  under  the  general 
name  of  Germans,  whom  the  Romans  called  the  barbarians. 

About  a.d.  241  or  242  the  sixth  Roman  legion,  commanded  by 
Aurelian,  at  that  time  military  tribune,  and  thirty  years  later 
emperor,  had  just  finished  a campaign  on  the  Rhine,  undertaken 
for  the  purpose  of  driving  the  Germans  from  Gaul,  and  was  pre- 


Christianity  in  GauL  27 

paring  for  Eastern  service,  to  make  war  on  the  Persians.  The 
soldiers  sang,— 

We  have  slain  a thousand  Franks  and  a thousand 

Sarmatians  ; we  want  a thousand,  thousand, 

Thousand  Persians. 

It  is  the  first  time  the  name  of  Franks  appears  in  history  ; and  A D.  241. 
it  indicated  no  particular  single  people,  hut  a confederation  of  First  ap ' 
Germanic  peoplets,  settled  or  roving  on  the  right  hank  of  the  0f  the 
Rhine,  from  the  Mayn  to  the  ocean.  The  number  and  the  names  Franks, 
of  the  tribes  united  in  this  confederation  are  uncertain.  The  tabula 
Peutingeri , bears,  over  a large  territory  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  the  word  Francia,  and  the  following  enumeration  : — “ The 
Chaucians,  the  Ampsuarians,  the  Cheruscans,  and  the  Chamavians, 
who  are  also  called  Franks and  to  these  tribes  divers  chroniclers 
added  several  others,  “ the  Attuarians,  the  Bructerians,  the  Cattians, 
and  the  Sicambrians.”  Whatever  may  have  been  the  specific 
names  of  these  peoplets,  they  were  all  of  German  race,  called  them- 
selves Franks,  that  is  “freemen,”  and  made,  sometimes  separately, 
sometimes  collectively,  continued  incursions  into  Gaul — especially 
Belgica  and  the  northern  portions  of  Lyonnes — at  one  time  plun- 
dering and  ravaging,  at  another  occupying  forcibly,  or  demanding 
of  the  Roman  emperors  lands  whereon  to  settle.  Frqm  the  middle 
of  the  third  to  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  the  history 
of  the  Western  empire  presents  an  almost  uninterrupted  series 
of  these  invasions  on  the  part  of  the  Franks,  together  with  the 
different  relationships  established  between  them  and  the  Imperial 
Government. 

After  the  commencement  of  the  fifth  century,  from  a.d.  406  to  AD. 406— » 
409,  it  was  no  longer  by  incursions  limited  to  certain  points,  and  Inv^g?°n 
sometimes  repelled  with  success,  that  the  Germans  hafhssed  the  0f  the 
Roman  provinces ; a veritable  deluge  of  divers  nations,  forced  one  Barba- 
upon  another,  from  Asia  into  Europe,  by  wars  and  migration  in  rians* 
mass,  inundated  the  empire  and  gave  the  decisive  signal  for  its 
fall.  Then  took  place  throughout  the  Roman  empire,  in  the  East 
as  well  as  in  the  West,  in  Asia  and  Africa  as  well  as  in  Europe,  the 
last  grand  struggle  between  the  Roman  armies  and  the  barbarians,  struggle 
It  was  in  Gaul  that  it  was  most  obstinate  and  most  promptly  in  Gaul* 
brought  to  a decisive  issue,  and  the  confusion  there  was  as  great  as 
the  obstinacy.  Barbaric  peoplets  served  in  the  ranks  and  barbaric 
leaders  held  the  command  of  the  Roman  armies : Stilicho  was  a 
Goth  ; Arbogastes  and  Mellobaudes  were  I^ranks : Ricimer  was  a 
Suevian.  The  Roman  generals,  Bonifacius,  Aetius,  ^Egidius, 

Syagrius,  at  one  time  fought  the  barbarians,  at  another  negotiated 


28  History  of  France. 

with  such  and  such  of  them,  either  to  entice  them  to  take  service 
against  other  barbarians,  or  to  promote  the  objects  of  personal 
ambition;  for  the  Roman  generals  also,  under  the  title  of  patrician, 
consul,  or  proconsul,  aspired  to  and  attained  a sort  of  political 
independence,  and  contributed  to  the  dismemberment  of  the  empire 
in  the  very  act  of  defending  it.  No  later  than  a.d.  412  two 
German  nations,  the  Visigoths  and  the  Burgundians,  took  their 
stand  definitely  in  Gaul,  and  founded  there  two  new  kingdoms  : 
the  Visigoths,  under  their  kings  Ataulph  and  Wallia,  in  Aquitania 
and  Narbonness ; the  Burgundians,  under  their  kings  Gundichaire 
and  Gundioch,  in  Lyonness,  from  the  southern  point  of  Alsatia 
right  into  Provence,  along  the  two  banks,  of  the  Saone  and  the  left 
A.D.  451.  hank  of  the  Rhone,  and  also  in  Switzerland.  In  451  the  arrival  in 
Attila  and  Gaul  of  the  Huns  and  their  king  Attila  gravely  complicated  the 
situation.  The  common  interest  of  resistance  against  the  most 
barbarous  of  barbarians,  and  the  renown  and  energy  of  the  Roman 
general  Aetius,  united,  for  the  moment,  the  old  and  new  masters 
of  Gaul ; Romans,  Gauls,  Visigoths,  Burgundians,  Pranks,  Alans, 
Saxons,  and  Britons,  formed  the  army  led  by  Aetius  against  that 
of  Attila,  who  also  had  in  his  ranks  Goths,  Burgundians,  Gepidians, 
Alans,  and  beyond- Rhine  Pranks,  gathered  together  and  enlisted 
on  his  road.  Driven  from  Orleans,  the  Huns  retired  towards 
Champagne,  which  they  had  already  crossed  at  their  coming  into 
Gaul,'  and  arrived  at  the  plains  hard  by  Chalons-sur-Marne  ; Aetius 
and  all  his  allies  had  followed  them  ; and  Attila,  perceiving  that 
A.D.  451.  a battle  was  inevitable,  halted  in  a position  for  delivering  it.  “ It 
Battle  of  was,”  says  the  Gothic  historian  Jornandes,  “a  battle  which  for 
Chalons.  atr0city,  multitude,  horror,  and  stubbornness  has  not  the  like  in 
the  records  of  antiquity.”  Historians  vary  in  their  exaggerations 
of  the  numbers  engaged  and  killed : according  to  some,  three 
hundred  thousand,  according  to  others,  one  hundred  and  sixty-two 
thousand  were  left  on  the  field  of  battle.  Theodoric,  King  of  the 
Visigoths,  was  killed.  The  battle  of  Chalons  drove  the  Huns  out 
of  Gaul,  and  was  the  last  victory  in  Gaul,  gained  still  in  the  name 
of  the  Roman  empire,  but  in  reality  for  the  advantage  of  the 
German  nations  which  had  already  conquered  it.  Twenty-four 
years  afterwards  the  very  name  of  Roman  empire  disappeared  with 
Augustulus,  the  last  of  the  emperors  of  the  West. 

Thirty  years  after  the  battle  of  Chalons  the  Pranks  settled  in 
Gaul  were  not  yet  united  as  one  nation  ; the  two  principal  Prankish 
tribes  were  those  of  the  Salian  Pranks  and  the  Ripuarian  Franks, 
established,  the  latter  in  the  east  of  Belgica,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Moselle  and  the  Rhine ; the  former,  towards  the  west,  between  the 


Clovis . 


29 


Meuse,  the  ocean,  and  the  Somme.  Meroveus,  whose  name  was 
perpetuated  in  his  line,  was  one  of  the  principal  chieftains  of  the 
Salian  Franks  ; and  his  son  Childeric,  who  resided  at  Tournay, 
where  his  tomb  was  discovered  in  1655,  was  the  father  of  Clovis, 
who  succeeded  him  in  481,  and  with  whom  really  commenced  the 
kingdom  and  history  of  France. 

Clovis  was  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  old  when  he  became  King  of  A.D.  481. 
the  Salian  Franks  of  Tournay.  Five  years  afterwards  his  ruling  tte 

passion,  ambition,  exhibited  itself,  together  with  that  mixture  of  Salian 
boldness  and  craft  which  was  to  characterize  his  whole  life.  He  Franks, 
attacked  first  the  Boman  patrician  Syagrius,  who  was  left  master 
at  Soissons  after  the  death  of  his  father  iEgidius,  and  whom 
Gregory  of  Tours  calls  “King  of  the  Bomans;”  having  put  him 
to  death,  he  settled  himself  at  Soissons,  and  from  thence  set  on 
foot,  in  the  country  between  the  Aisne  and  the  Loire,  plun- 
dering and  subjugating  expeditions  which  speedily  increased 
his  domains  and  wealth,  and  extended  far  and  wide  his  fame 
as  well  as  his  ambition.  His  marriage  with  Clotilde,  niece  of  A.D.  493. 
Gondebaud,  then  King  of  the  Burgundians  (493)  was,  for  the  public 
of  the  period,  for  the  barbarians  and  for  the  Gallo-Bomans,  a great 
matter.  Clovis  and  the  Franks  were  still  pagans ; Gondebaud  and 
the  Burgundians  were  Christians,  but  Arians ; Clotilde  was  a 
Catholic  Christian.  To  which  of  the  two,  Catholics  or  Arians, 
would  Clovis  ally  himself?  To  whom,  Arian,  pagan,  or  Catholic, 
would  Clotilde  be  married  ? Assuredly  the  bishops,  priests  and  all 
the  Gallo-Boman  clergy,  for  the  most  part  Catholics,  desired  to 
see  Clovis,  that  young  and  audacious  Frankish  chieftain,  take  to 
wife  a Catholic  rather  than  an  Arian  or  a pagan,  and  hoped  to 
convert  the  pagan  Clovis  to  Christianity  much  more  than  an  Arian 
to  orthodoxy. 

The  consequences  of  the  marriage  justified  before  long  the  im- 
portance which  had  on  all  sides  been  attached  to  it.  In  496  the 
Allemannians,  a Germanic  confederation  like  the  Franks,  who  also 
had  been,  for  some  time  past,  assailing  the  Bom  an  empire  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ehine  or  the  frontiers  of  Switzerland,  crossed  the 
river,  and  invaded  the  settlements  of  the  Franks  on  the  left  bank. 

Clovis  went  to  the  aid  of  his  confederation  and  attacked  the 
Allemannians  at  Tolbiac,  near  Cologne.  He  had  with  him  Aurelian,  a.D.  466. 
who  had  been  his  messenger  to  Clotilde,  whom  he  had  made  Duke  Battle  of 
of  Melun,  and  who  commanded  the  forces  of  Sens.  The  battle 
was  going  ill ; the  Franks  were  wavering  and  Clovis  was  anxious. 

Before  setting  out  he  had,  it  is  said,  promised  his  wife  that  if  he 
were  victorious  he  would  turn  Christian.  Some  chroniclers  tell  us 


30 


History  of  France. 


A.D.  496. 
Conversion 
and  bap- 
tism of 
Clovis. 


Clovis  in- 
vades Bur- 
gundy, 


and  Aqui- 
tania. 


that  Aurelian,  seeing  the  battle  in  danger  of  being  lost,  said  to 
Clovis,  “My  lord  king,  believe  only  on  the  Lord  of  heaven  whom 
the  queen,  my  mistress,  preacheth.”  Clovis  cried  out  with  emotion, 
“ Christ  Jesus,  Thou  whom  my  queen  Clotilde  calleth  the  Son  of 
the  living  God,  I have  invoked  my  own  gods,  and  they  have  with- 
drawn from  me ; I believe  that  they  have  no  power  since  they 
aid  not  those  who  call  upon  them.  Thee,  very  God  and  Lord,  I 
invoke ; if  Thou  give  me  victory  over  these  foes,  if  I find  in  Thee 
the  power  that  the  people  proclaim  of  Thee,  I will  believe  on  Thee, 
and  will  be  baptized  in  Thy  name.”  The  tide  of  battle  turned  : 
the  Tranks  recovered  confidence  and  courage ; and  the  Alleman- 
nians,  beaten  and  seeing  their  king  slain,  surrendered  themselves  to 
Clovis,  saying,  “Cease,  of  thy  grace,  to  cause  any  more  of  our 
people  to  perish  ; for  we  are  thine.” 

The  baptism  of  Clovis  took  place  in  the  Cathedral  of  Rheims  on 
Christmas  Day,  496;  “ at  the  moment,”  says  the  historian  Hincmar, 
“ when  the  king  bent  his  head  over  the  fountain  of  life,  ‘ Lower  thy 
head  with  humility,  Sicambrian,’  cried  the  eloquent  bishop  ; 1 adore 
what  thou  hast  burned  : burn  what  thou  hast  adored.’  The  king’s 
two  sisters,  Alboflede  and  Lantechilde,  likewise  received  baptism; 
and  so  at  the  same  time  did  three  thousand  of  the  Frankish  army, 
besides  a large  number  of  women  and  children.” 

Clovis  was  not  a man  to  omit  turning  his  Catholic  popularity  to 
the  account  of  his  ambition.  He  learned  that  Gondebaud,  dis- 
quieted, no  doubt,  at  the  conversion  of  his  powerful  neighbour,  had 
just  made  a vain  attempt,  at  a conference  held  at  Lyons,  to  recon- 
cile in  his  kingdom  the  Catholics  and  the  Arians.  Clovis  considered 
the  moment  favourable  'to  his  projects  of  aggrandizement  at  the 
expense  of  the  Burgundian  king;  he  fomented  the  dissensions 
which  already  prevailed  between  Gondebaud  and  his  brother 
Godegisile,  assured  to  himself  the  latter’s  complicity,  and  suddenly 
entered  Burgundy  with  his  army.  Gondebaud,  betrayed  and 
beaten  at  the  first  encounter  at  Dijon,  fled  to  the  south  of  his 
kingdom,  and  went  and  shut  himself  .up  in  Avignon.  Clovis 
pursued  and  besieged  him  there ; and  having  reduced  him  to  the 
humble  position  of  a tributary,  he  transferred  to  the  Visigoths  of 
Aquitania  and  their  king,  Alaric  II.,  his  views  of  conquest.  He 
had  there  the  same  pretexts  for  attack  and  the  same  means  of 
success.  Alaric  and  his  Visigoths  were  Arians,  and  between 
them  and  the  bishops  of  Southern  Gaul,  nearly  all  orthodox 
Catholics,  there  were  permanent  ill-will  and  distrust.  In  507 
Clovis  assembled  his  principal  chieftains : and  “ It  displeases  me 
greatly,”  said  he,  “ that  these  Arians  should  possess  a portion  of 


Clovis . 


31 


the  Gauls ; march  we  forth  with  the  help  of  God,  drive  we  them 
from  that  land,  for  it  is  very  goodly,  and  bring  we  it  under  our 
own  power.  The  Franks  applauded  their  king ; and  the  army  set 
out  on  the  march  in  the  direction  of  Poitiers,  where  Alaric 
happened  at  that  time  to  be.  The  king  of  the  Visigoths  had 
prepared  for  the  struggle  ; and  the  two  armies  met  in  the  plain  of 
Vouille,  on  the  banks  of  the  little  river  Clain,  a few  leagues  from 
Poitiers.  The  battle  was  very  severe.  “ The  Goths,”  says  Gregory  a.D.  SOT. 
of  Tours,  “fought  with  missiles;  the  Franks  sword  in  hand.  BatUeof 
Clovis  met  and  with  his  own  hand  slew  Alaric  in  the  fray.” 

Beaten  and  kingless,  the  Goths  retreated  in  great  disorder ; and 
Clovis,  pursuing  his  march,  arrived  without  opposition  at  Bordeaux, 
where  he  settled  down  with  his  Franks  for  the  winter.  When  the 
war-season  returned,  he  marched  on  Toulouse,  the  capital  of  the 
Visigoths,  which  he  likewise  occupied  without  resistance,  and 
where  he  seized  a portion  of  the  treasure  of  the  Visigothic  kings. 

He  quitted  it  to  lay  siege  to  Carcassonne,  which  had  been  made  by 
the  .Romans  into  the  stronghold  of  Septimania. 

There  his  course  of  conquest  was  destined  to  end.  After  the 
battle  of  Vouille  he  had  sent  his  eldest  son  Theodoric  in  command 
of  a division,  with  orders  to  cross  Central  Gaul  from  west  to  east, 
to  go  and  join  the  Burgundians  of  Gondebaud,  who  had  promised 
his  assistance,  and  in  conjunction  with  them  to  attack  the  Visigoths 
on  the  banks  of  the  Bhone  and  in  Narbonness.  The  young  Frank 
boldly  executed  his  father’s  orders,  but  the  intervention  of  Theodoric 
the  Great,  king  of  Italy,  prevented  the  success  of  the  operation. 

He  sent  an  army  into  Gaul  to  the  aid  of  his  son-in-law  Alaric  ; 
aud  the  united  Franks  and  Burgundians  failed  in  their  attacks 
upon  the  Visigoths  of  the  Eastern  Provinces.  Clovis  had  no  idea 
of  compromising  by  his  obstinacy  the  conquests  already  accom- 
plished ; he  therefore  raised  the  siege  of  Carcassonne,  returned 
first  to  Toulouse,  and  then  to  Bordeaux,  took  Angouleme,  the  only 
town  of  importance  he  did  not  possess  in  Aquitania  ; and  feeling 
reasonably  sure  that  the  Visigoths,  who,  even  with  the  aid  that 
had  come  from  Italy,  had  great  difficulty  in  defending  what  re- 
mained to  them  of  Southern  Gaul,  would  not  come  and  dispute 
with  him  what  he  had  already  conquered,  he  halted  at  Tours,  and 
stayed  there  some  time,  to  enjoy  on  the  very  spot  the  fruits  of  his 
victory  and  to  establish  his  power  in  his  possessions. 

It  appears  that  even  the  Britons  of  Armorica  tendered  to  him  at  that 
time,  through  the  interposition  of  Melanius,  Bishop  of  Pennes,  if  not  cfovis  rel 
their  actual  submission,  at  any  rate  their  subordination  and  homage,  ceives  the 
Clovis  at  the  same  time  had  his  self-respect  flattered  in  a patrician 

andConsul. 


A.D.  509. 
Murders  of 
Sigebert, 
Chararic, 
and  Rag- 
nacaire. 


A.D.  511. 

Death  of 
Clovis. 


A.D.  511— 
752. 

Partition 
of  the  Me- 
rovingian 
dominions. 


32  History  of  France . 

manner  to  which  barbaric  conquerors  always  attach  great  im- 
portance. Anastasius,  Emperor  of  the  East,  with  whom  he 
had  already  had  some  communication,  sent  to  him  at  Tours  a 
uolemn  embassy,  bringing  him  the  titles  and  insignia  of  Patrician 
and  Consul.  On  leaving  the  city  of  Tours  Clovis  repaired  to 
Paris,  where  he  fixed  the  seat  of  his  government. 

Paris  was  certainly  the  political  centre  of  his  dominions,  the 
intermediate  point  between  the  early  settlements  of  his  race  and 
himself  in  Gaul  and  his  new  Gallic  conquests ; but  he  lacked  some 
of  the  possessions  nearest  to  him  and  most  naturally,  in  his  own 
opinion,  his.  To  the  east,  north,  and  south-west  of  Paris  were 
settled  some  independent  Prankish  tribes,  governed  by  chieftains 
with  the  name  of  kings.  So  soon  as  he  had  settled  at  Paris,  it 
was  the  one  fixed  idea  of  Clovis  to  reduce  them  all  to  subjection. 
He  had  conquered  the  Burgundians  and  the  Yisigoths  ; it  remained 
for  him  to  conquer  and  unite  together  all  the  Franks.  The 
barbarian  showed  himself  in  his  true  colours,  during  this  new 
enterprise,  with  his  violence,  his  craft,  his  cruelty,  and  his  perfidy. 
He  began  with  the  most  powerful  of  the  tribes,  the  Ripuarian 
Franks ; then  came  the  Franks  of  Terouanne,  and  Chararic  their 
king;  Ragnacaire,  king  of  the  Franks  of  Cambria,  was  the  third 
to  be  attacked  ; finally,  Rignomer,  who  ruled  over  the  Franks  of 
Le  Mans,  was  put  to  death  by  the  order  of  Clovis.  So  Clovis 
remained  sole  king  of  the  Franks,  for  all  the  independent 
chieftains  had  disappeared. 

In  511,  the  very  year  of  his  death,  the  last  act  of  Clovis  in  life 
was  the  convocation  at  Orleans  of  a Council,  which  was  attended 
by  thirty  bishops  from  the  different  parts  of  his  kingdom,  and  at 
which  were  adopted  thirty-one  canons  that,  whilst  granting  to  the 
Church  great  privileges  and  means  of  influence,  in  many  cases 
favourable  to  humanity  and  respect  for  the  right  of  individuals, 
bound  the  Church  closely  to  the  State,  and  gave  to  royalty,  even 
in  ecclesiastical  matters,  great  power.  The  bishops,  on  breaking 
up,  sent  these  canons  to  Clovis,  praying  him  to  give  them  the 
sanction  of  his  adhesion,  which  he  did.  A few  months  afterwards, 
on  the  27th  of  November,  511,  Clovis  died  at  Paris,  and  was 
buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  now-a-days  St. 
Genevieve,  built  by  his  wife,  Queen  Clotilde,  who  survived  him. 

From  a.d.  511  to  a.d.  752,  that  is,  from  the  death  of  Clovis  to 
the  accession  of  the  Carlo vingians,  is  two  hundred  and  forty-one 
years,  wdiich  was  the  duration  of  the  dynasty  of  the  Merovingians. 
During  this  time  there  reigned  twenty-eight  Merovingian  kings, 
which  reduces  to  eight  years  and  seven  months  the  average  reign 


The  Merovingian  Dynasty.  33 

of  each,  a short  duration  compared  with  that  of  most  of  the 
royal  dynasties.  Five  of  these  kings,  Clotaire  I.;  Clotaire  II., 
Dagobert  I.,  Thierry  IV.,  and  Childeric  III.  alone,  at  different 
intervals,  united  under  their  power  all  the  dominions  possessed  by 
Clovis  or  his  successors.  The  other  kings  of  this  line  reigned*  only 
over  special  kingdoms,  formed  by  virtue  of  divers  partitions  at  the 
death  of  their  general  possessor.  From  ad.  511  to  638  five  such 
partitions  took  place.  In  511,  after  the  death  of  Clovis,  his 
dominions  were  divided  amongst  his  four  sons  ; Theodoric,  or 
Thierry  I.,  was  king  of  Metz ; Clodomir,  of  Orleans ; Childebert, 
of  Paris ; Clotaire  I.,  of  Soissons.  To  each  of  these  capitals  fixed 
boundaries  were  attached.  In  558,  in  consequence  of  divers 
incidents  brought  about  naturally,  or  by  violence,  Clotaire  I.  ended 
by  possessing  alone,  during  three  years,  all  the  dominions  of 
his  fathers.  At  his  death,  in  561,  they  were  partitioned  afresh 
amongst  his  four  sons  ; Charibert  was  king  of  Paris  ; Gontran,  of 
Orleans  and  Burgundy;  Sigebert  I.,  of  Metz;  and  Chilperic,  of 
Soissons.  In  567  Charibert,  king  of  Paris,  died  without  chil- 
dren, and  a new  partition  left  only  three  kingdoms,  Austrasia, 
iSeustria,  and  Burgundy.  Austrasia,  in  the  East,  extended  over 
the  two  banks  of  the  Rhine,  and  comprised,  side  by  side  with 
Roman  towns  and  districts,  populations  that  had  remained 
Germanic.  Neustria,  in  the  West,  was  essentially  Gallo-Roman, 
though  it  comprised  in  the  north  the  old  territory  of  the  Salian 
Franks,  on  the  borders  of  the  Scheldt.  Burgundy  was  the  old 
kingdom  of  the  Burgundians,  enlarged  in  the  north  by  some  few 
counties.  Paris,  the  residence  of  Clovis,  was  reserved  and 
undivided  amongst  the  three  kings,  kept  as  a sort  of  neutral  city 
into  which  they  could  not  enter  without  the  common  consent  of 
all.  In  613  new  incidents  connected  with  family  matters  placed 
Clotaire  II.,  son  of  Chilperic,  and  heretofore  king  of  Soissons,  in 
possession  of  the  three  kingdoms.  He  kept  them  united  up  to 
628,  and  left  them  so  to  his  son  Dagobert  I.,  who  remained  in 
possession  of  them  up  to  638.  At  his  death  a new  division  of 
the  Frankish  dominions  took  place,  no  longer  into  three,  but  two 
kingdoms,  Austrasia  being  one,  and  Heustria  and  Burgundy  the 
other.  This  was  the  definitive  dismemberment  of  the  great 
Frankish  dominion  to  the  time  of  its  last  two  Merovingian  kings, 
Thierry  IV.  and  Childeric  III.,  who  were  kings  in  name  only, 
dragged  from  the  cloister  as  ghosts  from  the  tomb,  to  play  a 
motionless  part  in  the  drama.  For  a long  time  past  the  real 
power  had  been  in  the  hands  of  that  valiant  Austrasian  family 

D 


A.L.  613. 
Clotaire  II. 
sole  king. 


34 


History  of  France. 


Southern 

Gaul 

strives  to 
be  inde- 
pendent. 


Character 
of  the  Me- 
rovingian 
kings. 


which  was  to  furnish  the  dominions  of  Clovis  with  a new  dynasty 
and  a greater  king  than  Clovis. 

Southern  Gaul,  that  is  to  say,  Aquitania,  Yasconia,  Narbonness, 
called  Septimania,  and  the  two  hanks  of  the  Rhone  near  its 
mouths,  were  not  comprised  in  these  partitions  of  the  Frankish 
dominions.  Each  of  the  co-parti ti oners  assigned  to  themselves,  to 
the  south  of  the  Garonne  and  on  the  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean, 
in  that  beautiful  region  of  old  Roman  Gaul,  such  and  such  a 
district  or  such  and  such  a town,  just  as  heirs-at-law  keep  to 
themselves  severally  such  and  such  a piece  of  furniture  or  such  and 
such  a valuable  jewel  out  of  a rich  property  to  which  they  succeed, 
and  which  they  divide  amongst  them.  The  peculiar  situation  of 
those  provinces  at  their  distance  from  the  Franks’  own  settlements 
contributed  much  towards  the  independence  which  Southern  Gaul, 
and  especially  Aquitania,  was  constantly  striving  and  partly 
managed  to  recover.  Amongst  the  various  Frankish  States, 
springing  from  a common  base  and  subdivided  between  the 
different  members  of  one  and  the  same  family,  rivalries,  enmities, 
hostile  machinations,  deeds  of  violence  and  atrocity,  struggles,  and 
wars  soon  became  as  frequent,  as  bloody,  and  as  obstinate  as  they 
have  ever  been  amongst  states  and  sovereigns  as  unconnected  as 
possible  one  with  another.  The  Merovingian  kings  were  as  greedy 
and  licentious  as  they  were  cruel.  JSTot  only  was  pillage,  in  their 
estimation,  the  end  and  object  of  war,  but  they  pillaged  even  in 
the  midst  of  peace  and  in  their  own  dominions ; sometimes  after 
the  Roman  practice,  by  aggravation  of  taxes  and  fiscal  manoeuvres, 
at  others  after  the  barbaric  fashion,  by  sudden  attacks  on  places 
and  persons  they  knew  to  be  rich.  Treason,  murder,  and  poisoning 
were  the  familiar  processes  of  ambition,  covetousness,  hatred, 
vengeance  and  fear.  Eight  kings  or  royal  heirs  of  the  Merovingian 
line  died  of  brutal  murder  or  secret  assassination,  to  say  nothing  of 
innumerable  crimes  of  the  same  kind  committed  in  their  circle, 
and  left  unpunished,  save  by  similar  crimes.  Nevertheless, 
justice  is  due  to  the  very  worst  times  and  the  very  worst  govern- 
ments ; and  it  must  be  recorded  that,  whilst  sharing  in  many  of 
the  vices  of  their  age  and  race,  especially  their  extreme  licence  of 
morals,  three  of  Clovis’s  successors,  Theodebert,  king  of  Austrasia 
(from  534  to  548),  Gontran,  king  of  Burgundy  (from  561  to  593), 
and  Dagobert  I.,  who  united  under  his  own  sway  the  whole 
Frankish  monarchy  (from  622  to  638),  were  less  violent,  less 
cruel,  less  iniquitous,  and  less  grossly  ignorant  or  blind  than  the 
majority  of  the  Merovingians. 


Dagobert  I. 


35 


The  rivalry  between  the  two  queens  Fredegonde  and  Brunehaut 
occupies  an  important  place  in  the  history  of  the  Merovingian 
epoch.  After  the  execution  of  Brunehaut  and  the  death  of 
Clotaire  II.,  the  history  of  the  Franks  becomes  a little  less  dark 
and  less  bloody. 

Despite  of  many  excesses  and  scandals,  Dagobert  was  the  most 
wisely  energetic,  the  least  cruel  in  feeling,  the  most  prudent  in 
enterprise,  and  the  most  capable  of  governing  with  some  little 
regularity  and  effectiveness,  of  all  the  kings  furnished,  since  Clovis, 
by  the  Merovingian  race.  He  had,  on  ascending  the  throne, 
this  immense  advantage,  that  the  three  Frankish  dominions, 
Austrasia,  Neustria  and  Burgundy,  were  re-united  under  his 
sway  ; and  at  the  death  of  his  brother  Charibert  he  added  thereto 
Aquitania.  The  unity  of  the  vast  Frankish  monarchy  was  thus 
re-established,  and  Dagobert  retained  it  by  his  moderation  at 
home- and  abroad.  Either  by  his  own  energy,  or  by  surrounding 
himself  with  wise  and  influential  counsellors,  such  as  Pepin  of 
Landen,  mayor  of  the  palace  of  Austrasia,  St.  Arnoul,  bishop  of 
Metz,  St.  Eligius,  bishop  of  Noyon,  and  St.  Audoenus,  bishop  of 
Rouen,  he  applied  himself  to,  and  succeeded  in  assuring  to  himself, 
in  the  exercise  of  his  power,  a pretty  large  measure  of  independence 
and  popularity.  At  the  beginning  of  his  reign  he  held,  in 
Austrasia  and  Burgundy,  a sort  of  administrative  and  judicial 
inspection,  halting  at  the  principal  towns,  listening  to  complaints, 
and  checking,  sometimes  with  a rigour  arbitrary  indeed,  but 
approved  of  by  the  people,  the  violence  and  irregularities  of  the 
grandees.  Nor  did  he  confine  himself  to  this  unceremonious 
exercise  of  the  royal  authority.  Some  of  his  predecessors,  and 
amongst  them  Childebert  I.,  Clotaire  I.,  and  Clotaire  II.,  had 
caused  to  be  drawn  up  in  Latin,  and  by  scholars,  digests  more  or 
less  complete  of  the  laws  and  customs  handed  down  by  tradition, 
amongst  certain  of  the  Germanic  peoples  established  on  Roman 
soil,  notably  the  laws  of  the  Salian  Franks  and  Ripuarian  Franks  ; 
and  Dagobert  ordered  a continuation  of  these  first  legislative 
labours  amongst  the  new-born  nations.  It  was,  apparently,  in 
his  reign  that  a digest  was  made  of  the  laws  of  the  Allemannians 
and  Bavarians.  He  had  also  some  taste  for  the  arts,  and  the  pious 
talents  displayed  by  Saints  Eloi  (Eligius)  and  Ouen  (Audoenus)  in 
gold  smiths’ -work  and  sculpture,  applied  to  the  service  of  religion 
or  the  decoration  of  churches,  received  from  him  the  support  of  the 
royal  favour  and  munificence.  His  authority  was  maintained  in  his 
dominions,  his  reputation  spread  far  and  wide,  and  the  name  of 
great  King  Dagobert  was  his  abiding  title  in  the  memory  of  the 

d 2 


A.D  628. 
King  Da- 
gobert. 


36 


History  of  France . 


A.D,  838— 
752. 

Last  Me- 
rovingian 
kings. 


Mayors  of 
the  palace. 


Power  of 
the  Austra- 
sian 
Franks. 


people.  Taken  all  in  all,  he  was,  next  to  Clovis,  the  most 
distinguished  of  Frankish  kings,  and  the  last  really  king  in  the 
line  of  the  Merovingians.  After  him,  from  638  to  752,  twelve 
princes  of  this  line,  one  named  Sigebert.  two  Clovis,  two  Childeric, 
one  Clotaire,  two  Dagobert,  one  Childebert,  one  Chilperic,  and  two 
Theodoric  or  Thierry,  bore  in  Neustria,  Austrasia,  and  Burgundy, 
or  in  the  three  kingdoms  united,  the  title  of  king,  without 
deserving  in  history  more  than  room  for  their  names.  There  was 
already  heard  the  rumbling  of  great  events  to  come  around  the 
Frankish  dominion  ; and  in  the  very  womb  of  this  dominion  was 
being  formed  a new  race  of  kings  more  able  to  bear,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  spirit  and  wants  of  their  times,  the  burden  of 
power. 

The  last  of  the  kings  sprung  from  Clovis  acquitted  themselves  too 
ill  or  not  at  all  of  their  task  ; and  the  mayors  of  the  palace  were 
naturally  summoned  to  supply  their  deficiencies,  and  to  give  the 
populations  assurance  of  more  intelligence  and  energy  in  the 
exercise  of  power.  The  origin  and  primitive  character  of  these 
supplements  of  royalty  were  different  according  to  circumstances ; 
some  being  appointed  by  the  kings  to  support  royalty  against  the 
“leudes”  (lieges),  others  chosen  by  the  “leudes”  against  the 
kings.  It  was  especially  between  the  FTeustrian  and  Austrasian 
mayors  of  the  palace  that  this  difference  became  striking.  Gallo- 
Boman  feeling  was  more  prevalent  in  Neustria,  Germanic  in 
Austrasia.  The  majority  of  the  ISTeustrian  mayors  supported  the 
interests  of  royalty,  the  Austrasian,  those  of  the  aristocracy  of 
landholders  and  warriors.  The  last  years  of  the  Merovingian  line 
were  full  of  their  struggles  ; but  a cause  far  more  general  and 
more  powerful  than  these  differences  and  conflicts  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  Frankish  dominions  determined  the  definitive  fall  of 
that  line  and  the  accession  of  another  dynasty ; we  allude  to  the 
great  invasions  of  barbarians  which  took  place  during  the  sixth 
century. 

Everywhere  resistance  to  this  new  movement  became  the 
national  attitude  of  the  Franks,  and  they  proudly  proclaimed 
themselves  the  defenders  of  that  West  of  which  they  had  but 
lately  been  the  conquerors.  The  ascendency  in  the  heart  of  the 
whole  of  Frankish  Gaul  thus  passed  to  the  Australians,  already 
bound  by  their  geographical  position  to  the  defence  of  their 
nation  in  its  new  settlement.  There  had  risen  up  amongst  them  a 
family,  powerful  from  its  vast  domains,  from  its  military  and 
political  services,  and  already  also  from  the  prestige  belonging  to 
the  hereditary  transmission  of  name  and  power.  Its  first  chief 


Pepin  of  Heristal. — Charles  Martel. 


37 


known  in  history  had  been  Pepin  of  Landen,  called  The  Ancient ; 
he  died  in  639,  leaving  to  his  family  an  influence  already 
extensive.  His  son  Griinoald  succeeded  him  as  mayor  of  the 
palace,  ingloriously ; but  his  grandson,  by  his  daughter  Bega, 
Pepin  of  Heristal,  was  for  twenty-seven  years  not  only  virtually, 
as  mayor  of  the  palace,  but  ostensibly  and  with  the  title  of  duke, 
the  real  sovereign  of  Austrasia  and  all  the  Frankish  dominion. 
He  did  not,  however,  take  the  name  of  king  ; and  four  descendants 
of  Clovis,  Thierry  III.,  Clovis  III.,  Childebert  III.  and  Dago- 
bert  III.  continued  to  bear  that  title  in  Keustria  and  Burgundy, 
under  the  preponderating  influence  of  Pepin  of  Heristal.  He  did, 
during  his  long  sway,  three  things  of  importance.  He  struggled 
without  cessation  to  keep  or  bring  back  under  the  rule  of  the 
Franks  the  Germanic  nations  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine, 
Frisons,  Saxons,  Thuringians,  Bavarians,  and  Allemannians  ; and 
thus  to  make  the  Frankish  dominion  a bulwark  against  the  new 
flood  of  -barbarians  who  were  pressing  one  another  westwards. 

He  rekindled  in  Austrasia  the  national  spirit  and  some  political 
life  by  beginning  again  the  old  March-parades  of  the  Franks, 
which  had  fallen  into  desuetude  under  the  last  Merovingians. 
Finally,  and  this  was,  perhaps,  his  most  original  merit,  he  under- 
stood of  what  importance,  for  the  Frankish  kingdom,  was  the 
conversion  to  Christianity  of  the  Germanic  peoples  over  the  Rhine, 
and  he  abetted  with  all  his  might  the  zeal  of  the  popes  and 
missionaries,  Irish,  Anglo-Saxon,  and  Gallo-Roman,  devoted  to 
this  great  work. 

On  the  death  of  Pepin  (Dec.  16,  714),  his  son  Charles,  at  that 
time  twenty-five  years  of  age,  was  proclaimed  Duke  of  Austrasia. 
He  was  destined  to  become  Charles  Martel. 

He  first  of  all  repelled  an  invasion  of  the  Frisons  and  Saxons  ; 
turning  then  against  the  Neustrians,  he  twice  succeeded  in  beat- 
ing, first  near  Cambrai,  and  then  near  Soissons  (717-718),  the 
Heustrian  king  and  Ragenfried,  the  mayor  of  the  palace,  pursued 
them  to  Paris,  and  remaining  temperate  amidst  the  triumph  of  his 
ambition,  he,  too,  took  from  amongst  the  surviving  Merovingians  a 
sluggard  king,  whom  he  installed  under  the  name  of  Clotaire  IV., 
himself  becoming,  with  the  simple  title  of  Duke  of  Austrasia, 
master  of  the  Frankish  dominion.  The  invasions  of  the  Arabs 
soon  placed  Aquitania  and  Vasconia  within  his  grasp. 

Eudes  or  Eudon,  duke  of  those  beautiful  provinces,  had  twice 
made  a gallant  effort  to  stem  the  progress  of  the  formidable 
soldiers  of  the  .Crescent ; at  last  he  was  obliged  to  seek  assistance 
from  the  Franks ; accordingly  he  repaired  in  all  haste  to  Charles 


A.D.  687. 
Pepin  of 
Heristal, 
mayor  of 
the  palace. 


Charles 

Martel. 


Invasions 
of  the 
Arabs. 


38 


History  of  France. 


A.D.  732. 
The  Arabs 
defeated. 


and  invoked  his  aid  against  the  common  enemy,  who,  after  having 
crushed  the  Aquitanians,  would  soon  attack  the  Franks,  and  sub- 
ject them  in  turn  to  ravages  and  outrages.  Charles  did  not 
require  solicitation.  He  took  an  oath  of  the  Duke  of  Aquitania 
to  acknowledge  his  sovereignty  and  thenceforth  remain  faithful 
to  him  ; and  then,  summoning  all  his  warriors,  Franks,  Bur- 
gundians, Gallo-Romans,  and  Germans  from  beyond  the  Rhine,  he 
set  himself  in  motion  towards  the  Loire.  It  was  time.  The 
Arabs  had  spread  over  the  whole  country  between  the  Garonne 
and  the  Loire ; they  had  even  crossed  the  latter  river  and  pene- 
trated into  Burgundy  as  far  as  Autun  and  Sens,  ravaging  the 
country,  the  towns  and  the  monasteries,  and  massacring  or  dis- 
persing the  population.  Abdel-Rhaman,  their  chief,  had  heard  tell 
of  the  city  of  Tours  and  its  rich  abbey,  the  treasures  whereof,  it 
was  said,  surpassed  those  of  any  other  city  and  any  other  abbey  in 
Gaul.  Burning  to  possess  it,  he  recalled  towards  this  point  his 
scattered  forces.  On  arriving  at  Poitiers  he  found  the  gates  closed 
and  the  inhabitants  resolved  to  defend  themselves  ; and,  after  a 
fruitless  attempt  at  assault,  he  continued  his  march  towards  Tours. 
He  was  already  beneath  the  walls  of  the  place  when  he  learnt  that 
the  Franks  were  rapidly  advancing  in  vast  numbers.  He  fell  back 
towards  Poitiers,  collecting  the  troops  that  were  returning  to  him 
from  all  quarters,  embarrassed  with  the  immense  booty  they  were 
dragging  in  their  wake.  He  had  for  a moment,  say  the  histo- 
rians, an  idea  of  ordering  his  soldiers  to  leave  or  burn  their  booty ; 
to  keep  nothing  but  their  arms,  and  think  of  nothing  but  battle  ; 
however  he  did  nothing  of  the  kind,  and,  to  await  the  Franks,  he 
fixed  his  camp  between  the  Vienne  and  the  &lain,  near  Poitiers,  not 
far  from  the  spot  where,  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  before, 
Clovis  had  beaten  the  Visigoths ; or,  according  to  others,  nearer 
Tours,  at  Mire,  in  a plain  still  called  the  Landes  de  Charlemagne. 

The  Franks  arrived.  It  was  in  the  month  of  September  or 
October,  732,  and  the  two  armies  passed  a week  face  to  face,  at 
one  time  remaining  in  their  camps,  at  another  deploying  without 
attacking.  It  was  a struggle  between  East  and  West,  South  and 
Horth,  Asia  and  Europe,  the  Gospel  and  the  Koran ; and  we  now 
say,  on  a general  consideration  of  events,  peoples,  and  ages,  that 
the  civilization  of  the  world  depended  upon  it.  At  the  breaking 
of  the  seventh  or  eighth  day,  Abdel-Rhaman,  at  the  head  of  his 
cavalry,  ordered  a general  attack  ; and  the  Franks  received  it 
with  serried  ranks,  astounding  their  enemies  by  their  tall  stature, 
stout  armour,  and  their  stern  immobility.  The  Franks,  finally,  had  . 
the  advantage ; a great  number  of  Arabs  and  Abdel-Rhaman 


39 


Policy  of  Charles  Martel. — His  death. 

himself  were  slain.  At  the  approach  of  night  both  armies  retired 
to  their  camps.  The  next  day,  at  dawn,  the  Franks  moved  out 
of  theirs,  to  renew  the  engagement;  the  Arabs  had  decamped 
silently  in  the  night,  leaving  the  bulk  of  their  booty,  and  by  this 
precipitate  retreat  acknowledging  a more  severe  defeat  than  they 
had  really  sustained  in  the  fight. 

Foreseeing  the  effect  which  would  be  produced  by  their  reverse 
in  the  country  they  had  but  lately  traversed  as  conquerors,  they 
halted  nowhere,  but  hastened  to  re-enter  Septimania  and  their 
stronghold  Barbonne,  where  they  might  await  reinforcements  from 
Spain.  Duke  Eudes,  on  his  side,  after  having,  as  vassal,  taken  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  Charles,  re-entered  his  dominions  of  Aqui- 
tania  and  Vasconia,  and  applie^  himself  to  the  re-establishment 
there  of  security. 

The  great  Duke  of  Austrasia  strengthened  his  power  by  occupy-  Charles 
ing  Burgundy  and  Provence  ; he  also  took  care  to  attract  or  retain  ^^yV0_ 
by  rich  presents,  particularly  by  gifts  of  lands,  the  warriors,  old  wards  the 
and  new  “leudes,”  who  formed  his  strength.  He  therefore  laid  “ Leudes’” 
hands  on  a great  number  of  the  domains  of  the  Church,  and  gave 
them,  with  the  title  of  benefices,  in  temporary  holding,  often  con- 
verted into  proprietorship,  and  under  the  style  of  precarious  tenure, 
to  the  chiefs  in  his  service.  There  was  nothing  new  in  this ; the 
Merovingian  kings  and  the  mayors  of  the  palace  had  more  than 
once  thus  made  free  with  ecclesiastical  property ; but  Charles 
Martel  carried  this  practice  much  farther  than  his  predecessors 
had.  He  did  more  ; he  sometimes  gave  his  warriors  ecclesiastical 
offices  and  dignities.  Whilst  thus  making  use,  at  the  expense  of  and  to- 
the  Church  and  for  political  interests,  of  material  force,  Charles  church 
Martel  was  far  from  misunderstanding  her  moral  influence,  and  the  * 
need  he  had  of  her  support  at  the  very  time  when  he  was  incurring 
her  anathemas.  Hot  content  with  defending  Christianity  against 
Islam  ism,  he  aided  it  against  Paganism,  by  lending  the  Christian 
missionaries  in  Germany  and  the  north-west  of  Europe,  amongst 
others  St.  Willibrod  and  St.  Boniface,  the  most  effectual  assistance. 

He  also  showed  himself  equally  ready  to  protect,  but  with  as  much 
prudence  as  good-will,  the  head  of  the  Christian  Church  (741) 
against  the  Lombards,  the  Pope’s  neighbours,  who  were  threatening 
to  besiege  Borne ; he  wished  to  do  something  in  favour  of  the 
Papacy  to  show  sincere  good-will,  without  making  his  relations  with 
useful  allies  subordinate  to  the  desires  of  the  Pope. 

Charles  Martel  had  not  time  to  carry  out  effectually  with  respect  A.D.  741. 
to  the  Papacy  this  policy  of  protection  and  at  the  same  time  of  in- 
dependence;  he  died  at  the  close  of  this  same  year,  October  22,  741,  Martel. 


40 


History  of  France . 


Policy  of 
Pepin  the 
Short. 


at  Kiersy-sur-Oise,  aged  fifty-two  years,  and  his  last  act  was  the 
least  wise  of  his  life.  He  had  spent  it  entirely  in  two  great 
works ; the  re-establishment  throughout  the  whole  of  Gaul  of  the 
Franco-Gallo-Roman  empire,  and  the  driving  hack,  from  the  fron- 
tiers of  this  empire,  of  the  Germans  in  the  north  and  the  Arabs 
in  the  south.  Tne  consequence,  as  also  the  condition,  of  this 
double  success  was  the  victory  of  Christianity  over  Paganism  and 
Islamism.  Charles  Martel  endangered  these  results  by  falling  back 
into  the  groove  of  those  Merovingian  kings  whose  shadow  he  had 
allowed  to  remain  on  the  throne.  He  divided  between  his  two 
legitimate  sons,  Pepin,  called  the  Short,  from  his  small  stature,  and 
Carloman,  this  sole  dominion  which  he  had'  with  so  much  toil 
reconstituted  and  defended.  Pippin  had  Neustria,  Burgundy, 
Provence,  and  the  suzerainty  of  Aquitaine ; Carloman  Austrasia, 
Thuringia,  and  Allemannia.  They  both,  at  their  father’s  death, 
took  only  the  title  of  mayor  of  the  palace,  and,  perhaps  of  duke. 
The  last  but  one  of  the  Merovingians,  Thierry  IV.,  had  died  in 
737.  Por  four  years  there  had  been  no  king  at  all. 

Brought  up  in  the  school  and  in  the  fear  of  their  father,  the  two 
sons  of  Charles  Martel,  Pepin  and  Carloman,  were  inoculated  with 
his  ideas  and  example ; they  remained  united  in  spite  of  the 
division  of  dominions,  and  laboured  together,  successfully,  to  keep 
down,  in  the  north  the  Saxons  and  Bavarians,  in  the  south  the 
Arabs  and  Aquitanians,  supplying  want  of  unity  by  union,  and 
pursuing  with  one  accord  the  constant  aim  of  Charles  Martel — 
abroad  the  security  and  grandeur  of  the  Frankish  dominion,  at 
home  the  cohesion  of  all  its  parts  and  the  efficacy  of  its  govern- 
ment. Events  came  to  the  aid  of  this  wise  conduct.  Five  years 
after  the  death  of  Charles  Martel,  in  746  in  fact,  Carloman,  already 
weary  of  the  burden  of  power,  and  seized  with  a fit  of  religious  zeal, 
abdicated  his  share  of  sovereignty,  left  his  dominions  to  his  brother 
Pepin,  had  himself  shorn  by  the  hands  of  Pope  Zachary,  and  with- 
drew into  Italy  to  the  monastery  of  Monte  Cassino. 

Pepin,  less  enterprising  than  his  father,  but  judicious,  persever- 
ing and  capable  of  discerning  what  was  at  the  same  time  necessary 
and  possible,  was  well  fitted  to  continue  and  consolidate  what  he 
would  probably  never  have  begun  and  created.  Like  his  father, 
he,  on  arriving  at  power,  showed  pretensions  to  moderation,  or,  it 
might  be  said,  modesty.  He  did  not  take  the  title  of  king  ; and, 
in  concert  with  his  brother  Carlornan,  he  went  to  seek,  heaven 
knows  in  what  obscure  asylum,  a forgotten  Merovingian,  son  of 
Chilperic  II.,  the  last  but  one  of  the  sluggard  kings,  and  made  him 
king,  the  last  of  his  line,  with  the  title  of  Childeric  III.,  himself, 


Pepin  the  Short , king  of  the  Franks. 


41 


as  well  as  his  brother,  taking  only  the  style  of  mayor  of  the  palace. 
But  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  and  when  he  saw  himself  alone  at  the 
head  of  the  Frankish  dominion,  Pepin  considered  the  moment 
arrived  for  putting  an  end  to  this  fiction.  Having  obtained  the 
sanction  of  Pope  Zachary  in  March,  752,  in  the  presence  and  with 
the  assent  of  the  general  assembly  of  “ leudes  ” and  bishops 
gathered  together  at  Soissons,  he  was  proclaimed  king  of  the 
Franks,  and  received  from  the  hand  of  St.  Boniface  the  sacred 
anointment.  They  cut  off  the  hair  of  the  last  Merovingian 
phantom,  Child  eric  III.,  and  put  him  away  in  the  monastery  of 
St.  Sithiu,  at  St.  Omer.  The  new  Gallo-Frankish  kingship  and 
the  Papacy,  in  the  name  of  their  common  faith  and  common 
interests,  thus  contracted  an  intimate  alliance. 

Pepin,  after  he  had  been  proclaimed  king  and  had  settled 
matters  with  the  Church  as  well  as  the  warlike  questions  re- 
maining for  him  to  solve  permitted,  directed  all  his  efforts 
towards  the  two  countries  which,  after  his  father’s  example,  he 
longed  to  reunite  to  the  Gallo-Frankish  monarchy,  that  is,  Septi- 
mania,  still  occupied  by  the  Arabs,  and  Aquitaine,  the  independence 
of  which  was  stoutly  and  ably  defended  by  Duke  Eudes’  grandson, 
Duke  Waifre.  The  conquest  of  Septimania  was  rather  tedious 
than  difficult;  in  759,  after  forty  years’  of  Arab  rule,  it  passed 
definitively  under  that  of  the  Franks,  who  guaranteed  to  the 
inhabitants  free  enjoyment  of  their  Gothic  or  Koman  law  and  of 
their  local  institutions. 

The  conquest  of  Aquitaine  and  Yasconia  was  much  more  keenly 
disputed  and  for  a much  longer  time  uncertain  ; i!  was  only  after 
nine  years’  war  and  seven  campaigns  full  of  vicissitudes  that  Pepin 
succeeded,  not  in  conquering  his  enemy  in  a decisive  battle,  but  in 
gaining  over  some  servants  who  betrayed  their  master.  In  the 
month  of  July,  759,  “Duke  Waifre  was  slain  by  his  own  folk,  by 
the  king’s  advice,”  says  Fredegaire ; and  the  conquest  of  all 
Southern  Gaul  carried  the  extent  and  power  of  the  Gallo-Frankish 
monarchy  farther  and  higher  than  it  had  ever  yet  been,  even  under 
Clovis. 

In  753  Pope  Stephen,  threatened  by  Astolphus,  king  of  the 
Lombards,  after  vain  attempts  to  obtain  guarantees  of  peace, 
repaired  to  Paris,  and  asked  the  assistance  of N Pepin  and  his 
warriors.  The  Franks  crossed  the  Alps  with  enthusiasm,  succeeded 
in  beating  the  Lombards,  and  shut  up  in  Pavia  King  Astolphus, 
who  was  eager  to  purchase  peace  at  any  price.  He  obtained  it  on 
two  principal  conditions:  1st,  that  he  would  not  again  make  a 
hostile  attack  on  Poman  territory  or  wage  war  against  the  Pope  or 


A.D.  75?. 
Pepin  p’  0- 
claimed 
king. 


A.D.  751. 
Pepin’s 
campaign 
in  Italy. 


42 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  768. 
Death  of 
Pepin. 


Charle- 
magne, 
his  charac- 
ter. 


people  of  Rome;  2nd,  that  he  would  henceforth  recognize  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Franks,  pay  them  tribute,  and  cede  forthwith 
to  Pepin  the  towns  and  all  the  lands,  belonging  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Roman  empire,  which  were  at  that  time  occupied  by  the 
Lombards.  By  virtue  of  these  conditions  Ravenna,  Rimini,  Pesaro, 
that  is  to  say,  the  Romagna,  the  Duchy  of  Urbino  and  a portion 
of  the  district  of  Ancona,  were  at  once  given  up  to  Pepin,  who, 
regarding  them  as  his  own  direct  conquest,  the  fruit  of  victory, 
disposed  of  them  forthwith,  in  favour  of  the  Popes,  by  that  famous 
deed  of  gift  which  comprehended  pretty  nearly  what  has  since 
formed  the  Roman  States,  and  which  founded  the  temporal  inde- 
pendence of  the  Papacy,  the  guarantee  of  its  independence  in  the 
exercise  of  the  spiritual  power. 

At  the  head  of  the  Pranks,  as  mayor  of  the  palace  from  741,  and 
as  king  from  752,  Pepin  had  completed  in  France  and  extended  in 
Italy  the  work  which  his  father,  Charles  Martel,  had  begun  and 
carried  on,  from  714  to  741,  in  State  and  Church.  He  left  France 
re-united  in  one  and  placed  at  the  head  of  Christian  Europe.  He 
died  at  the  monastery  of  St.  Denis,  September  18,  768,  leaving 
his  kingdom  and  his  dynasty  thus  ready  to  the  hands  of  his  son, 
whom  history  has  dubbed  Charlemagne. 

Pepin  the  Short  committed  at  his  death  the  same  mistake  that 
his  father,  Charles  Martel,  had  committed  ; he  divided  his  dominion 
between  his  two  sons,  Charles  and  Carloman,  thus  destroying  again 
that  unity  of  the  Gallo-Frankish  monarchy  which  his  father  and 
he  had  been  at  so  much  pains  to  establish.  But,  just  as  had  already 
happened  in  746  through  the  abdication  of  Pepin’s  brother,  events 
discharged  the  duty  of  repairing  the  mistake  of  men.  After  the 
death  of  Pepin,  and  notwithstanding  that  of  Duke  Waifre,  insur- 
rection broke  out  once  more  in  Aquitaine;  and  the  old  duke, 
Hunald,  issued  from  his  monastery  in  the  island  of  Rhe  to  try  and 
recover  power  and  independence.  Charles  and  Carloman  marched 
against  him  ; but  on  the  march  Carloman,  who  was  jealous  and 
thoughtless,  fell  out  with  his  brother,  and  suddenly  quitted  the 
expedition,  taking  away  his  troops.  Charles  was  obliged  to  con- 
tinue it  alone,  which  he  did  with  complete  success.  At  the  end  of 
this  first  campaign,  Pepin’s  widow,  the  Queen-mother  Bertha, 
reconciled  her  two  sons ; but  an  unexpected  incident,  the  death  of 
Carloman  two  years  afterwards,  in  771,  re-established  unity  more 
surely  than  the  reconciliation  had  re-established  harmony. 

The  original  and  dominant  characteristic  of  the  hero  of  this 
reign,  that  which  won  for  him  and  keeps  for  him  after  more  than 
ten  centuries  the  name  of  great,  is  the  striking  variety  of  his 


Charlemagne.— His  wars  against  the  Saxons . 43 

ambition,  his  faculties,  and  his  deeds.  Charlemagne  aspired  to, 
and  attained  to  every  sort  of  greatness,  military  greatness,  political 
greatness,  and  intellectual  greatness  ; he  was  an  able  warrior,  an 
energetic  legislator,  a hero  of  poetry.  And  he  united,  he  displayed 
all  these  merits  in  a time  of  general  and  monotonous  barbarism 
when,  save  in  the  Church,  the  minds  of  men  were  dull  and  barren. 

Those  men,  few  In  number,  who  made  themselves  a name  at  that 
epoch,  rallied  round  Charlemagne  and  were  developed  under  his 
patronage. 

A summary  of  the  wars  of  Charlemagne  will  here  suffice.  From 
769  to  813,  in  Germany  and  Western  and  Northern  Europe, 
Charlemagne  conducted  thirty-one  campaigns  against  the  Saxons, 

Erisons,  Bavarians,  Avars,  Slavons,  and  Danes ; in  Italy,  five 
against  the  Lombards ; in  Spain,  Corsica,  an<i  Sardinia,  twelve 
against  the  Arabs  ; two  against  the  Greeks ; and  three  in  Gaul 
itself,  against  the  Aquitanians  and  the  Britons  ; in  all  fifty-three 
expeditions ; amongst  which  those  he  undertook  against  the 
Saxons,  the  Lombards,  and  the  Arabs  were  long  and  difficult  wars. 

In  772,  being  left  sole  master  of  France  after  the  death  of  his  A D-  772 — 
brother  Carloman,  he  convoked  at  Worms  the  general  assembly  Wars  ' 
of  the  Franks,  “and  took,”  says  Eginhard,  “the  resolution  of  against 
going  and  carrying  war  into  Saxony.  He  invaded  it  without  tlae  Saxons, 
delay,  laid  it  waste  with  fire  and  sword,  made  himself  master  of 
the  fort  of  Ehresburg,  and  threw  down  the  idol  that  the  Saxons 
called  Irminsul .”  It  was  no  longer  the  repression  of  Saxon 

invasions  of  France,  but  the  conquest  of  Saxony  by  the  Franks 
that  was  to  be  dealt  with ; it  was  between  the  Christianity  of  the 
Franks  and  the  national  Paganism  of  the  Saxons  that  the  struggle 
was  to  take  place. 

For  thirty  years  such  was  its  character.  Charlemagne  regarded 
the  conquest  of  Saxony  as  indispensable  for  putting  a stop  to  the 
incursions  of  the  Saxons,  and  the  conversion  of  the  Saxons  to 
Christianity  as  indispensable  for  assuring  the  conquest  of  Saxony. 

The  principal  events  of  the  war  may  thus  be  summarily  enu- 
merated : — Compulsory  baptism  of  a large  number  of  the  Saxons 
who  had  been  driven  beyond  the  Weser  (774)  ; diet  of  Paderborn  ; 
all  the  chiefs  send  in  their  submission  except  Witti-kind  (777)  ; 
victories  of  Badenfeld  and  of  Buckholtz  (780)  ; slaughter  of 
4500  rebels  at  Verden  (782)  ; submission  of  Wittikind,  who 
embraced  Christianity  (785).  The  conqueror  could  only  finish  his 
work  of  subjection  by  removing  forcibly  from  the  country  ten 
thousand  families,  which  he  disseminated  throughout  Brabant  and 
Switzerland  (803). 


44 


History  of  France. 


A.D.  773. 
Wars  in 
Italy. 


A.D.  778. 
Charle- 
magne in 
Spain. 
Ronce3- 
valles. 


This  was  not,  however,  Charlemagne’s  only  great  enterprise  at 
this  epoch,  nor  the  only  great  struggle  he  had  to  maintain.  Whilst 
he  was  incessantly  fighting  in  Germany,  the  work  of  policy 
commenced  by  his  father  Pepin  in  Italy  called  for  his  care  and  his 
exertions.  The  new  king  of  the  Lombards,  Didier,  and  the  new 
Pope,  Adrian  I.,  had  entered  upon  a new  war  ; and  Didier  was 
besieging  Pome,  which  was  energetically  defended  by  the  Pope 
and  its  inhabitants.  In  773  Adrian  invoked  the  aid  of  the  King 
of  the  Franks,  who,  after  having  married  Desiree,  the  daughter  of 
Didier,  had  repudiated  her,  and  taken  as  his  wife  the  Suabian 
Hildegarde.  Charlemagne  tried,  by  means  of  special  envoys,  to 
obtain  from  the  king  of  the  Lombards  what  the  Pope  demanded. 
On  Didier’s  refusal  he  at  once  set  to  work,  convoked  the  general 
meetings  of  the  Franks,  at  Geneva,  in  the  autumn  of  773,  gained 
them  over,  not  without  encountering  some  objections,  to  the  pro- 
jected Italian  expedition,  and  forthwith  commenced  the  campaign 
with  two  armies.  He  finally  took  Pavia,  where  his  father-in-law 
had  shut  himself  up,  received  the  submission  of  all  the  Lombard 
dukes  and  counts,  save  one  only,  Aregisius,  duke  of  Beneventum, 
and  entered  France,  leading  with  him,  as  prisoner,  King  Didier, 
whom  he  banished  to  a monastery,  first  at  Liege  and  then  at  Corbie, 
where  the  dethroned  Lombard,  say  the  chroniclers,  ended  his 
days  in  saintly  fashion. 

“Three  years  afterwards,  in  777,  the  Saracen  chief  Ibn  al- 
Arabi,”  says  Eginhard,  “came  to  Paderborn  in  Westphalia,  to 
present  himself  before  the  king.  He  had  arrived  from  Spain, 
together  with  other  Saracens  in  his  train,  to  surrender  to  the  King 
of  the  Franks  himself  and  all  the  towns  which  the  King  of  the 
Saracens  had  confided  to  his  keeping.”  For  a long  time  past  the 
Christians  of  the  West  had  given  the  Mussulmans,  Arab  or  other, 
the  name  of  Saracens.  Ibn-al-Arabi  was  governor  of  Saragossa, 
and  one  of  the  Spanish- Arab  chieftains  in  league  against  Abdel- 
Bhaman,  the  last  offshoot  of  the  Ommiad  khalifs,  who,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Berbers,  had  seized  the  government  of  Spain. 
Amidst  the  troubles  of  his  country  and  his  nation,  Ibn-al-Arabi 
summoned  to  his  aid,  against  Abdel-Bhaman,  the  Franks  and  the 
Christians. 

Charlemagne  accepted  the  summons  with  alacrity.  With  the 
coining  of  spring  in  the  following  year,  778,  and  with  the  full 
assent  of  his  chief  warriors,  he  started  on  his  march  towards  the 
Pyrenees.  This  expedition,  however,  begun  under  the  most 
brilliant  and  favourable  auspices,  came  to  a melancholy  conclusion, 
the  rear-guard  of  the  Franks  being  cut  to  pieces  in  the  passes  of 


Result  of  Charlemagne  s Campaign.  45 

Roncesvalles  on  their  return  home.  This  disaster,  and  the  heroism 
of  the  warriors  who  perished  there,  became,  in  France,  the  object 
of  popular  sympathy,  and  the  favourite  topic  for  the  exercise  of 
the  popular  fancy.  The  Song  of  Roland , a real  Homeric  poem  in 
its  great  beauty,  and  yet  rude  and  simple  as  became  its  national 
character,  bears  witness  to  the  prolonged  importance  attained  in 
Europe  by  this  incident  in  the  history  of  Charlemagne.  Four 
centuries  later  the  comrades  of  William  the  Conqueror,  marching 
to  battle  at  Hastings  for  the  possession  of  England,  struck  up  The 
Song  of  Roland  “ to  prepare  themselves  for  victory  or  death.” 

There  is  no  determining  how  far  history  must  be  made  to  par- 
ticipate in  these  reminiscences  of  national  feeling  ; but  assuredly 
the  figures  of  Roland  and  Oliver,  and  Archbishop  Turpin,  and  the 
pious,  unsophisticated,  and  tender  character  of  their  heroism  are 
not  pure  fables  invented  by  the  fancy  of  a poet,  or  the  credulity  of 
a monk.  If  the  accuracy  of  historical  narrative  must  not  be  looked 
for  in  them,  their  moral  truth  must  be  recognized  in  their  pourtrayal 
of  a people  and  an  age. 

Although  continually  obliged  to  watch,  and  often  still  to  fight,  Recurs  cf 

Charlemagne  might  well  believe  that  he  had  nearly  gained  his  ctarle; 

00  J y magne  s 

end.  He  had  everywhere  greatly  extended  the  frontiers  of  the  wars. 

Frankish  dominions,  and  subjugated  the  populations  comprised  in  . 

his  conquests.  He  had  proved  that  his  new  frontiers  would  be 

vigorously  defended  against  new  invasions  or  dangerous  neighbours. 

He  had  pursued  the  Huns  and  the  Slavons  to  the  confines  of  the 

empire  of  the  East,  and  the  Saracens  to  the  islands  of  Corsica  and 

Sardinia.  The  centre  of  the  dominion  was  no  longer  in  ancient 

Gaul ; he  had  transferred  it  to  a point  not  far  from  the  Rhine,  in 

the  midst  and  within  reach  of  the  Germanic  populations,  at  the 

town  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  which  he  had  founded,  and  which  was 

his  favourite  residence ; but  the  principal  parts  of  the  Gallu- 

Erankish  kingdom,  Austrasia,  Reustria,  and  Burgundy  were 

effectually  welded  in  one  single  mass.  The  moral  influence  of 

Charlemagne  was  on  a par  with  his  material  power;  he  had 

everywhere  protected  the  missionaries  of  Christianity ; he  had 

twice  entered  Rome,  also  in  the  character  of  protector,  and  he 

could  count  on  the  faithful  support  of  the  Pope  at  least  as  much  as 

the  Pope  could  count  on  him.  He  had  received  embassies  and 

presents  from  the  sovereigns  of  the  East,  Christian  and  Mussulman, 

from  the  emperors  at  Constantinople  and  the  khalifs  at  Bagdad. 

Everywhere,  in  Europe,  in  Africa,  and  in  Asia,  he  was  feared  and 

respected  by  kings  and  people.  Such,  at  the  close  of  the  eighth 

century  were,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  the  result  of  his  wars, 


A D.  800. 
He  is 
crowned 
emperor. 


Charle- 

magne’s 

govern- 

ment. 


4 6 History  of  France . 

of  the  superior  capacity  lie  had  displayed,  and  of  the  successes  he 
had  won  and  kept. 

In  799  he  received,  at  Aix-la-Chapelie,  news  of  serious  dis- 
turbances which  had  broken  out  at  Rome  ; he  remained  all  the 
winter  at  Aix-la-Cliapelle,  spent  the  first  months  of  the  year 
800  on  affairs  connected  with  Western  France  ; then  journeying 
towards  Italy,  he  arrived  on  the  23rd  of  November,  800,  at  the 
gates  of  Rome.  The  pope  “ received  him  there  as  he  was  dis- 
mounting ; then,  the  next  day,  standing  on  the  steps  of  the  basilica 
of  St.  Peter  and  amidst  general  hallelujahs,  he  introduced,  the 
king  into  the  sanctuary  of  the  blessed  Apostle,  glorifying  and 
thanking  the  Lord  for  this  happy  event.”  Some  days  were  spent 
in  examining  into  the  grievances  which  had  been  set  down  to  the 
pope’s  account,  and  in  receiving  two  monks  arrived  from  Jerusalem 
to  present  to  the  king,  with  the  patriarch’s  blessing,  the  keys  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  Calvary,  as  well  as  the  sacred  standard. 
Lastly,  on  the  25th  of  December,  800,  “the  day  of  the  Nativity 
of  our  Lord,”  says  Eginhard,  “ the  king  came  into  the  Basilica  of 
the  blessed  St.  Peter,  apostle,  to  attend  the  celebration  of  mass. 
At  the  moment  when,  in  his  place  before  the  altar,  he  was 
bowing  down  to  pray,  Pope  Leo  placed  on  his  head  a crown,  and 
all  the  Roman  people  shouted,  ‘ Long  life  and  victory  to  Charles 
Augustus,  crowned  by  God,  the  great  and  pacific  Emperor  of  the 
Romans  ! ’ After  this  proclamation  the  pontiff  prostrated  himself 
before  him  and  paid  him  adoration,  according  to  the  custom  estab- 
lished in  the  days  of  the  old  emperors  ; and  thenceforward  Charles, 
giving  up  the  title  of  patrician,  bore  that  of  emperor  and  Augustus.” 

It  has  just  been  shown  how  Charlemagne  by  his  wars,  which 
had  for  their  object  and  result  permanent  and  well- secured  con- 
quests, had  stopped  the  fresh  incursions  of  barbarians,  that  is,  had 
stopped  disorder  coming  from  without.  An  attempt  will  now  be 
made  to  show  by  what  means  he  set  about  suppressing  disorder 
from  within  and  putting  his  own  rule  in  the  place  of  the  anarchy 
that  prevailed  in  the  Roman  world  which  lay  in  ruins,  and  in  the 
barbaric  world  which  was  a prey  to  blind  and  ill-regulated  force. 

A distinction  must  be  drawn  between  the  local  and  central 
governments. 

Far  from  the  centre  of  the  State,  in  what  have  since  been  called 
the  provinces,  the  power  of  the  emperor  was  exercised  by  the 
medium  of  two  classes  of  agents,  one  local  and  permanent,  the 
other  despatched  from  the  centre  and  transitory. 

In  the  first  class  we  find  : — 

1st.  The  dukes,  counts,  vicars  of  counts,  centeniers,  sheriffs 


Character  of  Charlemagne  s government.  47 

( scabini ),  officers  or  magistrates  residing  on  the  spot,  nominated 
by  the  emperor  himself  or  by  his  delegates,  and  charged  with  the 
duty  of  acting  in  his  name  for  the  levying  of  troops,  rendering  of 
justice,  maintenance  of  order,  and  receipt  of  imposts. 

2nd.  The  beneficiaries  or  vassals  of  the  emperor,  who  held  of 
him,  sometimes  as  hereditaments,  more  often  for  life,  and  more  often 
still  without  fixed  rule  or  stipulation,  lands ; domains,  throughout 
the  extent  of  which  they  exercised,  a little  bit  in  their  own  name 
and  a little  bit  in  the  name  of  the  emperor,  a certain  jurisdiction 
and  nearly  all  the  rights  of  sovereignty.  There  was  nothing  very 
fixed  or  clear  in  the  position  of  the  beneficiaries  and  in  the  nature 
of  their  power;  they  were  at  one  and  the  same  time  delegates  and 
independent,  owners  and  enjoyers  of  usufruct,  and  the  former  or 
the  latter  character  prevailed  amongst  them  according  to  circum- 
stances. But,  altogether,  they  were  closely  bound  to  Charlemagne, 
who,  in  a great  number  of  cases,  charged  them  with  the  execution 
of  his  orders  in  the  lands  they  occupied. 

Above  these  agents,  local  and  resident,  magistrates  or  bene-  « Missi 
ficiaries,  were  the  missi  dominici,  temporary  commissioners,  charged  dominici ,J 
to  inspect,  in  the  emperor’s  name,  the  condition  of  the  provinces ; 
authorized  to  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  the  free  lands  as  well 
as  of  the  domains  granted  with  the  title  of  benefices ; having  the 
right  to  reform  certain  abuses,  and  bound  to  render  an  account  of 
all  to  their  master.  The  missi  dominici  were  the  principal  instru- 
ments Charlemagne  had,  throughout  the  vast  territory  of  his 
empire,  of  order  and  administration. 

As  to  the  central  government,  setting  aside  for  a moment  the  General 
personal  action  of  Charlemagne  and  of  his  counsellors,  the  general  assemblies, 
assemblies,  to  judge  by  appearances  and  to  believe  nearly  all  the 
modern  historians,  occupied  a prominent  place  in  it.  They  Avere, 
in  fact,  during  his  reign,  numerous  and  active ; from  the  year  776 
to  the  year  813  we  may  count  thirty-five  of  these  national  assem- 
blies, March-parades  and  May-parades,  held  at  Worms,  Valen- 
ciennes, Geneva,  Paderborn,  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Thionville,  and  several 
other  towns,  the  majority  situated  round  about  the  two  banks 
of  the  Rhine.  The  number  and  periodical  nature  of  these 
great  political  reunions  are  undoubtedly  a noticeable  fact.  What, 
went  on  in  their  midst  ? What  character  and  weight  must  be 
then,  attached  to  their  intervention  in  the  government  of  the 
State? 

Two  striking  facts  are  to  be  gathered  from  contemporary  docu- 
ments : the  first,  that  the  majority  of  the  members  composing  these 
assemblies  probably  regarded  as  a burden  the  necessity  for  being 


48 


History  of  France. 


Capitula- 

ries. 


present  at  them,  since  Charlemagne  took  care  to  explain  their  con- 
vocation by  declaring  to  them  the  motive  for  it  and  by  always 
giving  them  something  to  do  ; the  second,  that  the  proposal  of  the 
capitularies,  or,  in  modern  phrase,  the  initiative  proceeded  from  the 
emperor ; the  figure  of  Charlemagne  alone  fills  the  picture — he  is 
the  centre-piece  of  it  and  the  soul  of  every  thing.  ,rfis  he  who 
wills  that  the  national  assemblies  should  meet  and  deliberate  ; ’tis 
he  who  inquires  into  the  state  of  the  country  ; ’tis  he  who  proposes 
and  approves  of,  or  rejects  the  laws ; with  him  rests  will  and 
motive,  initiative  and  decision.  He  has  a mind  sufficiently  judicious, 
unshackled,  and  elevated  to  understand  that  the  nation  ought  not 
to  be  left  in  darkness  about  its  affairs,  and  that  he  himself  has 
need  of  communicating  with  it,  of  gathering  information  from  it, 
and  of  learning  its  opinions.  But  we  have  here  no  exhibition  of 
great  political  liberties,  no  people  discussing  its  interests  and  its 
business,  interfering  effectually  in  the  adoption  of  resolutions,  and, 
in  fact,  taking  in  its  government  so  active  and  decisive  a part  as  to 
have  a right  to  say  that  it  is  self-governing,  .or,  in  other  words,  a 
free  people.  It  is  Charlemagne,  and  he  alone  who  governs  ; it  is 
absolute  government  marked  by  prudence,  ability,  and  grandeur. 

What  he  was  in  his  wars  and  his  general  relations  with  his  nation 
has  just  been  seen;  he  shall  now  be  exhibited  in  all  his  adminis- 
trative activity  and  his  intellectual  life,  as  a legislator  and  as  a 
friend  to  the  human  mind.  The  same  man  will  be  recognized  in 
every  case ; he  will  grow  in  greatness,  without  changing,  as  he 
appears  under  his  various  aspects. 

There  are  often  joined  together,  under  the  title  of  Capitularies 
(capitula,  small  chapters,  articles)  a mass  of  Acts,  very  different  in 
point  of  dates  and  objects,  which  are  attributed  indiscriminately  to 
Charlemagne.  This  is  a mistake.  The  Capitularies  are  the  laws 
or  legislative  measures  of  the  Frankish  kings,  Merovingian  as  well 
as  Carlovingian.  Those  of  the  Merovingians  are  few  in  number 
and  of  slight  importance,  and  amongst  those  of  the  Carlo vingians, 
which  amount  to  152,  65  only  are  due  to  Charlemagne.  When  an 
attempt  is  made  to  classify  these  last  according  to  their  object,  it 
is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  their  incoherent  variety ; and 
several  of  them  are  such  as  we  should  now-a-days  be  surprised  to 
meet  with  in  a code  or  in  a special  law.  Amongst  Charlemagne’s 
65  Capitularies,  which  contain  1151  articles,  may  be  counted  87  of 
moral,  293  of  political,  130  of  penal,  110  of  civil,  85  of  religious, 
305  of  canonical,  73  of  domestic,  and  12  of  incidental  legislation. 
And  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  these  articles  are  really  acts 
of  legislation,  laws  properly  so  called ; we  find  amongst  them  the 


Charlemagne  a Legislator  and  a Scholar . 49 

texts  of  ancient  national  laws  revised  and  promulgated  afresh; 
extracts  from  and  additions  to  these  same  ancient  laws,  Salic,  Lom- 
bard, and  Bavarian ; extracts  from  acts  of  councils ; instructions 
given  by  Charlemagne  to  his  envoys  in  the  provinces ; questions 
that  he  proposed  to  put  to  the  bishops  or  counts  when  they  came 
to  the  national  assembly ; answers  given  by  Charlemagne  to  ques- 
tions addressed  to  him  by  the  bishops,  counts,  or  commissioners 
( missi  dominici ) ; judgments,  decrees,  royal  pardons,  and  simple 
notes  that  Charlemagne  seems  to  have  had  written  down  for  himself 
alone,  to  remind  him  of  what  he  proposed  to  do ; in  a word,  nearly 
all  the  various  acts  which  could  possibly  have  to  be  framed  by  an 
earnest,  far-sighted,  and  active  government. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  majority  of  Charlemagne’s  Capitularies 
belong  to  that  epoch  of  his  reign  when  he  was  Emperor  of  the 
West,  when  he  was  invested  with  all  the  splendour  of  sovereign 
power.  Of  the  65  Capitularies  classed  under  different  heads,  13 
only  are  previous  to  the  25th  of  December,  800,  the  date  of  his 
coronation  as  emperor  at  Borne;  52  are  comprised  between  the 
years  801  and  804. 

The  energy  of  Charlemagne  as  a warrior  and  a politician  having  Chari e- 
thus  been  exhibited,  it  remains  to  say  a few  words  about  his  intel 
lectual  energy.  Eor  that  is  by  no  means  the  least  original  or  least  tual  eta 
grand  feature  of  his  character  and  his  influence.  Those  amohgst  racter* 
his  habitual  advisers  whom  he  did  not  employ  at  a distance  formed, 
in  his  immediate  neighbourhood,  a learned  and  industrious  society, 
a school  of  the  palace,  according  to  some  modern  commentators, 
but  an  academy  and  not  a school,  according  to  others,  devoted  rather 
to  conversation  than  to  teaching.  It  probably  fulfilled  both 
missions  ; it  attended  Charlemagne  at  his  various  residences,  at  one 
time  working  for  him  at  questions  he  invited  them  to  deal  with, 
at  another  giving  to  the  regular  components  of  his  court,  to  his 
children  and  to  himself,  lessons  in  the  different  sciences  called 
liberal,  grammar,  rhetoric,  logic,  astronomy,  geometry,  and  even 
theology  and  the  great  religious  problems  it  was  beginning  to 
discuss.  Two  men,  Alcuin  and  Eginhard,  have  remained  justly 
celebrated  in  the  literary  history  of  the  age.  Alcuin  was  the 
principal  director  of  the  school  of  the  palace,  and  the  favourite,  the 
confidant,  the  learned  adviser  of  Charlemagne.  “ If  your  zeal  were 
imitated,”  said  he  one  day  to  the  emperor,  “ perchance  one  might 
see  arise  in  France  a new  Athens,  far  more  glorious  than  the 
ancient — the  Athens  of  Christ.”  Eginhard,  who  was  younger, 
received  his  scientific  education  in  the  school  of  the  palace,  and 

E 


The  school 
of  the 
palace. 


50  History  of  France . 

was  head  of  the  public  works  to  Charlemagne,  before  becoming  his 
biographer,  and,  at  a later  period,  the  intimate  adviser  of  his  son 
Louis  the  Debonnair.  Other  scholars  of  the  school  of  the  palace, 
Angilbert,  Leidrade,  Adalhard,  Agobard,  Theodulph,  were  abbots 
of  St.  Kiquier  or  Corbie,  archbishops  of  Lyons,  and  bishops  of 
Orleans.  They  had  all  assumed,  in  the  school  itself,  names  illus- 
trious in  pagan  antiquity;  Alcuin  called  himself  Flaccus;  Angilbert, 
Homer;  Theodulph,  Pindar.  Charlemagne  himself  had  been 
pleased  to  take,  in  their  society,  a great  name  of  old,  borrowed 
from  the  history  of  the  Hebrews  — he  called  himself  David ; 
and  Eginhard,  animated,  no  doubt,  by  the  same  sentiments,  was 
Bezaleel,  that  nephew  of  Moses  to  • whom  God  had  granted  the 
gift  of  knowing  how  to  work  skilfully  in  wood  and  all  the  materials 
which  served  for  the  construction  of  the  ark  and  the  tabernacle. 
Either  in  the  lifetime  of  their  royal  patron  or  after  his  death  all 
these  scholars  became  great  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  or  ended 
their  lives  in  monasteries  of  note ; but,  so  long  as  they  lived,  they 
served  Charlemagne  or  his  sons  not  only  with  the  devotion  of 
faithful  advisers,  but  also  as  followers  proud  of  the  master  who  had 
known  how  to  do  them  honour  by  making  use  of  them. 

It  was  without  effort  and  by  natural  sympathy  that  Charlemagne 
had  inspired  them  with  such  sentiments ; for  he  too  really  loved 
sciences,  literature,  and  such  studies  as  were  then  possible,  and  he 
cultivated  them  on  his  own  account  and  for  his  own  pleasure,  as  a 
sort  of  conquest.  He  caused  to  be  ‘ commenced,  and,  perhaps, 
himself  commenced  the  drawing  up  of  the  first  Germanic  grammar. 
He  ordered  that  the  old  barbaric  poems,  in  which  the  deeds  and 
wars  of  the  ancient  kings  were  celebrated,  should  be  collected  for 
posterity.  He  gave  Germanic  names  to  the  twelve  months  of  the 
year.  He  distinguished  the  winds  by  twelve  special  terms,  whereas 
before  his  time  they  had  but  four  designations.  He  paid  great 
attention  to  astronomy.  In  theological  studies  and  discussions  he 
exhibited  a particular  and  grave  interest ; he  also  paid  zealous  at- 
tention to  the  instruction  of  the  clergy,  whose  ignorance  he  deplored; 
he  laid  the  foundation,  in  the  cathedral  churches  and  the  great 
monasteries,  of  episcopal  and  cloistral  schools  for  the  education  of 
ecclesiastics,  and,  carrying  his  solicitude  still  farther,  he  recom- 
mended to  the  bishops  and  abbots  that,  in  those  schools,  “they 
should  take  care  to  make  no  difference  between  the  sons  of  serfs 
and  of  free  men,  so  that  they  might  come  and  sit  on  the  same 
benches  to  study  grammar,  music,  and  arithmetic  ” [Capitularies  of 
789,  art.  70].  Thus,  in  the  eighth  century,  he  foreshadowed  the 


Death  of  Charlemagne . 


51 


extension  which,  in  the  nineteenth,  wap  to  be  accorded  to  primary 
instruction,  to  the  advantage  and  honour  not  only  of  the  clergy, 
hut  also  of  the  whole  people. 

Charlemagne  died  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  on  Saturday,  the  28th  of  A.D.  814. 
January,  814,  in  his  seventy-first  year.  If  we  sum  up  his  designs 
and  his  achievements,  we  find  an  admirably  sound  idea  and  a vain  magne. 
dream,  a great  success  and  a great  failure.  He  took  in  hand  the 
work  of  placing  upon  a solid  foundation  the  Frankish  Christian 
dominion  by  stopping,  in  the  north  and  south,  the  flood  of  bar- 
barians and  Arabs,  Paganism  and  Islamism.  In  that  he  succeeded: 
the  inundations  of  Asiatic  populations  spent  their  force  in  vain 
against  the  Gallic  frontier.  Western  and  Christian  Europe  was 
placed,  territorially,  beyond  reach  of  attacks  from  the  foreigner  and 
infidel.  Ho  sovereign,  no  human  being,  perhaps,  ever  rendered 
greater  service  to  the  civilization  of  the  world. 

Charlemagne  formed  another  conception  and  made  another  at- 
tempt. Like  more  than  one  great  barbaric  warrior,  he  admired  the 
Eoman  empire  that  had  fallen,  its  vastness  all  in  one,  and  its 
powerful  organization,  under  the  hand  of  a single  master.  He 
thought  he  could  resuscitate  it,  durably,  through  the  victory  of  a 
new  people  and  a new  faith,  by  the  hand  of  Franks  and  Christians. 

With  this  view  he  laboured  to  conquer,  convert,  and  govern.  He 
tried  to  be  at  one  and  the  same  time  Csesar,  Augustus,  and  Con- 
stantine. And  for  a moment  he  appeared  to  have  succeeded ; but 
the  appearance  passed  away  with  himself.  The  unity  of  the  em- 
pire and  the  absolute  power  of  the  emperor  were  buried  in  his 
grave.  The  Christian  religion  and  human  liberty  set  to  work  to 
prepare  for  Europe  other  governments  and  other  destinies. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CARLOVINGIANS  — FEUDAL  FRANCE — THE  CRUSADES. 

A.D.  814 — Prom  the  death  of  Charlemagne  to  the  accession  of  Hugh  Capet, 
The  Carlo-  that  ^s’  ^rom  814  to  987,  thirteen  kings  sat  upon  the  throne  of 
vingians.  Prance.  What  then  became,  under  their  reign,  and  in  the  course 
of  those  hundred  and  seventy -three  years,  of  the  two  great  facts 
which  swayed  the  mind  and  occupied  the  life  of  Charlemagne  1 
What  became,  that  is,  of  the  solid  territorial  foundation  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christian  France  through  efficient  repression  of 
foreign  invasion,  and  of  the  unity  of  that  vast  empire  wherein 
Charlemagne  had  attempted  and  hoped  to  resuscitate  the  Roman 
empire  ? 

The  fate  of  those  two  facts  is  the  very  history  of  France  under 
the  Carlovingian  dynasty ; it  is  the  only  portion  of  the  events  of 
that  epoch  which  still  deserves  attention  now-a-days,  for  it  is  the 
only  one  which  has  exercised  any  great  and  lasting  influence  on 
the  general  history  of  France. 

The  North-  Attempts  at  foreign  invasion  of  France  were  renewed  very  often; 
Eastings  ^ were  tedious  to  relate  or  even  enumerate  all  the  incursions  of 
the  Northmen,  with  their  monotonous  incidents.  When  their 
frequency  and  their  general  character  has  been  notified,  all  has  been 
done  that  is  due  to  them  from  history.  However,  there  are  three 
on  which  it  may  be  worth  while  to  dwell  particularly,  by  reason  of 
their  grave  historical  consequences,  as  well  as  of  the  dramatic 
details  which  have  been  transmitted  to  us  about  them. 


53 


The  Carlovingians . 

In  the  middle  and  during  the  last  half  of  the  ninth  century,  a 
chief  of  the  Northmen,  named  Hastenc  or  Hastings,  appeared 
several  times  over  on  the  coasts  and  in  the  rivers  of  France,  with 
numerous  vessels.  He  penetrated  into  the  interior  of  the  country 
in  Poitou,  Anjou,  Brittany,  and  along  the  Seine ; pillaged  the 
monasteries  of  Jumieges,  St.  Yandrille,  and  St.  Evroul ; took 
possession  of  Chartres  and  appeared  before  Paris,  where  Charles  the 
Bald,  entrenched  at  St.  Denis,  was  deliberating  with  his  prelates 
and  barons  as  to  how  he  might  resist  the  Northmen  or  treat  with 
them.  “ After  long  parley  with  the  Abbot  of  St.  Denis,”  says  a 
Chronicle,  “ and  by  reason  of  large  gifts  and  promises,”  Hastings 
consented  to  stop  his  cruisings,  to  become  a Christian,  and  to  settle 
in  the  countship  of  Chartres,  “ which  the  king  gave  him  as  an 
hereditary  possession,  with  all  its  appurtenances.”  According  to 
other  accounts,  it  was  only  some  years  later,  under  the  young  king 
, Louis  III.,  grandson  of  Charles  the  Bald,  that  Hastings  was  induced, 
either  by  reverses  or  by  payment  of  money,  to  cease  from  his  piracies 
and  accept  in  recompense  the  countship  of  Chartres.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  date,  he  was,  it  is  believed,  the  first  chieftain 
of  the  Northmen  who  renounced  a life  of  adventure  and  plunder, 
to  become,  in  France,  a great  landed  proprietor  and  a count  of  the 
king’s. 

In  November,  885,  under  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Fat,  after  AT).  885. 
having,  for  more  than  forty  years,  irregularly  ravaged  France,  the  of 
Northmen  resolved  to  unite  their  forces  m order  at  length  to  obtain 
possession  of  Paris,  whose  outskirts  they  had  so  often  pillaged 
without  having  been  able  to  enter  the  heart  of  the  place,  in  the 
lie  de  la  Cite,  which  had  originally  been  and  still  was  the  real 
Paris. 

The  siege  was  prolonged  throughout  the  summer;  and  when,  in 
November,  886,  Charles  the  Fat  at  last  appeared  before  Paris, 

“ with  a large  army  of  all  nations,”  At  was  to  purchase  the  retreat 
of  the  Northmen  at  the  cost  of  a heavy  ransom,  and  by  allowing 
them  to  go  and  winter  in  Burgundy,  “ whereof  the  inhabitants 
obeyed  not  the  emperor.” 

Some  months  afterwards,  in  887,  Charles  the  Fat  was  deposed, 
at  a diet  held  on  the  banks  of  the  Bhine,  by  the  grandees  of 
Germanic  France ; and  Arnulf,  a natural  son  of  Carloman,  the 
brother  of  Louis  III.,  was  proclaimed  emperor  in  his  stead.  At 
the  same  time  Count  Eudes,  the  gallant  defender  of  Paris,  was 
elected  king  at  Compiegne  and  crowned  by  the  Archbishop  of 
Sens.  Guy,  duke  of  Spoleto,  descended  from  Charlemagne  in  the 
female  line,  hastened  to  France,  and  was  declared  king  at  Langres 


54 


History  of  France. 


Rollo. 


The  Sara- 
cens. 


by  the  bishop  of  that  town,  but  returned  with  precipitation  to 
Italy,  seeing  no  chance  of  maintaining  himself  in  his  French  king- 
ship.  Elsewhere,  JBoso,  duke  of  Arles,  became  king  of  Provence, 
and  the  Burgundian  Count  Rodolph  had  himself  crowned  at 
St.  Maurice,  in  the  Yalais,  king  of  Trans-juran  Burgundy.  There 
was  still  in  France  a legitimate  Carlovingian,  a son  of  Louis  the 
Stutterer,  who  was  hereafter  to  become  Charles  the  Simple ; but 
being  only  a child,  he  had  been  rejected  or  completely  forgotten, 
and,  in  the  interval  that  was  to  elapse  ere  his  time  should  arrive, 
kings  were  being  made  in  all  directions. 

In  the  midst  of  this  confusion,  the  Northmen,  though  they  kept 
at  a distance  from  Paris,  pursued  in  Western  France  their  cruising 
and  plundering.  In  Rollo  they  had  a chieftain  far  superior  to  his 
vagabond  predecessors. 

When,  in  898,  Eudes  was  dead,  and  Charles  the  Simple,  at 
hardly  nineteen  years  of  age,  had  been  recognized  sole  king  of 
France,  the  ascendency  of  Rollo  became  such  that  the  necessity  of 
treating  with  him  was  clear.  In  911  Charles,  by  the  advice  of  his 
councillors,  and,  amongst  them,  of  Robert,  brother  of  the  late  king 
Eudes,  who  had  himself  become  Count  of  Paris  and  Duke  of 
France,  sent  to  the  chieftain  of  the  Northmen  Franco,  archbishop 
of  Rouen,  with  orders  to  offer  him  the  cession  of  a considerable 
portion  of  Neustria  and  the  hand  of  his  young  daughter  Gisele,  on 
condition  that  he  became  a Christian,  and  acknowledged  himself 
the  king’s  vassal.  The  treaty  was  made  at  St.  Clair-sur-Epte ; 
henceforth  the  vagabond  pirates  had  a country  to  cultivate  and 
defend  ; the  Northmen  were  becoming  French. 

The  invasions  of  the  Saracens  in  the  south  of  France  were  still 
continued  from  time  to  time ; but  they  did  not  threaten,  as  those  of 
the  Northmen  did  in  the  north,  the  security  of  the  Gallo-Frankish 
monarchy,  and  the  Gallo-Roman  populations  of  the  south  were  able 
to  defend  their  national  independence  at  the  same  time  against  the 
Saracens  and  the  Franks.  They  did  so  successfully  in  the  ninth 
and  tenth  centuries ; and  the  French  monarchy,  which  was  being 
founded  between  the  Loire  and  the  Rhine,  had  thus  for  some  time 
a breach  in  it  without  ever  suffering  serious  displacement.  The 
first  of  Charlemagne’s  grand  designs,  however,  the  territorial 
security  of  the  Gallo-Frankish  and  Christian  dominion,  was  accom- 
plished. In  the  east  and  the  north,  the  Germanic  and  Asiatic 
populations,  which  had  so  long  upset  it,  were  partly  arrested  at  its 
frontiers,  partly  incorporated  regularly  in  its  midst.  In  the  south 
the  Mussulman  populations,  which  in  the  eighth  century  had 
appeared  so  near  overwhelming  it,  were  powerless  to  deal  it  any 


Louis  the  Debonnair. 


55 


heavy  blow.  Substantially  France  was  founded.  But  what  had 
become  of  Charlemagne’s  second  grand  design,  the  resuscitation  of 
the  Boman  empire  at  the  hands  of  the  barbarians  that  had  con- 
quered it  and  become  Christians  1 When  Louis  the  Debonnair  AD.  814. 
became  emperor,  he  began  his  reign  by  a reaction  against  the  ^°^0snj^r 
excesses,  real  or  supposed,  of  the  preceding  reign ; he  established 
at  his  court,  for  his  sisters  as  well  as  his  servants,  austere  regu- 
lations. He  restored  to  the  subjugated  Saxons  certain  of  the 
rights  of  which  Charlemagne  had  deprived  them.  He  sent  out 
every  where  his  commissioners  ( missi  dominici)  with  orders  to  listen 
to  complaints  and  redress  grievances,  and  to  mitigate  his  father’s 
rule,  which  was  rigorous  in  its  application  and  yet  insufficient  to 
repress  disturbance,  notwithstanding  its  preventive  purpose  and  its 
watchful  supervision. 

In  817  Louis  summoned  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  the  general  assembly 
of  his  dominions;  and  there,  whilst  declaring  that  “neither  to 
those  who  were  wisely-minded,  nor  to  himself,  did  it  appear  ex- 
pedient to  break  up,  for  the  love  he  bare  his  sons,  and  by  the  will 
of  man,  the  unity  of  the  empire,  preserved  by  God  himself,”  he  had 
resolved  to  share  with  his  eldest  son,  Lothaire,  the  imperial  throne. 

Lothaire  was  in  fact  crowned  emperor ; and  his  two  brothers,  Pepin 
and  Louis,  were  crowned  king  ; Pepin,  over  Aquitaine  and  a great 
part  of  Southern  Gaul  and  of  Burgundy  ; Louis,  beyond  the  Bhine, 
over  Bavaria,  and  the  divers  peoplets  in  the  east  of  Germany.” 

The  rest  of  Gaul  and  of  Germany,  as  well  as  the  kingdom  of  Italy, 
was  to  belong  to  Lothaire,  emperor  and  head  of  the  Frankish 
monarchy,  to  whom  his  brothers  would  have  to  repair  year  by  year 
to  come  to  an  understanding  with  him  and  receive  his  instructions. 

Several  insurrections  burst  out  in  the  empire ; the  first  amongst  in^urrec- 
the  Basques  of  Aquitai  ne  ; the  next  in  Italy,  where  Bernard,  son  tions. 
of  Pepin,  having,  after  his  father’s  death,  become  king  in  812,  with 
the  consent  of  his  grandfather  Charlemagne,  could  not  quietly 
see  his  kingdom  pass  into  the  hands  of  his  cousin  Lothaire,  at 
the  orders  of  his  uncle  Louis.  These  two  attempts  were  easily 
repressed,  but  the  third  was  more  serious.  It  took  place  in 
Brittany  amongst  those  populations  of  Armorica  who  were  ex- 
cessively jealous  of  their  independence,  and  was  quelled  with  con- 
siderable difficulty. 

After  the  death  of  Hermangarde,  his  first  wife,  Louis  had 
married  Judith,  daughter  of  Count  Welf  (Guelf)  of  Bavaria.  In 
823  he  had,  by  her,  a son,  whom  he  called  Charles,  and  who  was 
hereafter  to  be  known  as  Charles  the  Bald.  This  son  became  his 
mother’s  ruling,  if  not  exclusive  passion,  and  the  source  of  his 


A.D.  840. 
Death  of 
Louis  the 
Debonnair. 


A.D.  843. 
Council  of 
Verdun. 


5 6 History  of  France . 

father’s  woes.  In  829,  during  an  assembly  held  at  Worms,  Louis, 
yielding  to  Judith’s  entreaties,  set  at  naught  the  solemn  act 
whereby,  in  817,  he  had  shared  his  dominions  amongst  his  three 
elder  sons ; and  took  away  from  two  of  them,  in  Burgundy  and 
Allemannia,  some  of  the  territories  he  had  assigned  to  them,  and 
gave  them  to  the  boy  Charles  for  his  share.  Lothaire,  Pepin,  and 
Louis  thereupon  revolted.  Court  intrigues  were  added  to  family 
differences ; for  ten  years  scenes  of  disorder  kept  repeating  them- 
selves again  and  again ; rivalries  and  secret  plots  began  once  more 
between  the  three  victorious  brothers  and  their  partisans  ; popular 
feeling  revived  in  favour  of  Louis ; a large  portion  of  the  clergy 
shared  it ; finally,  in  834,  two  assemblies,  one  meeting  at  St.  Denis 
and  the  other  at  Thionville,  once  more  put  Louis  in  possession  of 
the  imperial  title  and  power.  He  displayed  no  violence  in  his 
use  of  it ; but  he  was  growing  more  and  more  irresolute  and  weak, 
when,  in  838,  the  second  of  his  rebellious  sons,  Pepin,  king  of 
Aquitaine,  died  suddenly.  Louis,  ever  under  the  sway  of  Judith, 
speedily  convoked  at  Worms,  in  839,  once  more  and  for  the  last 
time,  a general  assembly,  whereat,  leaving  his  son  Louis  of  Bavaria 
reduced  to  his  kingdom  in  eastern  Europe,  he  divided  the  rest  of 
his  dominions  into  two  nearly  equal  parts,  separated  by  the  course 
of  the  Meuse  and  the  Rhone.  Between  these  two  parts  he  left  the 
choice  to  Lothaire,  who  took  the  eastern  portion,  promising  at  the 
same  time  to  guarantee  the  western  portion  to  his  younger  brother 
Charles.  Louis  the  Germanic  protested  against  this  partition,  and 
took  up  arms  to  resist  it.  His  father,  the  emperor,  set  himself  in 
motion  towards  the  Rhine,  to  reduce  him  to  submission ; but  on 
arriving  close  to  Mayence  he  caught  a violent  fever,  and  died  on 
the  20th  of  June,  840,  at  the  castle  of  Ingelheim,  on  a little  island 
in  the  river.  His  last  acts  were  a fresh  proof  of  his  goodness 
towards  even  his  rebellious  sons,  and  of  his  solicitude  for  his 
last-born.  He  sent  to  Louis  the  Germanic  his  pardon,  and  to 
Lothaire  the  golden  crown  and  sword,  at  the  same  time  bidding 
him  fulfil  his  father’s  wishes  on  behalf  of  Charles  and  J udith. 

Charles  the  Bald  was  to  succeed,  Lothaire  retaining  the  imperial 
dignity ; as  a matter  of  fact  the  three  sons  equally  aspired  to  the 
throne.  Charles  and  Louis  having  united  for  the  purpose  of 
resisting  the  ambition  of  their  elder  brother,  defeated  him  in  a 
terrible  battle  near  the  village  of  Eontenailles,  six  leagues  from 
Auxerre.  The  Austrasian  influence,  till  then  triumphant  in  Gaul, 
perished  there  for  ever  (841).  The  victorious  princes  subsequently 
confirmed  their  union  by  what  is  generally  called  the  oaths  of  Str as- 
burg , a document  regarded  as  the  oldest  specimen  of  the  French 


5 7 


Fall  of  the  Carlovingiaus . 

language.  Finally,  in  August,  843,  tlie  three  brothers  assembling 
with  their  umpires,  at  Verdun,  they  at  last  came  to  an  agreement 
about  the  partition  of  the  Frankish  empire,  save  the  three  countries 
which  it  had  been  beforehand  agreed  to  except.  Louis  kept  all  the 
provinces  of  Germany  of  which  he  was  already  in  possession,  and 
received  besides,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  the  towns  of 
Mayence,  Worms,  and  Spire,  with  the  territory  appertaining  to 
them.  Lothaire,  for  his  part,  had  the  eastern  belt  of  Gaul, 
bounded  on  one  side  by  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps,  on  the  other,  by 
the  courses  of  the  Meuse,  the  Saone,  and  the  Rhone,  starting  from  j)ivisi0n 
the  confluence  of  the  two  latter  rivers,  and,  further,  the  country  of  the  Em 
comprised  between  the  Meuse  and  the  Scheldt,  together  with  pire* 
certain  count-ships  lying  to  the  west  of  that  river.  To  Charles 
fell  all  the  rest  of  Gaul ; Vasconia  or  Biscaye,  Septimania,  the 
Marches  of  Spain,  beyond  the  Pyrenees,  and  the  other  countries  of 
Southern  Gaul  which  had  enjoyed  hitherto,  under  the  title  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Aquitaine,  a special  government,  subordinated  to  the 
general  government  of  the  empire,  but  distinct  from  it,  lost  this 
last  remnant  of  their  Gallo- Roman  nationality,  and  became  inte- 
gral portions  of  Frankish  Gaul,  which  fell  by  partition  to  Charles 
the  Bald,  and  formed  one  and  the  same  kingdom  under  one  and 
the  same  king. 

Thus  fell  through  and  disappeared,  in  843,  by  virtue  of  the 
treaty  of  Verdun,  the  second  of  Charlemagne’s  grand  designs,  the 
resuscitation  of  the  Roman  empire  by  means  of  the  Frankish  and 
Christian  masters  of  Gaul.  The  name  of  emperor  still  retained  a 
certain  value  in  the  minds  of  the  people  and  still  remained  an 
object  of  ambition  to  princes;  but  the  empire  was  completely 
abolished,  and,  in  its  stead,  sprang  up  three  kingdoms,  independent 
one  of  another,  without  any  necessary  connexion  or  relation.  One 
of  the  three  was  thenceforth  France. 

Kone  of  Charlemagne’s  successors  was  capable  of  exercising  on  pall  tJie 
the  events  of  his  time,  by  virtue  of  his  brain  and  his  own  will,  any  Carlovin- 
notable  influence.  RTot  that  they  were  all  unintelligent,  or  timid,  §’3Lans- 
or  indolent.  It  has  been  seen  that  Louis  the  Debonnair  did  not 
lack  virtues  and  good  intentions ; and  Charles  the  Bald  was  clear- 
sighted, dexterous,  and  energetic : he  had  a taste  for  information 
and  intellectual  distinction ; he  liked  and  sheltered  men  of 
learning  and  letters,  and  to  such  purpose  that,  instead  of  speaking, 
as  under  Charlemagne,  of  the  school  of  the  palace,  people  called  the 
palace  of  Charles  the  Bald  the  palace  of  the  school.  Amongst  the 
eleven  kings  who  after  him  ascended  the  Carlovingian  throne, 
several,  such  as  Louis  III.  and  Carloman,  and  especially  Louis 


53 


History  of  France . 


Breaking 
up  of  the 
empire  of 
the  West. 


the  Ultramarine  (d’Outremer)  and  Lothaire,  displayed,  on  several 
occasions,  energy  and  courage ; and  the  kings  elected  at  this 
epoch,  without  the  pale  of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty,  Eudes  in  887 
and  Raoul  in  923,  gave  proofs  of  a valour  both  discreet  and 
effectual.  The  Carlovingians  did  not,  as  the  Merovingians  did, 
end  in  monkish  retirement  or  shameful  inactivity  : even  the  last 
of  them,  and  the  only  one  termed  sluggard , Louis  V.,  was  getting 
ready,  when  he  died,  for  an  expedition  in  Spain  against  the 
Saracens.  The  truth  is  that,  mediocre  or  undecided  or  addle-pated 
as  they  may  have  been,  they  all  succumbed,  internally  and  exter- 
nally, without  initiating,  and  without  resisting,  to  the  course  of 
events,  and  that,  in  987,  the  fall  of  the  Carlovingian  line  was  the 
naturally  and  easily  accomplished  consequence  of  the  new  social 
condition  which  had  been  preparing  in  France  under  the  empire. 

Twenty-nine  years  after  the  death  of  Charlemagne,  that  is,  in 
843,  when,  by  the  treaty  of  Verdun,  the  sons  of  Louis  of  De- 
bonnair  had  divided  amongst  them  his  dominions,  the  great 
empire  split  up  into  three  distinct  and  independent  kingdoms,  the 
kingdoms  of  Italy,  Germany,  and  France.  The  splits  did  not  stop 
there.  Forty-five  years  later,  at  the  end  of  the  ninth  century, 
shortly  after  the  death  of  Charles  the  Fat,  the  last  of  the  Carlo- 
vingians who  appears  to  have  re-united  for  a while  all  the  empire 
of  Charlemagne,  this  empire  had  begotten  seven  instead  of  three 
kingdoms,  those  of  France,  of  Navarre,  of  Provence  or  Cis-juran 
Burgundy,  of  Trans-juran  Burgundy,  of  Lorraine,  of  Allemannia, 
and  of  Italy. 

The  same  work  was  going  on  in  France.  About  the  end  of  the 
ninth  century  there  were  already  twenty-nine  provinces  or 
fragments  of  provinces  which  had  become  petty  states,  the  former 
governors  of  which,  under -the  names  of  dukes,  counts,  marquises, 
and  viscounts,  were  pretty  nearly  real  sovereigns.  Twenty-nine 
great  fiefs,  which  have  played  a special  part  in  French  history, 
date  back  to  this  epoch. 

From  the  end  of  the  ninth  pass  we  to  the  end  of  the  tenth 
century,  to  the  epoch  when  the  Capetians  take  the  place  of  the 
Carlovingians.  Instead  of  seven  kingdoms  to  replace  the  empire  of 
Charlemagne,  there  were  then  no  more  than  four.  The  kingdoms 
of  Provence  and  Trans-juran  Burgundy  had  formed,  by  reunion, 
the  kingdom  of  Arles.  The  kingdom  of  Lorraine  was  no  more 
than  a duchy  in  dispute  between  Allemannia  and  France.  The 
Emperor  Otho  the  Great  had  united  the  kingdom  of  Italy  to  the 
empire  of  Allemannia.  Overtures  had  produced  their  effects  amongst 
the  great  states ; but  in  the  interior  of  the  kingdom  of  France  dis- 


Feudal  France. 


59 


memberment  has  held  on  its  course  ; and  instead  of  the  twenty-nine 
petty  states  or  great  fiefs  observable  at  the.  end  of  the  ninth  century, 
we  find,  at  the  end  of  the  tenth,  fifty-five  actually  established. 

Two  causes,  perfectly  natural  and  independent  of  all  human 
calculation,  led  to  this  dismemberment,  one  moral  and  the  other 
political.  They  were  the  absence  from  the  minds  of  men  of  any 
general  and  dominant  idea ; and  the  reflux,  in  social  relations  and 
manners,  of  the  individual  liberties  but  lately  repressed  or  regu- 
lated by  the  strong  hand  of  Charlemagne.  In  the  ninth  and 
tenth  centuries  there  was  no  general  and  fructifying  idea,  save  the 
Christian  creed ; no  great  intellectual  vent ; no  great  national 
feeling ; no  easy  and  rapid  means  of  communication ; mind  and 
life  were  both  confined  in  a narrow  space,  and  encountered,  at 
every  step,  stoppages  and  obstacles  well  nigh  insurmountable.  At 
the  same  time,  by  the  fall  of  the  empires  of  Borne  and  of  Charle- 
magne, men  regained  possession  of  the  rough  and  ready  individual 
liberties  which  were  the  essential  characteristic  of  Germanic 
manners  : thus,  settled  upon  a soil  conquered  by  themselves,  and 
partitioned  amongst  themselves,  lived  each  by  himself,  master  of 
himself  and  all  that  was  his,  family,  servitors,  husbandmen,  and 
slaves : the  territorial  domain  became  the  fatherland,  and  the 
owner  remained  a free  man,  a local  and  independent  chieftain,  at 
his  own  risk  and  peril. 

The  consequences  of  such  a state  of  things  and  of  such  a dis-  Rise  of  the 
position  of  persons  were  rapidly  developed.  Territorial  ownership  S^S 

became  the  fundamental  characteristic  of  and  warranty  for  inde- 
pendence and  social  importance.  Local  sovereignty,  if  not  complete 
and  absolute,  at  least  in  respect  of  its  principal  rights,  right  of 
making  war,  right  of  judicature,  right  of  taxation,  and  right  of 
regulating  the  police,  became  one  with  the  territorial  ownership, 
which  before  long  grew  to  be  hereditary,  whether,  under  the  title 
of  alien  (allodium),  it  had  been  originally  perfectly  independent 
and  exempt  from  any  feudal  tie,  or  under  the  title  of  benefice,  had 
arisen  from  grants  of  land  made  by  the  chieftain  to  his  followers, 
on  condition  of  certain  obligations.  The  offices,  that  is,  the 
divers  functions,  military  or  civil,  conferred  by  the  king  on  his 
lieges,  also  ended  by  becoming  hereditary.  Having  become  esta- 
blished in  fact,  this  heirship  in  lands  and  local  powers  was  soon 
recognized  by  the  law ; from  the  ninth  to  the  tenth  century  it  had 
acquired  full  force. 

Now  go  back  to  any  portion  of  French  history,  and  stop  where  * 
you  will,  and  you  will  everywhere  find  the  ieudal  system  con- 
sidered, by  the  mass  of  the  population,  a foe  to  be  fought,  and 


6o 


History  of  France . 


✓ 


Its  poli- 
tical cha 
raeter. 


\ 


B elation  s 
of  the 
barons  one 
with 
another. 


fouglit  down  at  any  price.  At  all  times,  whoever  dealt  it  a blow 
has  been  popular  in  France. 

The  reason  for  this  fact  is  in  the  political  character  of  feudalism ; 
it  was  a confederation  of  petty  sovereigns,  of  petty  despots, 
unequal  amongst  themselves,  and  having,  one  towards  another, 
certain  duties  and  rights,  but  invested  in  their  own  domains,  over 
their  personal  and  direct  subjects,  with  arbitrary  and  absolute 
power.  That  is  the  essential  element  of  the  feudal  system  ; therein 
it  differs  from  every  other  aristocracy,  every  other  form  of 
government.  Liberty,  equality,  and  tranquillity  were  all  alike 
wanting,  from  the  tenth  to  the  thirteenth  century,  to  the  in- 
habitants of  each  lord’s  domains ; their  sovereign  was  at  their 
very  doors,  and  none  of  them  was  hidden  from  him  or  beyond 
reach  of  his  mighty  arm ; there  was  despotism  just  as  in  pure 
monarchies,  and  there  was  privilege  just  as  in  the  very  closest 
aristocracies.  And  both  obtruded  themselves  in  the  most  offensive 
and,  so  to  speak,  crude  form.  Despotism  was  not  tapered  off  by 
means  of  the  distance  and  elevation  of  a throne  ; and  privilege  did 
not  veil  itself  behind  the  majesty  of  a large  body.  Both  were  the 
appurtenances  of  an  individual  ever  present  and  ever  alone,  ever 
at  his  subjects’  doors,  and  never  called  upon,  in  dealing  with  their 
lot,  to  gather  his  peers  around  him. 

And  now  we  will  leave  the  subjects  in  the  case  of  feudalism,  and 
consider  the  masters,  the  owners  of  fiefs,  and  their  relations  one 
with  another.  We  here  behold  quite  a different  spectacle  ; we  see 
liberties,  rights,  and  guarantees,  which  not  only  give  protection 
and  honour  to  those  who  enjoy  them,  but  of  which  the  tendency 
and  effect  are  to  open  to  the  subject  population  an  outlet  towards 
a better  future.  The  grandeur  of  the  system  was  neither  dazzling 
nor  unapproachable ; it  was  but  a short  step  from  vassal  to 
suzerain  ; they  lived  familiarly  one  with  another,  without  any 
possibility  that  superiority  should  think  itself  illimitable,  or  sub- 
ordination think  itself  servile.  Thence  came  that  extension  of 
the  domestic  circle,  that  ennoblement  of  personal  service,  from 
which  sprang  one  of  the  most  generous  sentiments  of  the  middle 
ages,  fealty,  which  reconciled  the  dignity  of  the  man  with  the 
devotion  of  the  vassal.  It  was,  as  it  were,  a people  consisting  of 
scattered  citizens,  of  whom  each,  ever  armed,  accompanied  by  his 
following,  or  intrenched  in  his  castle,  kept  watch  himself  over  his 
own  safety  and  his  own  rights,  relying  far  more  on  his  own 
courage  and  his  own  renown  than  on  the  protection  of  the  public 
authorities.  Such  a condition  bears  less  resemblance  to  an 
organized  and  settled  society  than  to  a constant  prospect  of  peril 


Feudal  France. 


6 1 


and  war  : but  the  energy  and  the  dignity  of  the  individual  were 
kept  up  in  it,  and  a more  extended  and  better  regulated  society 
might  issue  therefrom. 

And  it  did  issue.  The  society  of  the  future  was  not  slow  Feudalism 

" fttt^ckcd 

to  sprout  and  grow  in  the  midst  of  that  feudal  system  so 

turbulent,  so  oppressive,  so  detested.  No  sooner  was  the  feudal 
system  in  force,  than,  with  its  victory  scarcely  secured,  it 
was  attacked  in  the  lower  grades  by  the  mass  of  the  people 
attempting  to  regain  certain  liberties,  ownerships  and  rights, 
and  in  the  highest  by  royalty  labouring  to  recover  its  public 
character,  to  become  once  more  the  head  of  a nation  ; in  spite  of 
the  servitude  into  which  the  people  had  sunk  at  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century,  from  this  moment  the  enfranchisement  of  the  people 
makes  way.  In  spite  of  the  weakness,  or  rather  nullity  of  the 
regal  power  at  the  same  epoch,  from  this  moment  the  regal  power 
begins  to  gain  ground.  That  monarchial  system  which  the  genius 
of  Charlemagne  could  not  found,  kings  far  inferior  to  Charlemagne 
will  little  by  little  make  triumphant.  Those  liberties  and  those 
guarantees  which  the  German  warriors  were  incapable  of  trans- 
mitting to  a well-regulated  society,  the  commonality  will  regain  one 
after  another.  Nothing  but  feudalism  could  have  sprung  from  the 
womb  of  barbarism  ; but  scarcely  is  feudalism  established  when  we 
see  monarchy  and  liberty  nascent  and  growing  in  its  womb. 

Trom  the  end  of  the  ninth  to  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  two  Struggle  cf 
families  were,  in  Trench  history,  the  representatives  and  instru- Roman 
ments  of  the  two  systems  thus  confronted  and  conflicted  at  that  Germanic 
epoch,  the  imperial,  which  was  falling,  and  the  feudal,  which  was  principles, 
rising.  After  the  death  of  Charlemagne,  his  descendants,  to  the 
number  of  ten,  from  Louis  the  Debonnair  to  Louis  the  Sluggard, 
strove  obstinately,  but  in  vain,  to  maintain  the  unity  of  the  empire 
and  the  unity  of  the  central  power.  In  four  generations,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  descendants  of  Robert  the  Strong  climbed  to  the 
head  of  feudal  Trance.  The  former,  though  German  in  race,  were 
imbued  with  the  maxims,  the  traditions  and  the  pretensions  of  that 
Roman  world  which  had  been  for  a while  resuscitated  by  their 
glorious  ancestor ; and  they  claimed  it  as  their  heritage.  The 
latter  preserved,  at  their  settlement  upon  Gallo-Roman  territory, 

Germanic  sentiments,  manners,  and  instincts,  and  were  occupied 
only  with  the  idea  of  getting  more  and  more  settled  and  greater 
and  greater  in  the  new  society  which  was  little  by  little  being 
formed  upon  the  soil  won  by  the  barbarians ; their  forefathers, 

Louis  the  Ultramarine  and  Lothaire  were  not,  we  may  suppose 
less  personally  brave  than  Robert  the  Strong  and  his  son  Eudes, 


62 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  987. 
Hugh  Ca- 
pet king. 


but  when  the  Northmen  put  the  Frankish  dominions  in  peril,  it 
was  not  to  the  descendants  of  Charlemagne,  not  to  the  emperor 
Charles  the  Fat,  but  to  the  local  and  feudal  chieftain,  to  Eudes, 
count  of  Paris,  that  the  population  turned  for  salvation;  and 
Eudes  it  was  who  saved  them. 

In  this  painful  parturition  of  Fr.nch  monarchy,  one  fact  de- 
serves to  be  remarked,  and  that  is  the  lasting  respect  attached,  in 
the  minds  of  the  people,  to  the  name  and  the  reminiscences  of  the 
Carlovingian  rule,  notwithstanding  its  decay.  It  was  not  alone 
the  lustre  of  that  name  and  of  the  memory  of  Charlemagne  which 
inspired  and  prolonged  this  respect ; a certain  instinctive  feeling 
about  the  worth  of  hereditary  monarchy,  as  an  element  of  stability 
and  order,  already  existed  amongst  the  populations,  and  glimpses 
thereof  were  visible  amongst  the  rivals  of  the  royal  family  in  the 
hour  of  its  dissolution. 

On  the  29th  or  30th  of  June.  987,  Hugh,  Capet  was  crowned 
king  by  the  grandees  of  Frankish  Gaul  assembled  at  Senlis,  and 
the  dynasty  of  the  Capetians  was  founded  under  the  double  in- 
fluence of  German  manners  and  feudal  connexions.  Amongst  the 
ancient  Germans  royal  heirship  was  generally  confined  to  one  and 
the  same  family;  but  election  was  often  joined  with  heirship,  and 
had  more  than  once  thrust  the  latter  aside.  Hugh  Capet  was  head 
of  the  family  which  was  the  most  illustrious  in  his  time  and  the 
closest  to  the  throne,  on  which  the  personal  merits  of  Counts 
Eudes  and  Robert  had  alreadv  twice  seated  it.  He  v-as  also  one  of 
the  greatest  chieftains  of  feudal  society,  duke  of  the  country  which 
was  already  called  France,  and  Count  of  Paris,  of  that  city  which 
Clovis,  after  his  victories,  had  chosen  as  the  centre  of  his  do- 
minions. In  view  of  the  Roman  rather  than  Germanic  pretensions 
of  the  Carlovingian  heirs  and  of  their  admitted  decay,  the  rise  of 
Hugh  Capet  was  the  natural  consequence  of  the  principal  facts  as 
well  as  of  the  manners  of  the  period,  and  the  crowning  manifes- 
tation of  the  new  social  condition  in  France,  that  is,  feudalism. 
Accordingly  the  event  reached  completion  and  confirmation  with- 
out any  great  obstacle.  The  Carlovingian,  Charles  of  Lorraine, 
vainly  attempted  to  assert  his  rights ; but,  after  some  gleams  of 
success*  he  died  in  992,  and  his  descendants  fell,  if  not  into  ob- 
scurity, at  least  into  political  insignificance.  In  vain,  again,  did 
certain  feudal  lords,  especially  in  Southern  France,  refuse  for  some 
time  their  adhesion  to  Hugh  Capet.  Hugh  possessed  that  in- 
telligent and  patient  moderation,  which,  when  a position  is  once 
acquired,  is  the  best  pledge  of  continuance.  Several  facts  indicate 


GERBERT,  AFTERWARD  POPE  SYLVESTER  II. 


iiBRARV 
nr  THE 

UNIVERSliy  OF  ILLINOIS 


The  Church 


^3 


that  "he  did  not  under- estimate  the  worth  and  range  of  his  title  of 
king.  At  the  same  time,  that  by  getting  his  son  Robert  crowned  with 
him,  he  secured  for  his  line  the  next  succession ; he  also  performed 
several  acts  which  went  beyond  the  limits  of  his  feudal  domains 
and  proclaimed  to  all  the  kingdom  the  presence  of  the  king.  But 
those  acts  were  temperate  and  wise;  and  they  paved  the  way  for 
the  future  without  anticipating  it.  Hugh  Capet  confined  himself 
carefully  to  the  sphere  of  his  recognized  rights  as  well  as  of  his 
effective  strength,  and  his  government  remained  faithful  to  the 
character  of  the  revolution  which  had  raised  him  to  the  throne,  at 
the  same  time  that  it  gave  warning  of  the  future  progress  of  royalty 
independently  of  and  over  the  head  of  feudalism.  When  he  died, 
on  the  24th  of  October,  996,  the  crown,  which  he  hesitated,  they 
say,  to  wear  on  his  own  head,  passed  without  obstacle  to  his  son 
Robert,  and  the  course  which  was  to  be  followed  for  eight  centuries, 
under  the  government  of  his  descendants,  by  civilization  in  France, 
began  to  develope  itself. 

It  is  worth  while  noticing  that,  far  from  aiding  the  accession  of 
the  new  dynasty,  the  Court  of  Rome  showed  herself  favourable  to 
the  old,  and  tried  to  save  it  without  herself  becoming  too  deeply 
compromised.  Such  was,  from  985  to  996,  the  attitude  of  Pope 
John  XVI.,  at  the  crisis  which  placed  Hugh  Capet  upon  the  Attitude 
throne.  In  spite  of  this  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Papacy,  the  of  the 
French  Church  took  the  initiative  in  the  event,  and  supported  the  Cllurcl1, 
new  king ; the  Archbishop  of  Rheirns  affirmed  the  right  of  the 
people  to  accomplish  a change  of  dynasty,  and  anointed  Hugh 
Capet  and  his  son  Robert.  The  accession  of  the  Capetians  was  a 
work  independent  of  all  foreign  influence  and  strictly  national,  in 
Church  as  well  as  in  State. 

From  996  to  1108  the  first  three  successors  of  Hugh  Capet,  his 
son  Robert,  his  grandson  Henry  I.,  and  his  great-grandson  Philip  L, 
sat  upon  the  throne  of  France  ; and  during  this  long  space  of 
112  years  the  kingdom  of  France  had  not,  sooth  to  say,  any 
history.  Parcelled  out,  by  virtue  of  the  feudal  system,  between  a 
multitude  of  princes,  independent,  isolated,  and  scarcely  sovereigns 
in  their  own  dominions,  keeping  up  anything  like  frequent  inter- 
course only  with  their  neighbours,  and  loosely  united,  by  certain 
rules  or  customs  of  vassalage,  to  him  amongst  them  who  bore  the 
title  of  king,  the  France  of  the  eleventh  century  existed  in  little 
more  than  name : Xormandy,  Brittany,  Burgundy,  Aquitaine, 

Poitou,  Anjou,  Flanders,  and  Xivernais  were  the  real  states  and 
peoples,  each  with  its  own  distinct  life  and  history.  One  single 
event,  the  Crusade,  united,  towards  the  end  of  the  century,  those 


64  History  of  France. 

scattered  sovereigns  and  peoples  in  one  common  idea  and  one  com- 
bined action. 

A.D.  1000.  In  a.d.  1000,  in  consequence  of  the  sense  attached  to  certain 
world  ex-  wor(^s  in  the  Sacred  Books,  many  Christians  expected  the  end  of 
pected.  the  world.  The  time  of  expectation  was  full  of  anxieties ; wrhen 
the  last  day  of  the  tenth  and  the  first  of  the  eleventh  centuries 
were  past,  it  was  like  a general  regeneration ; it  might  have  been 
said  that  time  was  beginning  over  again  ; and  the  work  was  com- 
menced of  rendering  the  Christian  world  worthy  of  the  future. 
“Especially  in  Italy  and  in  Gaul,”  says  the  chronicler  Raoul 
Glaber,  “men  took  in  hand  the  reconstruction  of  the  basilicas, 
although  the  greater  part  had  no  need  thereof.”  Christian  art,  in 
its  earliest  form  of  the  Gothic  style,  dates  from  this  epoch ; the 
power  and  riches  of  the  Christian  Church,  in  its  different  institu- 
tions, received,  at  this  crisis  of  the  human  imagination,  a fresh 
impulse. 

Other  facts,  some  lamentable  and  some  salutary,  began,  about 
this  epoch,  to  assume  in  French  history  a place  which  was  destined 
before  long  to  become  an  important  one.  Piles  of  faggots  were  set 
up,  first  at  Orleans  and  then  at  Toulouse,  for  the  punishment  of 
heretics.  The  heretics  of  the  day  were  Manicheans  ; at  the  same 
time  a double  portion  of  ire  blazed  forth  against  the  Jews. 

1 Amongst  Christians  acts  of  oppression  and  violence  on  the  part  of 

the  great  against  the  small  became  so  excessive  and  so  frequent 
that  they  excited  in  country  parts,  particularly  in  Normandy,  in- 
surrections which  the  insurgents  tried  to  organize  into  permanent 
God’s  resistance.  However,  even  in  the  midst  of  this  cruel  egotism  and 

truce*  this  gross  unreason  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  the  ne- 

cessity, from  a moral  and  social  point  of  view,  of  struggling  against 
such  disgusting  irregularities  made  itself  felt  and  found  zealous 
advocates.  From  this  epoch  are  to  be  dated  the  first  efforts  to 
establish,  in  different  parts  of  France,  what  was  called  God's  peace, 
God's  truce.  The  words  were  well  chosen  for  prohibiting  at  the 
same  time  oppression  and  revolt,  for  it  needed  nothing  less 
than  law  and  the  voice  of  God  to  put  some  restraint  upon  the 
barbarous  manners  and  passions  of  men,  great  or  small,  lord  or 
peasant.  King  Robert  always  showed  himself  favourable  to  this 
pacific  work ; and  he  is  the  first  amongst  the  five  kings  of  France, 
in  other  respects  very  different, — himself,  St.  Louis,  Louis  XII., 
A.D.  1031  Henry  IV.,  and  Louis  XVI., — who  were  particularly  distinguished 
--1108.  for  sympathetic  kindness  and  anxiety  for  the  popular  welfare. 

HenryS  I.  Though  not  so  pious  or  so  good  as  Robert,  his  son,  Henry  I., 

and  and  his  grandson,  Philip  I , were  neither  more  energetic  nor  more 
Philip  I. 


€5 


The  king  and  the  nation . 

glorious  kings.  During  their  long  reigns  (the  former  from  1031 
to  1060,  and  the  latter  from  1060  to  1108)  no  important  and  well- 
prosecuted  design  distinguished  their  government.  Their  public 
life  was  passed  at  one  time  in  petty  warfare,  without  decisive 
results,  against  such  and  such  vassals,  at  another,  in  acts  of  capri- 
cious intervention  in  the  quarrels  of  their  vassals  amongst  them- 
selves. Their  home-life  was  neither  less  irregular  nor  conducted 
with  more  wisdom  and  regard  for  the  public  interest.  In  spite  of 
their  political  mediocrity  and  their  indolent  licentiousness,  however, 
Eobert,  Henry  I.,  and  Philip  I.  were  not,  in  the  eleventh  century, 
insignificant  personages,  without  authority  or  practical  influence, 
whom  their  contemporaries  could  leave  out  of  the  account.  French 
kingship  in  the  eleventh  century  was  sole  power  invested  with  a 
triple  character,  Germanic,  Eoman,  and  religious ; its  possessors 
were  at  the  same  time  the  chieftains  of  the  conquerors  of  the  soil, 
the  successors  of  the  Eoman  emperors  and  of  Charlemagne,  and 
the  lay  delegates  and  representatives  of  the  God  of  the  Christians. 
Whatever  were  their  weaknesses  and  their  personal  short-comings, 
they  were  not  the  mere  titularies  of  a power  in  decay,  and  the 
kingly  post  was  strong  and  full  of  blossom,  as  events  were  not 
slow  to  demonstrate. 

And  as  with  the  kingsnip,  so  with  the  community  of  France  in 
the  eleventh  century.  In  spite  of  its  dislocation  into  petty  inco- 
herent and  turbulent  associations,  it  was  by  no  means  in  decay. 
Irregularities  of  ambition,  hatreds  and  quarrels  amongst  neighbours 
and  relatives,  outrages  on  the  part  of  princes  and  peoples  were 
incessantly  renewed  ; but  energy  of  character,  activity  of  mind, 
indomitable  will  and  zeal  for  the  liberty  of  the  individual  were 
not  wanting,  and  they  exhibited  themselves  passionately  and  at 
any  risk,  at  one  time  by  brutal  or  cynical  outbursts  which  were 
followed  occasionally  by  fervent  repentance  and  expiation,  at  an- 
other by  acts  of  courageous  wisdom  and  disinterested  piety.  In 
ideas,  events,  and  persons  there  was  a blending  of  the  strongest 
contrasts ; manners  were  rude  and  even  savage,  yet  souls  were 
filled  with  lofty  and  tender  aspirations ; the  authority  of  religious 
creeds  at  one  time  was  on  the  point  of  extinction,  yet  at  another 
shone  forth  gloriously  in  opposition  to  the  arrogance  and  brutality 
of  mundane  passions ; ignorance  was  profound,  and  yet  here  and 
there,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  mental  darkness,  gleamed  bright 
centres  of  movement  and  intellectual  labour.  It  was  the  period 
when  Abelard,  anticipating  freedom  of  thought  and  of  instruction, 
drew  together  upon  Mount  St,  Genevieve  thousands  of  hearers 
anxious  to  follow  him  in  the  study  of  the  great  problems  of  Nature 


The  king 
ship  and 
the  com- 
munity. 


66 


History  of  France 


Influence 
of  Chris- 
tianity. 


Conquest 
of  England 
by  the 
Normans. 


and  of  the  destiny  of  man  and  the  world.  And,  far  away  from  this 
throng,  in  the  solitude  of  the  abbey  of  Bee,  St.  Anselm  was  offering 
to  his  monks  a Christian  and  philosophical  demonstration  of  the 
existence  of  God — “faith  seeking  understanding ” (fides  queer em 
intellectum),  as  he  himself  used  to  say.  It  was  the  period,  too, 
when,  distressed  at  the  licentiousness  which  was  spreading 
throughout  the  Church,  as  well  as  lay  society,  two  illustrious 
monks,  St.  Bernard  and  St.  Norbert,  not  only  went  preaching 
every  where  reformation  of  morals,  but  laboured  at,  and  succeeded 
in  establishing  for  monastic  life  a system  of  strict  discipline  and 
severe  austerity.  Lastly,  it  was  the  period  when,  in  the  laic  World, 
was  created  and  developed  the  most  splendid  fact  of  the  middle 
ages,  knighthood,  that  noble  soaring  of  imaginations  and  souls 
towards  the  ideal  of  Christian  virtue  and  soldierly  honour. 

In  the  France  of  the  middle  ages,  though  practically  crimes  and 
disorders,  moral  and  social  evils  abounded,  yet  men  had  in  their 
souls  and  their  imaginations  loftier  .ind  purer  instincts  and  desires  ; 
their  notions  of  virtue  and  their  ideas  of  justice  were  very  superior 
to  the  practice  pursued  around  them  and  amongst  themselves  ; a 
certain  moral  ideal  hovered  above  this  low  and  tumultuous  com- 
munity and  attracted  the  notice  and  obtained  the  regard  of  men 
in  whose  life  it  is  but  very  faintly  reflected.  The  Christian  re- 
ligion undoubtedly  was,  if  not  the  only,  at  any  rate  the  principal 
cause  of  this  great  fact ; for  its  particular  characteristic  is  to  arouse 
amongst  men  a lofty  moral  ambition  by  keeping  constantly  before 
their  eyes  a type  infinitely  beyond  the  reach  of  human  nature  and 
yet  profoundly  sympathetic  with  it.  To  Christianity  it  was  that 
the  middle  ages  owed  knighthood,  that  institution  which,  in  the 
midst  of  anarchy  and  barbarism,  gave  a poetical  and  moral  beauty 
to  the  period.  It  was  feudal  knighthood  and  Christianity  together 
which  produced  the  two  great  and  glorious  events  of  those  times, 
the  Norman  conquest  of  England  and  the  Crusades. 

From  the  time  of  Bollo’s  settlement  in  Normandy,  the  commu- 
nications of  the  Normans  with  England  had  become  more  and 
more  frequent  and  important  for  the  two  countries.  The  success 
of  the  invasions  of  the  Danes  in  England  in  the  tenth  century  and 
the  reigns  of  three  kings  of  the  Danish  line  had  obliged  the  princes 
of  Saxon  race  to  take  refuge  in  Normandy,  the  duke  of  which, 
Bichard  I.,  had  given  his  daughter  Emma  in  marriage  to  their 
grandfather,  Ethelred  II.  When  at  the  death  of  the  last  Danish 
king,  Hardicanute,  the  Saxon  prince  Edward  ascended  the  throne 
of  his  fathers,  he  had  passed  twenty-seven  years  of  exile  in  Nor- 
mandy, and  he  returned  to  England  “ almost  a stranger,”  in  the 


67 


The  Anglo-Saxons  and  the  Normans. 

words  of  the  chronicles,  to  the  country  of  his  ancestors;  far  more 
Norman  than  Saxon  in  his  manners,  tastes  and  language,  and 
surrounded  by  Normans,  whose  numbers  and  prestige  under  his 
reign  increased  from  day  to  day.  A hot  rivalry,  nationally  as  well 
as  courtly,  grew  up  between  them  and  the  Saxons.  At  the  head 
of  these  latter  was  Godwin,  count  of  Kent,  and  his  five  sons,  the 
eldest  of  whom,  Harold,  was  destined  before  long  to  bear  the 
whole  brunt  of  the  struggle.  Between  these  powerful  rivals 
Edward  the  Confessor,  a pacific,  pious,  gentle,  and  undecided  king, 
wavered  incessantly ; at  one  time  trying  to  resist,  and  at  another 
compelled  to  yield  to  the  pretensions  and  seditions  by  which  he 
was  beset.  Tn  1051  the  Saxon  party  and  its  head,  Godwin,  had 
risen  in  revolt.  Duke  William,  on  invitation,  perhaps,  from  King 
Edward,  paid  a brilliant  visit  to  England,  where  he  found  Normans 
every  where  established  and  powerful,  in  Church  as  well  as  in 
State ; in  command  of  the  fleets,  ports,  and  principal  English 
places.  King  Edward  received  him  “ as  his  own  son  ; gave  him 
arms,  horses,  hounds,  and  hawking-birds,”  and  sent  him  home  full 
of  presents  and  hopes.  The  chronicler,  Ingulf,  who  accompanied 
William  on  his  return  to  Normandy,  and  remained  attached  to 
him  as  private  secretary,  affirms  that,  during  this  visit,  not  only 
was  there  no  question,  between  King  Edward  and  the  Duke  of 
Normandy,  of  the  latter’s  possible  succession  to  the  throne  of 
England,  but  that  never  as  yet  had  this  probability  occupied  the 
attention  of  William. 

It  is  very  doubtful  whether  William  had  said  nothing  upon  the  Duke  Wil- 
subject  to  King  Edward  at  that  time  ; and  it  is  certain,  from  Harold^ 
William’s  own  testimony,  that  he  had  for  a long  while  been 
thinking  about  it.  Eour  years  after  this  visit  of  the  duke  to 
England,  King  Edward  was  reconciled  to  and  lived  on  good  terms 
with  the  family  of  the  Godwins.  Their  father  was  dead,  and  the 
eldest  son,  Harold,  asked  the  king’s  permission  to  go  to  Sormandy 
and  claim  the  release  of  his  brother  and  nephew,  who  bad  been 
left  as  hostages  in  the  keeping  of  Duke  William.  The  king  did 
not  approve  of  the  project.  “ I have  no  wish  to  constrain  tliee,” 
said  he  to  Harold  : “ but  if  thou  go,  it  will  be  without  my  consent : 
and,  assuredly,  thy  trip  will  bring  some  misfortune  upon  thee  and 
our  country.  I know  Duke  William  and  his  crafty  spirit ; he 
hates  thee,  and  will  grant  thee  naught  unless  he  see  his  advantage 
therefrom.  The  only  way  to  make  him  give  up  the  hostages  will 
be  to  send  some  other  than  thyself.”  Harold,  however,  persisted, 
and  went.  William  received  him  with  apparent  cordiality, 
promised  him  the  release  of  the  two  hostages,  escorted  him  and  his 

f 2 


68 


History  of  France. 


comrades  from  castle  to  castle,  and  from  entertainment  to  enter- 
tainment, made  them  knights  of  the  grand  Norman  order,  and  even 
invited  them,  “ by  way  of  trying  their  new  spurs,”  to  accompany 
him  on  a little  warlike  expedition  he  was  about  to  undertake  in 
Brittany.  Harold  and  his  comrades  behaved  gallantly  ; and  he 
and  William  shared  the  same  tent  and  the  same  table.  On 
returning,  as  they  trotted  side  by  side,  William  turned  the  con- 
versation upon  his  youthful  connexion  with  the  king  of  England. 
“ Whtn  Edward  and  I,”  said  he  to  the  Saxon,  “ were  living  like 
brothers  under  the  same  roof,  he  promised,  if  ever  he  became 
king  of  England,  to  make  me  heir  to  his  kingdom  ; I should  very 
much  like  thee,  Harold,  to  help  me  to  realize  this  promise ; and  be 
assured  that,  if  by  thy  aid  I obtain  the  kingdom,  whatsoever  thou 
askest  of  me  I will  grant  it  forthwith.”  Harold,  in  surprise  and 
confusion,  answered  by  an  assent  which  be  tried  to  make  as  vague 
as  possible.  William  took  it  as  positive.  “ Since  thou  dost 
consent  to  serve  me,”  said  he,  “ thou  must  engage  to  fortify  the 
castle  of  Dover,  dig  a well  of  fresh  water  there,  and  put  it  into 
the  hands  of  my  men-at  arms ; thou  must  also  give  me  thy  sister 
to  be  married  to  one  of  my  barons,  and  thou  must  thyself  espouse 
my  daughter  Adele.”  Harold,  “ not  witting,”  says  the  chronicler, 
“how  to  escape  from  this  pressing  danger,”  promised  all  the  duke 
asked  of  him,  reckoning,  doubtless,  on  disregarding  his  engage- 
ment ; and  for  the  moment  William  asked  him  nothing  more. 
Harold  But  a few  days  afterwards  he  summoned,  at  Avranches  according 
Coath  his^  some’  an(^  a^  Bayeux  according  to  others,  and,  more  probably 
promises,  still,  at  Bonueville-sur-Touques,  his  Norman  barons  ; and,  in  the 
midst  of  this  assembly,  at  which  Harold  was  present,  William, 
seated  with  his  naked  sword  in  his  hand,  caused  to  be  brought 
and  placed  upon  a table  covered  with  cloth  of  gold,  two  re- 
liquaries. “Harold.”  said  he,  “I  call  upon  thee,  in  presence  of 
this  noble  assemblage,  to  confirm  by  oath  the  promises  thou  didst 
make  me,  to  wit,  to  aid  me  to  obtain  the  kingdom  of  England 
after  the  death  of  King  Edward,  to  espouse  my  daughter  Adele, 
and  to  send  me  thy  sister  to  be  married  to  one  of  my  people.” 
Harold,  who  had  not  expected  this  public  summons,  nevertheless 
did  not  hesitate  any  more  than  he  had  hesitated  in  his  private 
conversation  with  William ; he  drew  near,  laid  his  hand  on  the 
two  reliquaries  and  swore  to  observe,  to  the  best  of  his  power,  his 
agreement  with  the  duke,  should  he  live  and  God  help.  “ God 
help  ! ” repeated  those  who  were  present.  William  made  a sign ; 
the  cloth  of  gold  was  removed  and  there  was  discovered  a tub  filled 
to  tbe  edge  with  bones  and  relics  of  all  the  saints  that  could  be  got 


6g 


Invasion  of  England. 

together.  The  chronicler-poet,  Robert  Wace,  who,  alone  and 
long  afterwards,  recounts  this  last  particular,  adds  that  Harold  was 
visibly  troubled  at  sight  of  this  saintly  heap ; but  he  had  sworn. 
It  is  honourable  to  human  nature  not  to  be  indifferent  to  oaths 
even  when  those  who  exact  them  have  but  small  reliance  upon 
them,  and  when  he  who  takes  them  has  but  small  intention  of 
keeping  them.  And  so  Harold  departed,  laden  with  presents, 
leaving  William  satisfied  but  not  over-confident.  Edward  the 
Confessor  died  on  the  5th  of  January,  1066  ; the  very  day  after 
the  celebration  of  his  obsequies  Harold  was  proclaimed  king,  amidst 
no  small  public  disquietude,  and  Aldred,  archbishop  of  York,  lost 
no  time  in  anointing  him. 

On  receiving  this  unlooked  for  piece  of  intelligence  William 
gathered  together  his  most  important  and  most  trusted  counsellors  ; 
and  they  were  unanimous  in  urging  him  to  resent  the  perjury  and 
injury.  He  sent  to  Harold  a messenger  charged  to  say,  “ William, 
duke  of  the  Normans,  doth  recall  to  thee  the  oath  thou  swarest  to 
him  with  thy  mouth  and  with  thy  hand,  on  real  and  saintly 
relics.”  “ It  is  true,”  answered  Harold,  “ that  I sware,  but  on 
compulsion  ; I promised  what  did  not  belong  to  me  ; my  kingship 
is  not  mine  own  ; I cannot  put  it  off  from  me  without  the  consent 
of  the  country.  I cannot  any  the  more,  without  the  consent  of 
the  country,  espouse  a foreigner.  As  for  my  sister,  whom  the 
duke  claims  for  one  of  his  chieftains,  she  died  within  the  year ; 
if  he  will,  I will  send  him  the  corpse.”  William  replied  without 
any  violence,  claiming  the  conditions  sworn,  and  specially  Harold’s 
marriage  with  his  daughter  Adele.  For  all  answer  to  this  summons 
Harold  married  a Saxon,  sister  of  two  powerful  Saxon  chieftains, 
Edwin  and  Morkar.  There  was  an  open  rupture ; and  William 
swore  that  “ within  the  year  he  would  go  and  claim,  at  the  sword’s 
point,  payment  of  what  was  due  to  him,  on  the  very  spot  where 
Harold  thought  himself  to  be  most  firm  on  his  feet.” 

Dives  was  the  place  of  assemblage  appointed  for  fleet  and  army. 
William  repaired  thither  about  the  end  of  August,  1066.  But  for 
several  weeks  contrary  winds  prevented  him  from  putting  to  sea ; 
some  vessels  which  made  the  attempt  perished  in  the  tempest ; 
and  some  of  the  volunteer  adventurers  got  disgusted,  and  deserted. 
William  maintained  strict  discipline  amongst  this  multitude,  forbid- 
ding plunder  so  strictly  that  “ the  cattle  fed  in  the  fields  in  full 
security.”  The  soldiers  grew  tired  of  waiting  in  idleness  and  often 
in  sickness.  “Yon  is  a madman,”  said  they,  “who  is  minded  to 
possess  himself  or  another’s  land  ; God  is  against  the  design  and  so 
refuses  us  a wind.”  About  the  20th  of  September  the  weather 


Harold 

proclaimed 

king. 


A.D.  1083. 
The  Nor- 
mans start 
for  Eng- 
land. 


7 o 


History  of  France. 


landing 
at  Pe^en- 
sey. 


Harold 

defeats 

Tostlg. 


changed.  The  fleet  got  ready,  hut  could  only  go  and  anchor  at 
St.  Yalery,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Somme.  There  it  was  necessary  to 
wait  several  more  days  ; impatience  and  disquietude  were  redoubled; 
“ and  there  appeared  in  the  heavens  a star  with  a tail,  a certain 
sign  of  great  things  to  come.”  William  had  the  shrine  of  St.  Yalery 
brought  out  and  paraded  about,  being  more  impatient  in  his  soul 
than  any  body,  but  more  confident  in  his  will  and  his  good 
fortune.  There  was  brought  to  him  a spy  whom  Harold  had  sent 
to  watch  the  forces  and  plans  of  the  enemy;  and  William  dis- 
missed him,  saying,  “ Harold  hath  no  need  to  take  any  care  or  be 
at  any  charges  to  know  how  we  be  and  what  we  be  doing  ; he  shall 
see  for  himself,  and  shall  feel  before  the  end  of  the  year.”  At  last, 
on  the  27th  of  September,  1066,  the  sun  rose  on  a calm  sea  and 
with  a favourable  wind  ; and  towards  evening  the  fleet  set  out. 
The  Mora,  the  vessel  on  which  William  was,  and  which  had  been 
given  to  him  by  his  wife  Matilda,  led  the  way ; and  a figure  in 
gilded  bronze,  some  say  in  gold,  representing  their  youngest  son 
William,  had  been  placed  on  the  prow,  with  the  face  towards 
England.  Being  a better  sailor  than  . the  Others,  this  ship  was  soon 
a long  way  ahead ; and  William  had  a mariner  sent  to  the  top  of 
the  mainmast  to  see  if  the  fleet  were  following.  “ I see  naught  but 
sea  and  sky,”  said  the  mariner.  William  had  the  ship  brought  to ; 
and  the  second  time  the  mariner  said,  “ I see  four  ships.”  Before 
long  he  cried,  “I  see  a forest  of  masts  and  sails.”  On  the  29th  of 
September,  St.  Michael’s-day,  the  expedition  arrived  off  the  coast 
of  England,  at  Pevensey,  near  Hastings,  and  “ when  the  tide  had 
ebbed  and  the  ships  remained  aground  on  the  strand,”  says  the 
chronicle,  the  landing  was  effected  without  obstacle ; not  a Saxon 
soldier  appeared  on  the  coast.  William  was  the  last  to  leave  his 
ship ; and  on  setting  foot  on  the  sand  he  made  a false  step  and 
fell.  “Bad  sign  !”  was  muttered  around  him;  “God  have  us  in 
His  keeping  !”  “What  say  you,  lords  !”  cried  William:  “by  the 
glory  of  God  I have  grasped  this  land  with  my  hands;  all  that 
there  is  of  it  is  ours.” 

Whilst  William  was  making  for  the  southern  coast  of  England, 
Harold  was  repairing  by  forced  marches  to  the  north,  in  order  to 
defend,  against  the  rebellion  of  his  brother  Tostig  and  the  invasion 
of  a Norwegian  army,  his  short-lived  kingship,  thus  menaced,  at 
two  ends  of  the  country,  by  two  formidable  enemies.  On  the  25th 
of  September,  1066,  he  gained  at  York  a brilliant  victory  over  his 
northern  foe  ; and,  wounded  as  he  was,  he  no  sooner  learnt  that  Duke 
AYilliam  had  on  the  29th  pitched  his  camp  and  planted  his  flag  at 
Pevensey,  than  he  set  out  in  haste  for  the  south. 


Victory  of  the  Normans . 7 1 

On  the  eve  of  the  battle,  the  Saxons  passed  the  night  in  amuse- 
ment, eating,  drinking,  and  singing,  with  great  uproar ; the 
Hermans,  on  the  contrary,  were  preparing  their  arms,  saying  their 
prayers,  and  “ confessing  to  their  priests — all  who  would.”  O11  the 
14th  of  October,  1066,  when  Duke  William  put  on  his  armour,  his 
coat  of  mail  was  given  to  him  the  wrong  way.  “Bad  omen!” 
cried  some  of  his  people  : 44  if  such  a thing  had  happened  to  us,  we 
would  not  fight  to-day.”  44  Be  not  disquieted,”  said  the  duke  : 
“ I have  never  believed  in  sorcerers  and  diviners,  and  I never  liked 
them  ; I believe  in  God,  and  in  Him  I put  my  trust.”  He  as- 
sembled his  men-at-arms,  and  44  setting  himself  upon  a high  place, 
so  that  all  might  hear  him,”  he  said  to  them,  44  My  true  and  loyal 
friends,  ye  have  crossed  the  seas  for  love  of  me,  and  for  that  I 
cannot  thank  ye  as  I ought ; but  I will  make  what  return  I may, 
and  what  I have  ye  shall  have.  I am  not  come  only  to  take  what 
I demanded  or  to  get  my  rights,  but  to  punish  felonies,  treasons, 
and  breaches  of  faith  committed  against  our  people  by  the  men  of 
this  country.  Think,  moreover,  what  great  honour  ye  will  have  to- 
day if  the  day  be  ours.  And  bethink  ye  that,  if  ye  be  discomfited, 
ye  be  dead  men  without  help  ; for  ye  have  not  whither  ye  may 
retreat,  seeing  that  our  ships  be  broken  up  and  our  mariners  be 
here  with  us.  He  who  flies  will  be  a dead  man ; he  who  fights 
will  be  saved.  For  God’s  sake,  let  each  man  do  his  duty ; trust 
we  in  God,  and  the  day  will  be  ours.” 

The  address  was  too  long  for  the  duke’s  faithful  comrade, 
William  Fitz*Osbern.  “My  lord,”  said  he,  “we  dally;  let  us  all 
to  arms  and  forward,  forward  ! ” The  army  got  in  motion,  starting 
from  the  hill  of  Telham  or  Heathland,  according  to  Mr.  Freeman, 
marching  to  attack  the  English  on  the  opposite  hill  of  Senlac. 
A Horm an,  called  Taillefer,  “ who  sang  very  well,  and  rode  a horse 
which  was  very  fast,  came  up  to  the  duke.  4 My  lord,’  said  he, 
4 1 have  served  you  long,  and  you  owe  me  for  all  my  service  : pay 
me  to-day,  an  it  please  you  ; grant  unto  me,  for  recompense  in  full, 
to  strike  the  first  blow  in  the  battle.’  4 1 grant  it,’  quoth  the 
duke.  So  Taillefer  darted  before  him,  singing  the  deeds  of  Charle- 
magne, of  Roland,  of  Oliver,  and  of  the  vassals  who  fell  at 
Roncesvalles.”  As  he  sang,  he  played  with  his  sword,  throwing  it 
up  into  the  air  and  catching  it  in  his  right  hand  ; and  the  Hormans 
followed,  repeating  his  songs,  and  crying,  44  God  help  ! God  help  !” 
The  English,  intrenched  upon  a plateau  towards  which  the  Hor- 
mans  were  ascending,  awaited  the  assault,  shouting  and  defying 
the  foe. 

The  battle,  thus  begun,  lasted  nine  hours  with  equal  obstinacy 
on  both  sides,  and  varied  success  from  hour  to  hour ; it  ended,  how- 


October  14. 
Battle  of 
Senlac. 


History  of  France. 


Conse- 
quences of 
the  battle. 


72 

ever,  in  the  defeat  of  the  English ; their  intrenchments  were  stormed. 
Harold  fell  mortally  wounded  by  an  arrow  which  pierced  his  skull; 
his  two  brothers  and  his  bravest  comrades  fell  at  his  side ; the 
tight  was  prolonged  between  the  English  dispersed  and  the  Nor- 
mans  pursuing;  the  standard  sent  from  Rome  to  the  Duke  of 
Normandy  had  replaced  the  Saxon  flag  on  the  very  spot  where 
Harold  had  fallen ; and  all  around,  the  ground  continued  to  get 
covered  with  dead  and  dying,  fruitless  victims  of  the  passions  of 
the  combatants,  hi  ext  day  William  went  over  the  field  of  battle  ; 
and  he  was  heard  to  say  in  a tone  of  mingled  triumph  and  sorrow 
“ Here  is  verily  a lake  of  blood  ! ” 

There  was,  long  after  the  battle  of  Senlac  or  Hastings,  as  it  is 
commonly  called,  a patriotic  superstition  in  the  country  to  the 
effect  that,  when  the  rain  had  moistened  the  soil,  there  were  to  be 
seen  traces  of  blood  on  the  ground  where  it  had  taken  place. 

It  was  not  every  thing,  however,  to  be  victorious,  it  was  still 
necessary  to  be  recognized  as  king.  When  the  news  of  the  defeat 
at  Hastings  and  the  death  of  Harold  was  spread  abroad  in  the 
country,  the  emotion  was  lively  and  seemed  to  be  profound ; the 
great  Saxon  national  council,  the  Wittenagemote , assembled  at 
London  ; the  remnants  of  the  Saxon  army  rallied  there  ; and  search 
was  made  for  other  kings  than  the  Norman  duke.  Harold  left  two 
sons,  very  young  and  not  in  a condition  to  reign  ; but  his  two 
brothers-in-law,  Edwin  and  Morkar,  held  dominion  in  the  north  of 
England,  whilst  the  southern  provinces,  and  amongst  them  the 
city  of  London,  had  a popular  aspirant,  a nephew  of  Edward  the 
Confessor,  in  Edgar  surnamed  Atheling  ( the  noble,  the  illustrious), 
as  the  descendant  of  several  kings.  What  with  these  different  pre- 
tensions, there  was  discussion,  hesitation,  and  delay ; but  at  last 
the  young  Edgar  prevailed,  and  was  proclaimed  king.  Meanwhile 
William  was  advancing  with  his  army,  slowly,  prudently,  as  a man 
resolved  to  risk  nothing  and  calculating  upon  the  natural  results  of 
his  victory.  At  some  points  he  encountered  attempts  at  resistance, 
but  he  easily  overcame  them,  occupied  successively  Romney,  Dover,  - 
Canterbury,  and  Rochester,  appeared  before  London  without  trying 
to  enter  it,  and  moved  on  Winchester,  which  was  the  residence  of 
Edward  the  Confessor’s  widow,  Queen  Editha,  who  had  received 
that  important  city  as  dowry.  Through  respect  for  her,  William, 
who  presented  himself  in  the  character  of  relative  and  heir  of  King 
Edward,  did  not  enter  the  place,  and  merely  called  upon  the  in- 
habitants to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  him  and  do  him  homage, 
which  they  did  with  the  queen’s  consent.  The  Archbishops  of 
Canterbury  and  York,  many  other  prelates  and  laic  chieftains,  the 
principal  citizens  of  London,  the  two  brothers-in-law  of  Harold, 


The  Crusades . 


7 3 


Edwin  and  Morkar,  and  the  young  king  of  yesterday,  Edgar 
Atheling  himself,  having  tendered  their  submission  to  the  conqueror, 

William  entered  London,  and  fixed  for  his  coronation  upon  Dacem- 
Christmas-day,  December  25th,  1066.  Either  by  desire  of  the 
prelate  himself  or  by  William’s  own  order,  it  was  not  the  Arch-  tion  of 
bishop  of  Canterbury,  Stigand,  who  presided,  according  to  custom,  'Willia 
at  the  ceremony ; the  duty  devolved  upon  the  Archbishop  of  York, 

Aldred,  who  had  but  lately  anointed  Edgar  Atheling.  At  the 
appointed  hour,  William  arrived  at  Westminster  Abbey,  the  latest 
work  and  the  burial-place  of  Edward  the  Confessor.  The  Con- 
queror marched  between  two  hedges  of  Norman  soldiers,  behind 
whom  stood  a crowd  of  people,  cold  and  sad,  though  full  of 
curiosity.  A numerous  cavalry  guarded  the  approaches  to  the 
church  and  the  quarters  adjoining.  Two  hundred  and  sixty  counts, 
barons,  and  knights  of  Normandy  went  in  with  the  duke.  Geoffrey, 
bishop  of  Coutances,  demanded,  in  French,  of  the  Normans,  if  they 
would  that  their  duke  should  take  the  title  of  King  of  the  English. 

The  Archbishop  of  York  demanded  of  the  English,  in  the  Saxon 
tongue,  if  they  would  have  for  king  the  Duke  of  Normandy. 

Noisy  acclamations  arose  in  the  church  and  resounded  outside. 

The  soldiery,  posted  in  the  neighbourhood,  took  the  confused  roar 
for  a symptom  of  something  wrong  and  in  their  suspicious  rage  set 
fire  to  the  neighbouring  houses.  The  flames  spread  rapidly.  The 
people  who  were  rejoicing  in  the  church  caught  the  alarm,  and  a 
multitude  of  men  and  women  of  every  rank  flung  themselves  out 
of  the  edifice.  Alone  and  trembling,  the  bishops  with  some  clerics 
and  monks  remained  before  the  altar  and  accomplished  the  work  of 
anointment  upon  the  king’s  head,  “himself  trembling,”  says  the 
chronicle.  Nearly  all  the  rest  who  were  present  ran  to  the  fire, 
some  to  extinguish  it,  others  to  steal  and  pillage  in  the  midst  of 
the  consternation.  William  terminated  the  ceremony  by  taking  the 
usual  oath  of  Saxon  kings  at  their  coronation,  adding  thereto,  as 
of  his  own  motion,  a promise  to  treat  the  English  people  according 
to  their  own  laws  and  as  well  as  they  had  ever  been  treated  by  the 
best  of  their  own  kings.  Then  he  went  forth  from  the  church 
King  of  England. 

Amongst  the  great  events  of  European  history  none  was  for  a The  cm 
longer  time  in  preparation  or  more  naturally  brought  about  than  sades. 
the  Crusades.  Christianity,  from  her  earliest  days,  had  seen  in 
Jerusalem  her  sacred  cradle;  it  had  been,  in  past  times,  the  home 
of  her  ancestors,  the  Jews,  and  the  centre  of  their  history ; and, 
afterwards,  the  scene  of  the  life,  death,  and  resurrection  of  her 
Divine  Founder.  Jerusalem  became  more  and  more  the  Holy 


74 


History  of  France . 


Condition 
of  the 
Christians 
in 

Palestine. 


A.D.  1095. 
Council  of 
Clermont. 
Peter  the 
Hermit 
preaches 
the  cru- 
sade. 


City.  To  go  to  Jerusalem,  to  visit  the  Mount  of  Olives,  Calvary, 
and  the  tomb  of  Jesus,  was,  in  their  most  evil  days  and  in  the 
midst  of  their  obscurity  and  their  martyrdoms,  a pious  passion 
with  the  early  Christians.  Events,  however,  soon  rendered  the 
pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  difficult,  and  for  some  time  impossible; 
the  Mussulmans,  khalifs  of  Egypt  or  Persia,  had  taken  Jerusalem ; 
and  the  Christians,  native  inhabitants  or  foreign  visitors,  continued 
to  be  oppressed,  harassed,  and  humiliated  there.  At  two  periods 
their  condition  was  temporarily  better.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  ninth  century,  Charlemagne  reached  even  there  with  the  great- 
ness of  his  mind  and  of  his  power;  he  kept  up  so  close  a friend- 
ship with  Haroun-al-Raschid,  king  of  Persia,  that  this  prince 
preferred  his  good  graces  to  the  alliance  of  the  sovereigns  of  the 
earth.  Accordingly,  when  the  ambassadors  whom  Charles  had 
sent,  with  presents,  to  visit  the  sacred  tomb  of  our  divine  Saviour 
and  the  site  of  the  resurrection,  presented  themselves  before  him 
and  expounded  to  him  their  master’s  wish,  Haroun  did  not  content 
himself  with  entertaining  Charles’s  request,  he  wished,  besides,  to 
give  up  to  him  the  complete  proprietorship  of  those  places  hallowed 
by  the  certification  of  our  redemption,  and  he  sent  him,  with  the 
most  magnificent  presents,  the  keys  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  At 
the  end  of  the  same  century,  another  Christian  sovereign,  far  less 
powerful  and  less  famous,  John  Zimisces,  emperor  of  Constantinople, 
in  a war  against  the  Mussulmans  of  Asia,  penetrated  into  Galilee, 
made  himself  master  of  Tiberias,  Nazareth,  and  Mount  Tabor, 
received  a deputation  which  brought  him  the  keys  of  Jerusalem, 
“and  we  have  placed,”  he  says  himself,  “garrisons  in  all  the  dis- 
trict lately  subjected  to  our  rule.”  These  were  but  strokes  of 
foreign  intervention  giving  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem  gleams  of 
hope  rather  than  lasting  diminution  of  their  miseries.  However, 
it  is  certain  that,  during  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh  centuries, 
pilgrimages  multiplied  and  were  often  accomplished  without  obstacle. 
At  last  the  crusading  movement  was  brought  about  by  the  preach- 
ing of  an  obscure  pilgrim,  at  first  a soldier,  then  a married  man  and 
father  of  several  children,  then  a monk  and  a vowed  recluse,  Peter 
the  Hermit,  who  was  born  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Amiens,  about 
1050,  and  who  had  gone,  as  so  many  others  had,  to  Jerusalem  “to 
say  his  prayers  there.” 

i In  1095,  Pope  Urban  II.  was  at  Clermont,  in  Auvergne,  pre- 
siding at  the  grand  council,  at  which  thirteen  archbishops  and  two 
hundred  and  five  bishops  or  abbots  were  met  together,  with  so  many 
princes  and  lay-lords,  that  “ about  the  middle  of  the  month  of 
November  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  neighbourhood  were  full  of 


75 


Preaching  of  the  Crusade. 

people,  and  divers  were  constrained  to  have  their  tents  and 
'pavilions  set  np  amidst  the  fields  and  meadows,  notwithstanding 
that  the  season  and  the  country  were  cold  to  an  extreme.”  The 
first  nine  sessions  of  the  council  were  devoted  to  the  affairs  of  the 
Church  in  the  West ; but  at  the  tenth  Jerusalem  and  the  Christians 
of  the  East  became  the  subject  of  deliberation.  The  Pope  went 
out  of  the  church  wherein  the  Council  was  assembled  and  mounted 
a platform  erected  upon  a vast  open  space  in  the  midst  of  the 
throng.  Peter  the  Hermit,  standing  at  his  side,  spoke  first,  and 
told  the  story  of  his  sojourn  at  Jerusalem,  all  he  had  seen  of  the 
miseries  and  humiliations  of  the  Christians,  and  all  he  himself  had 
suffered  there,  for  he  had  been  made  to  pay  tribute  for  admission 
into  the  Holy  City,  and  for  gazing  upon  the  spectacle  of  the 
exactions,  insults,  and  tortures  he  was  recounting.  After  him  Speech  of 
Pope  Urban  II.  spoke,  in  the  French  tongue,  no  doubt,  as  Peter  jjrba°n  II 
had  spoken,  for  he  was  himself  a Frenchman,  as  the  majority  of 
those  present  were,  grandees  and  populace.  He  made  a long  speech, 
entering  upon  the  most  painful  details  connected  with  the  sufferings 
of  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem,  “ that  royal  city  which  the  Re- 
deemer of  the  human  race  had  made  illustrious  by  His  coming,  had 
honoured  by  His  residence,  had  hallowed  by  His  passion,  had  pur- 
chased by  His  death,  had  distinguished  by  His  burial.  She  now 
demands  of  you  her  deliverance  ....  men  of  France,  men  from 
beyond  the  mountains,  nations  chosen  and  beloved  of  God,  right 
valiant  knights,  recall  the  virtues  of  your  ancestors,  the  virtue  and 
greatness  o £ King  Charlemagne  and  your  other  kings ; it  is  from 
you  above  all  that  Jerusalem  awaits  the  help  she  invokes,  for  to 
you,  above  all  nations,  God  has  vouchsafed  signal  glory  in  arms. 

Take  ye,  then,  the  road  to  Jerusalem  for  the  remission  of  your 
sins,  and  depart  assured  of  the  imperishable  glory  which  awaits 
you  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.” 

From  the  midst  of  the  throng  arose  one  prolonged  and  general  Eathu- 
shout,  “ God  willeth  it ! God  willeth  it ! ” The  pope  paused  for 
a moment ; and  then,  making  a sign  with  his  hand  as  if  to  ask 
for  silence,  he  continued,  “If  the  Lord  God  were  not  in  your 
souls,  ye  would  not  all  have  uttered  the  same  words.  In  the 
battle,  then,  be  those  your  war-cry,  those  words  that  came  from 
God ; in  the  army  of  the  Lord  let  naught  be  heard  but  that  one 
shout,  ‘God  willeth  it ! God  willeth  it ! ’ We  ordain  not,  and  we 
advise  not  that  the  journey  be  undertaken  by  the  old  or  the  weak, 
or  such  as  be  not  suited  for  arms,  and  let  not  women  set  out 
without  their  husbands  or  their  brothers  ; let  the  rich  help  the 
poor ; nor  priests  nor  clerks  may  go  without  the  leave  of  their 


?6  History  of  France . 

bishops ; and  no  layman  shall  commence  the  march  save  with  the 
blessing  of  his  pastor.  Whosoever  hath  a wish  to  enter  upon  this* 
pilgrimage  let  him  wear  upon  his  brow  or  his  breast  the  cross  of 
the  Lord,  and  let  him  who,  in  accomplishment  of  his  desire;  shall 
be  willing  to  march  away,  place  the  cross  behind  him,  between  his 
shoulders ; for  thus  he  will  fulfil  the  precept  of  the  Lord,  who 
said,  1 He  that  doth  not  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  Me,  is  not 
worthy  of  Me.’  ” 

The  enthusiasm  was  general  and  contagious,  as  the  first  shout  of 
the  crowd  had  been ; and  a pious  prelate,  Adhemar,  bishop  of  Puy, 
was  the  first  to  receive  the  cross  from  the  pope’s  hands.  It  was  of 
red  cloth  or  silk,  sewn  upon  the  right  shoulder  of  the  coat  or  cloak, 
or  fastened  on  the  front  of  the  helmet.  The  crowd  dispersed  to 
assume  it  and  spread  it. 

Motives  of  Beligious  enthusiasm  was  not  the  only,  but  the  first  and  the  de- 
cades™" fermininn  motive  of  the  crusade ; we  must  add  to  it  the  still  vivid 
recollection  of  the  evils  caused  to  the  Christians  of  the  west  by 
the  Mussulman  invasions  in  France,  Spain  and  Italy,  and  the  fear 
of  seeing  them  begin  again.  Finally,  there  was  no  doubt  a great 
motive  power  in  the  spirit  of  adventure  and  the  love  of  enterprise 
which  characterize  times  of  intellectual  sloth  and  of  partly  mono- 
tonous existence. 

A.D.  1096.  As  early  as  the  8th  of  March,  1096,  and  in  the  course  of  the 

dition X* 6 sPrino  three  mobs  rather  than  armies,  amounting  to  three  hundred 
thousand  men,  set  out  under  the  command  of  Peter  the  Hermit, 
Walter  the  Moneyless  and  other  enthusiasts  of  the  same  rank. 
Peter  walked  at  its  head,  with  a rope  about  his  waist,  exhibiting  every 
mark  of  monkish  austerity  ; he  took  the  road  to  Constantinople,  but 
as  no  provision  was  made  for  the  subsistence  of  the  army  on  its 
march,  its  disorder  was  extreme  ; being  constrained  to  exist  by 
plunder,  it  first  fell  upon  the  Jews,  and  twelve  thousand  of  that 
unfortunate  nation  were  massacred  in  Bavaria  alone,  but  as  all  the 
provinces  did  not  abound  in  Jews  to  be  robbed,  the  inhabitants 
attacked  this  unprovided  body  of  crusaders,  and  slaughtered  vast 
numbers;  the  remainder  at  length  arrived  at  Jerusalem.  The 
emperor  Alexius  Comnenus  wisely  assisted  this  formidable  rabble 
to  pass  the  Bosphorus  with  all  convenient  speed.  As  soon  as  they 
arrived  on  the  plains  of  Asia,  they  were  attacked  by  Soleyman,  the 
Turkish  sultan,  and  the  chief  part  slain  almost  without  resistance. 
Amongst  the  leaders  fell  Walter  the  Moneyless,  who  it  is  said  had 
really  acquired  a considerable  portion  or  military  skill.  Peter  the 
Hermit  found  his  way  back  to  Constantinople,  and  indeed  was 
afterwards  present  at  the  capture  o.  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  The  more 


The  Crusaders  at  Jerusalem. 


77 


disciplined  armies  soon  after  arrived  at  the  Imperial  city, 
under  the  command  of  Godfrey  of  Bouillon,  a prince  of  Brabant; 
the  counts  of  Vermandois  and  Toulouse;  Bobert,  Duke  of  Nor- 
mandy ; Bobert,  earl  of  Flanders  ; and  various  other  leaders  of  dis- 
tinction. The  soldiers  of  the  Cross,  when  mustered  on  the  banks  of 
the  Bosphorus,  amounted  to  the  amazing  number  of  one  hundred 
thousand  horse  and  six  hundred  thousand  foot.  Notwithanding 
the  intractable  spirit  and  want  of  discipline  in  the  Crusaders,  yet 
their  zeal,  courage  and  force  carried  them  irresistibly  forward  to  the 
completion  of  their  enterprise.  With  infinite  jealousy  and  alarm, 
the  Creek  emperor  Alexius  Comnenus  beheld  this  mighty  host  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  his  capital,  and  his  fleet  was  again  put  into 
requisition.  The  first  attempt  of  the  Crusaders  was  against  the 
ancient  city  of  Nicomedia  : assisted  by  the  emperor,  they  became 
masters  of  the  place  in  seven  weeks.  After  crossing  the  lesser 
Asia,  they  defeated  Soleyman  in  the  great  battle  of  Doryloeum,  and 
in  the  month  of  October  besieged  Antioch,  which,  after  a siege  of 
incredible  labour  and  difficulty,  surrendered  to  their  persevering 
efforts  in  the  following  June  (1098). 

The  Crusaders  wmre  now  reduced  to  an  effective  force  no  greater 
than  twenty  thousand  foot  and  fifteen  thousand  horse,  and  it  was  a 
year  from  the  capture  of  Antioch  before  they  found  themselves  in 
a condition  to  attack  Jerusalem,  which  city,  after  siege  of  five 
weeks,  was  taken  by  storm.  On  the  14th  of  July,  1099,  at  day- 
break, the  assault  began  at  divers  points ; and  next  day,  Friday, 
the  15th  of  July,  at  three  in  the  afternoon,  exactly  at  the  hour  at 
which,  according  to  Holy  Writ,  Jesus  Christ  had  yielded  up  the 
ghost,  saying,  “ Father,  into  Thy  hands  I commend  My  spirit,” 
Jerusalem  was  completely  in  the  hands  of  the  crusaders.  We  have 
no  heart  to  dwell  on  the  massacres  which  accompanied  the  victory 
so  dearly  purchased  by  the  conquerors.  The  historians,  Latin  or 
Oriental,  set  down  at  70,000  the  number  of  Mussulmans  massacred 
on  the  ramparts,  in  the  mosques,  in  the  streets,  underground,  and 
wherever  they  had  attempted  to  find  refuge  : a number  exceeding 
that  of  the  armed  inhabitants  and  the  garrison  of  the  city.  Battle- 
madness,  thirst  for  vengeance,  ferocity,  brutality,  greed,  and  every 
hateful  passion  were  satiated  without  scruple,  in  the  name  of  their 
holy  cause.  When  they  were  weary  of  slaughter,  “ orders  were 
given,”  says  Bobert  the  monk,  “ to  those  of  the  Saracens  who  re- 
mained alive  and  were  reserved  for  slavery,  to  clean  the  city, 
remove  from  it  the  dead,  and  purify  it  from  all  traces  of  such  fearful 
carnage.  They  promptly  obeyed  ; removed,  with  tears,  the  dead  ; 
erected  outside  the  gates  dead-houses  fashioned  like  citadels  or 


A.D.  1099. 
Taking  of 
Je.usa  em 


Gcdfrey  de 
Bouillon 
elected 
king. 


A.D.  1115. 
Death  of 
Peter  the 
Hermit. 


78  History  of  France . 

defensive  buildings  ; collected  in  baskets  dissevered  limbs ; carried 
them  away,  and  washed  off  the  blood  which  stained  the  floors  of 
temples  and  houses.” 

Eight  or  ten  days  after  the  capture  of  Jerusalem,  the  crusader- 
chiefs,  assembled  to  deliberate  upon  the  election  of  a king  of  their 
prize.  There  were  several  who  were  suggested  for  it  and  might 
have  pretended  to  it.  Robert  Shorthose,  duke  of  Normandy,  gave 
an  absolute  refusal,  “liking  better,”  says  an  English  chronicler, 
“ to  give  himself  up  to  repose  and  indolence  in  Normandy  than  to 
serve  as  a soldier  the  King  of  kings  : for  which  God  never  forgave 
him.”  Raymond,  count  of  Toulouse,  was  already  advanced  in 
years,  and  declared  “ that  he  would  have  a horror  of  bearing  the 
name  of  king  in  Jerusalem,  but  that  he  would  give  his  consent 
to  the  election  of  any  one  else.”  Tancred  was  and  wished  to 
be  only  the  first  of  knights.  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  the  more 
easily  united  votes  in  that  he  did  not  seek  them.  He  was 
valiant,  discreet,  worthy,  and  modest ; and  his  own  servants,  being 
privately  sounded,  testified  to  his  possession  of  the  virtues  which 
are  put  in  practice  without  any  show.  He  was  elected  King  of 
Jerusalem,  and  he  accepted  the  burden  whilst  refusing  the  insignia. 
“I  will  never  wear  a crown  of  gold,”  he  said,  “in  the  place 
where  the  Saviour  of  the  world  was  crowned  with  thorns.”  And 
he  assumed  only  the  title  of  Defender  and  Baron  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre. 

It  is  a common  belief  amongst  historians  that,  after  the  capture 
of  Jerusalem,  and  the  election  of  her  king,  Peter  the  Hermit 
entirely  disappeared  from  history.  It  is  true  that  he  no  longer 
played  an  active  part,  and  that,  on  returning  to  Europe,  he  went 
into  retirement  near  Huy,  in  the  diocese  of  Liege,  where  he  founded 
a monastery,  and  where  he  died  on  the  11th  of  July,  1115.  But 
William  of  Tyre  bears  witness  that  Peter’s  contemporaries  were 
not  ungrateful  to  him,  and  did  not  forget  him  when  he  had  done 
his  work.  “ The  faithful,”  says  he,  “dwellers  at  Jerusalem,  who 
four  or  five  years  before  had  seen  the  venerable  Peter  there,  re- 
cognizing at  that  time  in  the  same  city  him  to  whom  the  patriarch 
had  committed  letters  invoking  the  aid  of  the  princes  of  the  West, 
bent  the  knee  before  him,  and  offered  him  their  respects  in  all 
humility.  They  recalled  to  mind  the  circumstances  of  his  first 
voyage ; and  they  praised  the  Lord  who  had  endowed  him  with 
effectual  power  of  speech  and  with  strength  to  rouse  up  nations 
and  kings  to  bear  so  many  and  such  long  toils  for  love  of  the 
name  of  Christ.  Both  in  private  and  in  public  all  the  faithful 
at  Jerusalem  exerted  themselves  to  render  to  Peter  the  Hermit  the 


First  results  of  the  Crusades . 


79 


highest  honours,  and  attributed  to  him  alone,  after  God,  their 
happiness  in  having  escaped  from  the  hard  servitude  under  which 
they  had  been  for  so  many  years  groaning,  and  in  seeing  the  holy 
city  recovering  her  ancient  freedom.” 

In  the  month  of  August,  1099,  the  Crusade,  to  judge  by  ap-  First  re- 
pearances,  had  attained  its  object.  Jerusalem  was  in  the  hands  of  crusade?0 
the  Christians,  and  they  had  set  up  in  it  a king,  the  most  pious 
and  most  disinterested  of  the  crusaders.  Close  to  this  ancient 
kingdom  were  growing  up  likewise,  in  the  two  chief  cities  of 
Syria  and  Mesopotamia,  Antioch  and  Edessa,  two  Christian  prin- 
cipalities, in  the  possession  of  two  crusader-chiefs,  Bohemond 
and  Baldwin.  A third  Christian  principality  was  on  the  point  of 
getting  founded  at  the  foot  of  Libanus,  at  Tripolis,  for  the  advan- 
tage of  another  crusader,  Bertrand,  eldest  son  of  Count  Raymond 
of  Toulouse.  The  conquest  of  Syria  and  Palestine  seemed  accom- 
plished, in  the  name  of  the  faith,  and  by  the  armies  of  Christian 
Europe  ; and  the  conquerors  calculated  so  surely  upon  their  fixture 
that,  during  his  reign,  short  as  it  was  (for  he  was  elected  king 
July  23,  1099,  and  died  July  18,  1100,  aged  only  forty  years), 

Godfrey  de  Bouillon  caused  to  be  drawn  up  and  published,  under 
the  title  of  Assizes  of  Jerusalem,  a code  of  laws,  which  transferred 
to  Asia  the  customs  and  traditions  of  the  feudal  system,  just  as 
they  existed  in  France  at  the  moment  of  his  departure  for  the 
Holy  Land. 

Forty-six  years  afterwards,  in  1145,  the  Mussulmans,  under  the  Saladin’s 
leadership  of  Zanghi,  sultan  of  Aleppo  and  of  Mossoul,  had  retaken  successes. 
Edessa.  Forty -two  years  after  that,  in  1187,  Saladin  (Salali-el 
Eddyn),  sultan  of  Egypt  and  of  Syria,  had  put  an  end  to  the 
Christian  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  ; and  only  seven  years  later,  in 
1194,  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  king  of  England,  after  the  most 
heroic  exploits  in  Palestine,  on  arriving  in  sight  of  Jerusalem, 
retreated  in  despair,  covering  his  eyes  with  his  shield,  and  saying 
that  he  was  not  worthy  to  look  upon  the  city  which  he  was  not  in 
a condition  to  conquer.  When  he  re-embarked  at  St.  Jean  d’Acre, 
casting  a last  glance  and  stretching  out  his  arms  towards  the 
coast,  he  cried,  “ Most  Holy  Land,  I commend  thee  to  the  care 
of  the  Almighty ; and  may  he  grant  me  long  life  enough  to  return 
hither  and  deliver  thee  from  the  yoke  of  the  infidels  ! ” A century 
had  not  yet  rolled  by  since  the  triumph  of  the  first  crusaders,  and 
the  dominion  they  had  acquired  by  conquest  in  the  Holy  Land 
had  become,  even  in  the  eyes  of  their  most  valiant  and  most 
powerful  successors,  an  impossibility. 

Nevertheless,  repeated  efforts  and  glory  and  even  victories  were 


8o 


History  of  France. 


not  then,  and  were  not  to  be  still  later,  unknown  amongst  the 
Christians  in  their  struggle  against  the  Mussulmans  for  the 
AD.  1099  possession  of  the  Holy  Land.  In  the  space  of  a hundred  and 
Seven  ^cru-  seventy-one  years,  from  the  coronation  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  as 
sades  take  king  of  Jerusalem,  in  1099,  to  the  death  of  St.  Louis,  wearing  the 
place.  cross  before  Tunis,  in  1270,  seven  grand  crusades  were  under- 
taken with  the  same  design  by  the  greatest  sovereigns  of  Christian 
Europe ; the  Kings  of  France  and  England,  the  Emperors  of 
Germany,  the  King  of  Denmark,  and  princes  of  Italy  successive] y 
engaged  therein.  And  they  all  failed.  It  was  in  France,  by  the 
French  people,  and  under  French  chiefs,  that  the  crusades  were 
begun ; and  it  was  with  St.  Louis,  dying  before  Tunis  beneath  the 
banner  of  the  cross,  that  they  came  to  an  end.  They  received  in 
the  history  of  Europe  the  glorious  name  of  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos 
{God’s  works  by  French  hands) ; and  they  have  a right  to  keep, 
in  the  history  of  France,  the  place  they  really  occupied. 

Causes  of^  During  a reign  of  twenty-nine  years,  Louis  VI.,  called  the  Fat, 
crusade.  son  °f  Bhilip  I.,  did  not  trouble  himself  about  the  East  or  the 
crusades,  at  that  time  in  all  their  fame  and  renown.  Being  rather 
a man  of  sense  than  an  enthusiast  in  the  cause  either  of  piety  or 
glory,  he  gave  all  his  attention  to  the  establishment  of  some  order, 
justice,  and  royal  authority  in  his  as  yet  far  from  extensive  king- 
dom. A tragic  incident,  however,  gave  the  crusade  chief  place  in 
the  thoughts  and  life  of  his  son,  Louis  VII.,  called  the  Young, 
who  succeeded  him  in  1137.  He  got  himself  rashly  embroiled,  in 
1142,  in  a quarrel  with  Pope  Innocent  II.,  on  the  subject  of  the 
election  of  the  Archbishop  of  Bourges.  The  pope  and  the  king 
had  each  a different  candidate  for  the  see.  “The  king  is  a child,” 
said  the  pope  ; “he  must  get  schooling,  and  be  kept  from  learning 
bad  habits.”  “ Never,  so  long  as  I live,”  said  the  king,  “ shall 
Peter  de  la  Chatre  (the  pope’s  candidate)  enter  the  city  of  Bourges.” 
The  chapter  of  Bourges,  thinking  as  the  pope  thought,  elected 
Peter  de  la  Chatre ; and  Theobald  II.,  count  of  Champagne,  took 
sides  for  the  archbishop  elect.  “ Mind  your  own  business,”  said 
the  king  to  him ; your  dominions  are  large  enough  to  occupy 
you ; and  leave  me  to  govern  my  own  as  I have  a mind.”  Theobald 
persisted  in  backing  the  elect  of  pope  and  chapter.  The  pope 
excommunicated  the  king.  The  king  declared  war  against  the 
Count  of  Champagne  ; and  went  and  besieged  Vitry.  Nearly  all 
the  town  was  built  of  wood,  and  the  besiegers  set  fire  to  it.  The 
besieged  fled  for  refuge  to  a church,  in  which  they  were  invested  ; 
and  the  fire  reached  the  church,  which  wras  entirely  consumed, 
together  with  tbe  thirteen  hundred  inhabitants,  men,  women,  and 


The  Crusades. 


8l 


children,  who  had  retreated  thither.  Then,  by  way  of  expiating 
so  foul  an  act  of  cruelty,  Louis  the  young  joined  with  the  Emperor 
Conrad  III.  in  carrying  on  the  second  crusade,  which  was  preached 
at  Yezelay  by  the  abbot  of  Clair vaux,  the  celebrated  St.  Bernard. 

Having  each  a strength,  it  is  said,  of  100,000  men,  the  two  AD.  1147. 
monarchs  marched  by  Germany  and  the  Lower  Danube,  at  an 
interval  of  two  months  between  them,  without  committing  irregu-  Constanti- 
larities  and  without  meeting  obstacles  so  serious  as  those  of  the  noPle* 
lirst  crusade,  but  still  much  incommoded  and  subjected  to  great 
hardships  in  the  countries  they  traversed.  The  Emperor  Conrad 
and  the  Germans  first,  and  then  King  Louis  and  the  Erench 
arrived  at  Constantinople  in  the  course  of  the  summer  of  1147. 

Manuel  Comnenus,  grandson  of  Alexis  Comnenus,  was  reigning 
there ; and  he  behaved  towards  the  crusaders  with  the  same  mix- 
ture of  caresses  and  malevolence,  promises  and  perfidy  as  had 
distinguished  his  grandfather.  “ There  is  no  ill  turn  he  did  not  do 
them,”  says  the  historian  Hicetas,  himself  a Greek.  Conrad  was 
the  first  to  cross  into  Asia  Minor,  and,  whether  it  were  unskil- 
fulness or  treason,  the  guides  with  whom  he  had  been  supplied  by 
Manuel  Comnenus  led  him  so  badly  that,  on  the  28th  of  October, 

1147,  he  was  surprised  and  shockingly  beaten  by  the  Turks,  near 
Iconium.  An  utter  distrust  of  Greeks  grew  up  amongst  the 
French,  who  had  not  yet  left  Constantinople  ; and  some  of  their 
chiefs  and  even  one  of  their  prelates,  the  Bishop  of  Langres, 
proposed  to  make,  without  further  delay,  an  end  of  it  with  this 
emperor  and  empire,  so  treacherously  hostile,  and  to  take  Constan- 
stinople  in  order  to  march  more  securely  upon  Jerusalem.  But 
King  Louis  and  the  majority  of  his  knights  turned  a deaf  ear; 
accordingly,  they  continued  their  march  across  Asia  Minor  and 
gained  in  Phrygia,  at  the  passage  of  the  river  Meander,  so  brilliant  Passage  of 
a victory  over  the  Turks  that,  “ if  such  men,”  says  the  historian  the  Mean- 
Nicetas,  “ abstained  from  taking  Constantinople,  one  cannot  but  der* 
admire  their  moderation  and  forbearance.”  But  the  success  was 
short,  and,  ere  long,  dearly  paid  for.  On  entering  Pisidia,  the 
French  army  split  up  into  two,  and  afterwards  into  several 
divisions,  which  scattered  and  lost  themselves  in  the  defiles  of  the 
mountains.  The  Turks  waited  for  them,  and  attacked  them  at  the 
mouths  and  from  the  top  of  the  passes  ; before  long  there  was 
nothing  but  disorder  and  carnage  ; the  little  band  which  surrounded 
the  king  was  cut  to  pieces  at  his  side ; and  Louis  himself,  with  his 
back  against  a rock,  defended  himself,  alone,  for  some  minutes, 
against  several  Turks,  till  they,  not  knowing  who  he  was,  drew  oft', 
whereupon  he,  suddenly  throwing  himself  upon  a stray  horse. 

c. 


82 


History  of  France. 


AD.  1148. 
Differences 
between 
the  king 
of  France 
and  his 
queen 
Eleanor. 


Louis  VII. 
arrives  at 
Jerusalem. 


Siege  of 
Damascus. 


rejoined  his  advanced  guard,  who  believed  him  dead.  The  army 
continued  their  march  pell-mell,  king,  barons,  knights,  soldiers,  and 
pilgrims,  uncertain  day  by  day  what  would  become  of  them  on  the 
morrow.  The  Turks  harassed  them  afield;  the  towns  in  which 
there  were  Greek  governors  residing  refused  to  receive  them  : 
provisions  fell  short ; arms  and  baggage  were  abandoned  on  the 
road.  On  arriving  in  Pamphilia,  at  Satalia,  a little  port  on  the 
Mediterranean,  the  impossibility  of  thus  proceeding  became 
evident ; they  were  still,  by  land,  forty  days’  march  from  Antioch, 
whereas  it  required  but  three  to  get  there  by  sea.  Louis  embarked 
with  his  queen,  Eleanor,  and  his  principal  knights  ; and  towards 
the  end  of  March,  1148,  he  arrived  at  Antioch,  having  lost  more 
than  three  quarters  of  his  army. 

Kaymond  of  Poitiers,  at  that  time  Prince  of  Antioch,  by  his 
marriage  with  Constance,  grand-daughter  of  the  great  Bohemond  of 
the  first  crusade,  was  uncle  to  the  Queen  of  Prance,  Eleanor  of 
Aquitaine.  He  had  at  heart,  beyond  every  thing,  the  conquest  of 
Aleppo  and  Caesarea.  In  this  design  the  King  of  Erance  and 
the  crusaders  who  were  still  about  him  might  be  of  real  service ; 
and  he  attempted  to  win  them  over.  Louis  answered  that  he 
would  engage  in  no  enterprise  until  he  had  visited  the  holy  places. 
Paymond  was  impetuous,  irritable,  and  as  unreasonable  in  his 
desires  as  unfortunate  in  his  undertakings.  He  had  quickly 
acquired  great  influence  over  his  niece,  Queen  Eleanor ; and  he 
had  no  difficulty  in  winning  her  over  to  his  plans.  When  the 
king,  her  husband,  spoke  to  her  of  approaching  departure,  she 
emphatically  refused,  and,  to  justify  her  opposition,  she  declared 
that  they  could  no  longer  live  together,  as  there  was,  she  asserted, 
a prohibited  degree  of  consanguinity  between  them.  Austere  in 
morals,  easily  jealous,  and  religiously  scrupulous,  Louis  was  for  a 
moment  on  the  point  of  separating  from  his  wife  ; but  the  counsels 
of  his  chief  barons  dissuaded  him,  and,  thereupon,  taking  a sudden 
resolution,  he  set  out  from  Antioch  secretly,  by  night,  carrying  off 
the  queen  almost  by  force. 

On  approaching  Jerusalem,  in  the  month  of  April,  1148, 
Louis  YII.  saw  coming  to  meet  him  King  Baldwin  III.,  and  the 
patriarch  and  the  people,  singing,  “ Blessed  be  he  that  cometh  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  ! ” at  the  same  time  arrived  from  Con- 
stantinople the  Emperor  Conrad,  almost  alone  and  in  the  guise  of 
a simple  pilgrim.  All  the  remnant  of  the  crusaders,  French  and 
German,  hurried  to  join  them.  They  decided  upon  the  siege  of 
Damascus,  the  most  important  and  the  nearest  of  the  Mussulman 
princedoms  in  Syria,  and  in  the  early  part  of  June  they  moved 


Suger . 


83 

thither  with  forces  incomplete  and  illunited.  Neither  the  Prince 
of  Antioch  nor  the  Counts  of  Edessa  and  Tripolis  had  been 
summoned  to  St.  Jean  d’Acre ; and  Queen  Eleanor  had  not 
appeared.  At  the  first  attack,  the  ardour  of  the  assailants  and  the 
brilliant  personal  prowess  of  their  chiefs,  of  the  Emperor  Conrad 
amongst  others,  struck  surprise  and  consternation  into  the  be- 
sieged, who,  foreseeing  the  necessity  of  abandoning  their  city,  laid 
across  the  streets  beams,  chains,  and  heaps  of  stones,  to  stop  the 
progress  of  the  conquerors,  and  give  themselves  time  for  flying, 
with  their  families  and  their  wealth,  by  the  northern  and  southern 
gates.  But  personal  interest  and  secret  negotiations  before  long 
brought  into  the  Christian  camp  weakness  together  with  discord  ; 
finally  the  crusader- sovereigns  raised  the  siege,  and  returned  to 
Jerusalem.  The  Emperor  Conrad,  in  indignation  and  confusion, 
set  out  precipitately  to  return  to  Germany.  King  Louis  could  not 
make  up  his  mind  thus  to  quit  the  Holy  Land  in  disgrace  and 
without  doing  any  thing  for  its  deliverance.  He  prolonged  his 
stay  there  for  more  than  a year  without  any  thing  to  show  for  his 
time  and  zeal ; urged,  however,  by  the  repeated  entreaties  of  his 
minister  Suger,  he  at  length  made  up  his  mind,  embarked  at 
St.  Jean  d’Acre  at  the  commencement  of  July,  1149  ; and  dis- 
embarked in  the  month  of  October  at  the  port  of  St.  Gilles,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Phone. 

This  preference  and  this  confidence  were  no  more  than  Louis  VII. 
owed  to  Suger.  The  Abbot  of  St.  Denis,  after  having  opposed 
the  crusade  with  a freedom  of  spirit  and  a farsightedness  unique, 
perhaps,  in  his  times,  had,  during  the  king’s  absence,  borne  the 
weight  of  government  with  a political  tact,  a firmness  and  a dis- 
interestedness rare  in  any  times.  He  had  upheld  the  authority  of 
absent  royalty,  kept  down  the  pretensions  of  vassals,  and  established 
some  degree  of  order  wherever  his  influence  could  reach ; he  had 
provided  for  the  king’s  expenses  in  Palestine  by  good  adminis- 
tration of  the  domains  and  revenues  of  the  crown  ; and,  lastly,  he 
had  acquired  such  renown  in  Europe,  that  men  came  from  Italy 
and  from  England  to  view  the  salutary  effects  of  his  government, 
and  that  the  name  of  Solomon  of  his  age  was  conferred  upon  him 
by  strangers,  his  contemporaries.  With  the  exception  of  great 
sovereigns,  such  as  Charlemagne  or  William  the  Conqueror,  only 
great  bishops  or  learned  theologians,  and  that  by  their  influence  in 
the  Church,  or  by  their  writings,  had  obtained  this  European 
reputation ; from  the  ninth  to  the  twelfth  century,  Suger  was  the 
first  man  who  attained  to  it  by  the  sole  merit  of  his  political 
conduct,  and  who  offered  an  example  of  a minister  justly  admired, 
for  his  ability  and  wisdom,  beyond  the  circle  in  which  he  moved. 

G 2 


A.D.  T149. 
Louis  VII. 
returns  to 
France. 
A.D,  1082 
—1152. 
Suger. 

His  cha- 
racter. 


84 


History  of  France. 


Council  of 
Beaugency 


AD.  1153. 

Death  of 
St.Bernard. 


A.D.  1187. 
Battle  of 
Tiberias. 


Jerusalem 
capitulates 
to  Saladin. 


He  died  in  1152,  aged  seventy,  and  “thanking  the  Almighty,” 
says  his  biographer,  “ for  having  taken  him  to  Him,  not  suddenly 
but  little  by  little,  in  order  to  bring  him  step  by  step  to  the  rest 
needful  for  the  weary  man.”  It  is  said  that,  in  his  last  days  and 
when  St.  Bernard  was  exhorting  him  not  to  think  any  more  save 
only  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  Suger  still  expressed  to  him  his 
regret  at  dying  without  having  succoured  the  city  which  was  so 
dear  to  them  both. 

Almost  at  the  very  moment  when  Suger  was  dying,  a French 
council,  assembled  at  Beaugency,  was  annulling,  on  the  ground  of 
prohibited  consanguinity,  and  with  the  tacit  consent  of  the  two 
persons  most  concerned,  the  marriage  of  Louis  VII.  and  Eleanor  of 
Aquitaine.  Some  months  afterwards,  at  Whitsuntide  in  the 
same  year,  Henry  Plantagenet,  Duke  of  Normandy  and  Count  of 
Anjou,  espoused  Eleanor,  thus  adding  to  his  already  great  pos- 
sessions Poitou  and  Aquitaine,  and  becoming,  in  France,  a vassal 
more  powerful  than  the  king  his  suzerain.  Twenty  months  later, 
in  1154,  at  the  death  of  King  Stephen,  Henry  Plantagenet  became 
King  of  England ; and  thus  there  was  a recurrence,  in  an  aggravated 
form,  of  the  position  which  had  been  filled  by  William  the  Con- 
queror, and  which  was  the  first  cause  of  rivalry  between  France 
and  England  and  of  the  consequent  struggles  of  considerably  more 
than  a century’s  duration. 

Little  more  than  a year  after  Suger,  on  the  20th  of  April,  1153, 
St.  Bernard  died  also.  The  two  great  men,  of  whom  one  had 
excited  and  the  other  opposed  the  second  crusade,  disappeared  to- 
gether from  the  theatre  of  the  world.  The  crusade  had  completely 
failed.  After  a lapse  of  scarce  forty  years,  a third  crusade  began. 

In  the  course  of  the  year  1187,  Europe  suddenly  heard  tale  upon 
tale  about  the  repeated  disasters  of  the  Christians  in  Asia.  On 
the  1st  of  May,  the  two  religious  and  warlike  orders  which  had 
been  founded  in  the  East  for  the  defence  of  Christendom,  the 
Hospitallers  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Templars,  lost,  at 
a brush  in  Galilee,  500  of  their  bravest  knights.  On  the  3rd  and 
4t.h  of  July,  near  Tiberias,  a Christian  army  was  surrounded  by 
the  Saracens,  and  also,  ere  long,  by  the  fire  which  Saladin  had 
ordered  to  be  set  to  the  dry  grass  which  covered  the  plain.  Four 
days  after,  on  the  8th  of  July,  1187,  Saladin  took  possession  of 
St.  Jean  d’Acre,  and,  on  the  4th  September  following,  of  Ascalon. 
Finally,  on  the  18th  of  September,  he  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem, 
wherein  refuge  had  been  sought  by  a multitude  of  Christian 
families  driven  from  their  homes  by  the  ravages  of  the  infidels 
throughout  Palestine ; and  the  Holy  City  contained  at  this  time, 
it  is  said,  nearly  100,000  Christians.  The  capitulation  soon 


The  Kings  of  France  and  of  England  take  the  Cross.  85 

followed,  and  all  Christians,  however,  with  the  exception  of 
Greeks  and  Syrians,  had  orders  to  leave  Jerusalem  within 
four  days. 

The  news  of  this  terrible  event,  spreading  through  Europe,  caused 
amongst  all  classes  there,  high  and  low,  a deep  feeling  of  sorrow, 
anger,  disquietude,  and  shame.  After  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  a.D  1188. 
Saladin,  the  Christians  of  the  East,  in  their  distress,  sent  to  the  ^JgYscJg" 
West  their  most  eloquent  prelate  and  gravest  historian  William,  termined 
archbishop  of  Tyre,  who,  fifteen  years  before,  in  the  reign  of  on. 
Baldwin  IV.,  had  been  Chancellor  of  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem. 

He,  accompanied  by  a legate  of  Pope  Gregory  VIII.,  scoured  Italy, 

France,  and  Germany,  recounting  every  where  the  miseries  of  the 
Holy  Land,  and  imploring  the  aid  of  all  Christian  princes  and 
peoples,  whatever  might  be  their  own  position  of  affairs  and  their 
own  quarrels  in  Europe.  At  a parliament  assembled  at  Gisors,  on 
the  21st  of  January,  1188,  and  at  a diet  convoked  at  Mayence  on 
the  27th  of  March  following,  he  so  powerfully  affected  the  knight- 
hood of  France,  England,  and  Germany,  that  the  three  sovereigns 
of  these  three  States,  Philip  Augustus,  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  and 
Frederick  Barbarossa,  engaged  with  acclamation  in  a new  crusade. 

The  eldest,  Frederick  Barbarossa,  was  first  ready  to  plunge  amongst 
the  perils  of  the  crusade.  Starting  from  Ratisbonne  about  Christmas,  A.D.  1189. 
1189,  with  an  army  of  150,000  men,  he  traversed  the  Greek  em-  Barbarossa 
pire  and  Asia  Minor,  defeated  the  . Sultan  of  Iconium,  passed  the  starts  first, 
first  defiles  of  Taurus,  and  seemed  to  be  approaching  the  object  of 
his  voyage  when,  on  the  10th  of  June,  1190,  having  arrived  at  the 
borders  of  the  Selef,  a small  river  which  throws  itself  into  the 
Mediterranean  close  to  Seleucia,  he  determined  to  cross  it  by  fording, 
was  seized  with  a chill  and,  according  to  some,  drowned  before  his 
people’s  eyes,  but,  according  to  others,  carried  dying  to  Seleucia, 
wdiere  he  expired.  His  young  son  Conrad,  duke  of  Suabia, 
was  not  equal  to  taking  the  command  of  such  an  army ; and  it 
broke  up. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1190,  Philip  Augustus  went  and  took  the  a.d.  1190. 
oriflamme  at  St,  Denis,  on  his  way  to  Vezelai,  where  he  had  ap- 
pointed  to  meet  Richard,  and  whence  the  two  kings,  in  fact,  set  an(f 
out,  on  the  4th  of  July,  to  embark  with  their  troops,  Philip  at  Richard 
Genoa,  and  Richard  at  Marseilles.  They  had  agreed  to  touch  follow* 
nowhere  until  they  reached  Sicily,  where  Philip  was  the  first  to 
arrive,  on  the  16th  of  September;  and  Richard  was  eight  days 
later.  But,  instead  of  simply  touching,  they  passed  at  Messina  all 
the  autumn  of  1190  and  all  the  winter  of  1190-91,  no  longer 
seeming  to  think  of  any  thing  but  quarrelling  and  amusing  them- 


A.D.  1191 
Taking  of 
St.  Jean 
d’Acre. 


86  History  of  France . 

selves.  Nor  were  grounds  for  quarrel  or  opportunities  for  amuse- 
ments far  to  seek.  Bichard,  in  spite  of  his  promise,  was  unwilling 
to  marry  the  Princess  Alice,  Philip’s  sister;  and  Philip,  after 
lively  discussion,  would  not  agree  to  give  him  hack  his  word,  save 
“in  consideration  of  a sum  of  10,000  silver  marks,  whereof  he 
shall  pay  us  3000  at  the  feast  of  All  Saints,  and  year  by  year  in 
succession,  at  this  same  feast.”  Naturally' independent,  and  dis- 
posed to  act,  on  every  occasion,  according  to  his  own  ideas,  Philip 
resolved,  not  to  break  with  Bichard,  hut  to  divide  their  commands, 
and  separate  their  fortunes.  On  the  approach  of  spring,  1191,  he 
announced  to  him  that  the  time  had  arrived  for  continuing  their 
pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  that,  as  for  himself,  he  was  quite 
ready  to  set  out.  “ I am  not  ready,”  said  Bichard  ; “ and  I cannot 
depart  before  the  middle  of  August.”  Philip,  after  some  discus- 
sion, set  out  alone,  with  his  army,  on  the  30th  of  March,  and  on 
the  14th  of  April  arrived  before  St.  Jean  d’Acre.  This  important 
place,  of  which  Saladin  had  made  himself  master  nearly  four  3 ears 
before,  was  being  besieged  by  the  last  King  of  Jerusalem,  Guy  de 
Lusignan,  at  the  head  of  the  Christians  of  Palestine,  and  by  a 
multitude  of  crusaders,  Genoese,  Danish,  Flemish,  and  German 
who  had  flocked  freely  to  the  enterprise.  A strong  and  valiant 
Mussulman  garrison  was  defending  St.  Jean  d’Acre.  Saladin 
manoeuvred  incessantly  for  its  relief,  and  several  battles  had  already 
been  fought  beneath  the  walls.  When  the  King  of  France  arrived, 
“he  was  received  by  the  Christians  besieging,”  say  the  chronicles 
of  St.  Denis,  “with  supreme  joy,  as  if  he  were  an  angel  come 
down  from  heaven.”  Philip  set  vigorously  to  work  to  push  on  the 
siege ; but,  at  his  departure  he  had  promised  Bichard  not  to  deliver 
the  grand  assault  until  they  had  formed  a junction  before  the  place 
with  all  their  forces.  Bichard,  who  had  set  out  from  Messina  at 
the  beginning  of  May,  though  he  had  said  that  he  would  not  be 
ready  till  August,  lingered  again  on  the  way  to  reduce  the  island 
of  Cyprus,  and  to  celebrate  there  his  marriage  with  Berengaria  of 
Navarre,  in  lieu  of  Alice  of  France.  At  last  he  arrived,  on  the 
7th  of  June,  before  St.  Jean  d’Acre;  and  several  assaults  in  suc- 
cession were  made  on  the  place  with  equal  determination  on  the 
part  of  the  besiegers  and  the  besieged.  On  the  13th  of  July  1191, 
in  spite  of  the  energetic  resistance  offered  by  the  garrison,  which 
defended  itself  “as  a lion  defends  his  blood  stained  den,”  St.  Jean 
d’Acre  surrendered.  The  terms  of  capitulation  stated  that  200,000 
pieces  of  gold  should  be  paid  to  the  chiefs  of  the  Christian  army ; 
that  1600  prisoners  and  the  wood  of  the  true  cross  should  be  given 
up  to  them ; and  that  the  garrison  as  well  as  all  the  people  of  the 


Results  of  the  Crusades.  8/ 

town  should  remain  in  the  conquerors’  power,  pending  full  execu- 
tion of  the  treaty. 

Philip  Augustus  returned  to  Prance  after  the  capture  of  St.  Jean  A.p.  1191. 
d’Acre,  because  he  considered  the  ultimate  success  of  the  crusadfc  Augustus 
impossible,  and  his  return  necessary  for  the  interests  of  France  and  returns  to 
for  his  own.  He  was  right  in  thus  thinking  and  acting ; and  King  Franc>" 
Richard,  when  insultingly  reproaching  him  for  it,  did  not  foresee 
that  a year  later  he  would  himself  be  doing  the  same  thing,  and 
would  give  up  the  crusade  without  having  obtained  any  thing  more 
for  Christendom  except  fresh  reverses. 

On  the  31st  of  July,  1191,  Philip,  leaving  with  the  army  of  the 
crusaders,  10,000  foot  and  500  knights,  under  the  command  of 
Duke  Hugh  of  Burgundy,  who  had  orders  to  obey  King  Richard, 
set  sail  for  France ; and,  a few  days  after  Christmas  in  the  same 
year,  landed  in  his  kingdom,  and  forthwith  resumed,  at  Fontaine- 
bleau according  to  some,  and  at  Paris  according  to  others,  the  Results  of 

regular  direction  of  his  government.  Thus  ended  the  third  crusade,  third 

° ° crusade 

undertaken  by  the  three  greatest  sovereigns  and  the  three  greatest 

armies  of  Christian  Europe,  and  with  the  loudly  proclaimed  object 
of  retaking  Jerusalem  from  the  infidels  and  re-establishing  a king 
over  the  sepulchre  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  Emperor  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa  perished  in  it  before  he  had  trodden  the  soil  of  Palestine. 

King  Philip  Augustus  retired  from  it  voluntarily,  so  soon  as  ex- 
perience had  foreshadowed  to  him  the  impossibility  of  success. 

King  Richard  abandoned  it  perforce,  after  having  exhausted  upon 
it  his  heroism  and  his  knightly  pride.  The  three  armies,  at  the 
moment  of  departure  from  Europe,  amounted,  according  to  the 
historians  of  the  time,  to  500,000  or  600,000  men,  of  whom 
scarcely  100,000  returned  ; and  the  only  result  of  the  third  crusade 
was  to  leave  as  head  over  all  the  most  beautiful  provinces  of  Mus- 
sulman Asia  and  Africa,  Saladin,  the  most  illustrious  and  most  able 
chieftain,  in  war  and  in  politics,  that  Islamry  had  produced  since 
Mahomet. 

From  the  end  of  the  twelfth  to  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  Remaining 
century,  between  the  crusade  of  Philip  Augustus  and  that  of  Saint  ®^egdit0 
Louis,  it  is  usual  to  count  three  crusades,  over  which  we  will  not  the  Holy 
linger.  Two  of  these  crusades,  one,  from  1195  to  1198,  under  Land. 
Henry  VI.,  emperor  of  Germany,  and  the  other,  from  1216  to  1240, 
under  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.  and  Andrew  II.,  king  of  Hungary, 
are  unconnected  with  France  and  almost  exclusively  German,  or,  in 
origin  and  range,  confined  to  Eastern  Europe.  They  led,  in  Syria, 

Palestine,  and  Egypt,  to  wars,  negotiations,  and  manifold  compli- 
cations ; Jerusalem  fell  once  more,  for  a while,  into  the  hands  of 


AD.  1215. 
Louis  IX. 
His  cha- 
racter. 


88  History  of  France . 

the  Christians;  and  there,  on  the  18th  of  March,  1229,  in  the 
church  of  the  Resurrection,  the  Emperor  Frederick  II.,  at  that  time 
excommunicated  by  Pope  Gregory  IX.,  placed  with  his  own  hands 
the  royal  crown  upon  his  head.  But  these  events,  confused,  dis- 
connected and  short-lived  as  they  were,  did  not  produce  in  the 
West,  and  especially  in  France,  any  considerable  reverberation, 
and  did  not  exercise  upon  the  relative  situations  of  Europe  and 
Asia,  of  Christendom  and  Islamry,  any  really  historical  influence. 

The  expedition  which  led  to  the -conquest  of  Constantinople  and 
to  the  foundation  (1204)  of  a Latin  empire  in  the  East  so  far 
interests  Frenchmen,  that  it  was  a Frenchman,  Geoffrey  de  Ville- 
hardouin,  seneschal  of  Theobald  III.,  count  of  Champagne,  who, 
after  having  been  one  of  the  chief  actors  in  it,  wrote  the  history 
of  it ; and  his  work,  strictly  historical  as  to  facts,  and  admirably 
epic  in  description  of  character  and  warmth  of  colouring,  is  one  of 
the  earliest  and  finest  monuments  of  French  literature. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  whilst  the  enter- 
prises which  were  still  called  crusades  were  becoming  more  and 
more  degenerate  in  character  and  potency,  there  was  born  in  France, 
on  the  25th  of  April,  1215,  not  merely  the  prince,  but  the  man 
who  was  to  be  the  most  worthy  representative  and  the  most  de- 
voted slave  of  that  religious  and  moral  passion  which  had  inspired 
the  crusades.  Louis  IX.,  though  born  to  the  purple,  a powerful 
king,  a valiant  warrior,  a splendid  knight,  and  an  object  of  reverence 
to  all  those  who  at  a distance  observed  his  life,  and  of  affection  to 
all  those  who  approached  his  person,  was  neither  biassed  nor  in- 
toxicated by  any  such  human  glories  and  delights  ; neither  in  his 
thoughts  nor  in  his  conduct  did  they  ever  occupy  the  foremost 
place ; before  all  and  above  all  he  wished  to  be,  and  was  indeed,  a 
Christian,  a true  Ghristian,  guided  and  governed  by  the  idea  and  the 
resolve  of  defending  the  Christian  faith  and  fulfilling  the  Christian 
law.  Had  he  been  born  in  the  most  lowly  condition,  as  the  world 
holds,  or,  as  religion,  the  most  commanding ; had  he  been  obscure, 
needy,  a priest,  a monk,  or  a hermit,  he  could  not  have  been  more 
constantly  and  more  zealously  filled  with  the  desire  of  living  as  a 
faithful  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  of  ensuring,  by  pious  obedience 
to  God  here,  the  salvation  of  his  soul  hereafter.  This  is  the  peculiar 
and  original  characteristic  of  St.  Louis,  and  a fact  rare  and  probably 
unique  in  the  history  of  kings.  (He  was  canonized  on  the  11th  of 
August,  1297  ; and  during  twenty-four  years  nine  successive  popes 
had  prosecuted  the  customary  inquiries  as  to  his  faith  and  life.) 

In  the  first  years  of  his  government,  when  he  had  reached  his 
majority,  there  was  nothing  to  show  that  the  idea  of  the  crusade 


Louis  IX. 


89 


occupied  Louis  IX ’s  mind;  and  it  was  only  in  1239,  when  he 
was  now  four  and  twenty,  that  it  showed  itself  vividly  in  him. 

Some  of  his  principal  vassals,  the  Counts  of  Champagne,  Brittany, 
and  Macon  had  raised  an  army  of  crusaders,  and  were  getting 
ready  to  start  for  Palestine ; and  the  king  was  not  contented  with 
giving  them  encouragement,  but  “ he  desired  that  Amaury  de 
Montfort,  his  constable,  should,  in  his  name,  serve  Jesus  Christ  in 
this  war;  and  for  that  reason  he  gave  his  arms  and  assigned  to 
him  per  day  a sum  of  money  for  which  Amaury  thanked  him  on 
his  knees,  that  is,  did  him  homage,  according  to  the  usage  of  those 
times.  And  the  crusaders  were  mighty  pleased  to  have  this  lord 
with  them.” 

Five  years  afterwards,  at  the  close  of  1244,  Louis  fell  seriously  Illness  of 
ill  at  Pontoise,  and  having  recovered,  took  the  cross  in  consequence 
of  a vow  he  had  made  to  that  effect.  The  crusades,  however, 
although  they  still  remained  an  object  of  religions  and  knightly 
aspiration,  were  from  the  political  point  of  view  decried ; and, 
without  daring  to  say  so,  many  men  of  weight,  lay  or  ecclesiastical, 
had  no  desire  to  take  part  in  them.  Under  the  influence  of  this 
public  feeling,  timidly  exhibited  but  seriously  cherished,  Louis  con- 
tinued, for  three  years,  to  apply  himself  to  the  interior  concerns  of 
his  kingdom  and  to  his  relations  with  the  European  powers,  as  if 
he  had  no  other  idea.  At  last,  in  June,  1248,  after  having  received 
at  St.  Denis,  together  with  the  oriflamme,  the  scrip  and  staff  of  a 
pilgrim,  he  took  leave,  at  Corbeil  or  Cluny,  of  his  mother,  Queen  A-Ih  1248. 
Blanche,  whom  he  left  regent  during  bis  absence,  with  the  fullest  for  tke 
powers.  “ Most  sweet  fair  son,”  said  she,  embracing  him,  “ fair  Crusade, 
tender  son,  I shall  never  see  you  more ; full  well  my  heart  assures 
me.”  He  took  with  him  Queen  Marguerite  of  Provence,  his  wife, 
who  had  declared  that  she  would  never  part  from  him.  On  arriving 
in  the  early  part  of  August  at  Aigues-Mortes,  he  found  assembled 
there  a fleet  of  thirty-eight  vessels  with  a certain  number  of  trans- 
port-ships which  he  had  hired  from  the  republic  of  Genoa ; and 
they  were  to  convey  to  the  East  the  troops  and  personal  retinue  of 
the  king  himself.  The  number  of  these  vessels  proves  that  Louis 
was  far  from  bringing  one  of  those  vast  armies  with  which  the  first 
crusades  had  been  familiar;  it  even  appears  that  he  had  been 
careful  to  get  rid  of  such  mobs,  for,  before  embarking,  he  sent  away 
nearly  ten  thousand  bowmen,  Genoese,  Venetian,  Pisan,  and  even 
French,  whom  he  had  at  first  engaged,  and  of  whom,  after  inspection, 
he  desired  nothing  further.  The  sixth  crusade  was  the  personal 
achievement  of  St.  Louis,  not  the  offspring  of  a popular  movement, 
and  he  carried  it  out  with  a picked  army,  furnished  by  the  feudal 


90 


History  of  France . 

chivalry  and  by  the  religious  and  military  orders  dedicated  to  the 
service  of  the  Holy  Land. 

Arrives  at  The  Isle  of  Cyprus  was  the  trysting-place  appointed  for  all  the 
forces  of  the  expedition.  Louis  arrived  there  on  the  12th  of 
September,  1248,  and  reckoned  upon  remaining  there  only  a few 
days ; for  it  was  Egypt  that  he  was  in  a hurry  to  reach.  The 
French,  however,  left  the  island  only  in  May,  1249,  and,  in  spite 
of  violent  gales  of  wind,  which  dispersed  a large  number  of  vessels, 
A.D.  1249.  they  arrived  on  the  4th  of  June  before  Damietta,  which  was  taken 
Lands  at  without  the  least  difficulty.  St.  Louis  and  the  crusaders  unfor- 
tunately  committed  the  same  fault  there  as  in  the  Isle  of  Cyprus : 
they  halted  there  for  an  indefinite  time.  They  were  expecting 
fresh  crusaders ; and  they  spent  the  time  of  expectation  in 
quarrelling  over  the  partition  of  the  booty  taken  in  the  city. 

At  length,  on  the  20th  of  November,  1249,  after  more  than  five 
months’  inactivity  at  Damietta,  the  crusaders  put  themselves  once 
more  in  motion,  with  the  determination  of  marching  upon  Babylon, 
that  outskirt  of  Cairo,  now  called  Old  Cairo , which  the  greater 
part  of  them,  in  their  ignorance,  mistook  for  the  real  Babylon,  and 
where  they  flattered  themselves  they  would  find  immense  riches 
and  avenge  the  olden  sufferings  of  the  Hebrew  captives.  The 
Mussulmans  had  found  time  to  recover  from  their  first  fright  and 
A.D.  1250.  to  organize,  at  all  points,  a vigorous  resistance.  On  the  8th  of 
Mansout°ali  February,  1250,  a battle  took  place  twenty  leagues  from  Damietta, 
at  Mansourah  ( the  city  of  victory ),  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Nile. 
The  king’s  brother,  Robert,  count  of  Artois,  marched  with  the 
vanguard,  and  obtained  an  early  success ; elated  by  this  result,  he 
rushed  forward  into  the  town,  where  he  found  the  Mussulmans 
numerous  and  perfectly  rallied ; in  a few  moments  the  count  of 
Artois  fell  pierced  with  wounds,  and  more  than  300  knights  of  his 
train,  the  same  number  of  English,  together  with  their  leader 
William  Longsword,  and  280  Templars,  paid  with  their  lives  for 
the  senseless  ardour  of  the  French  prince. 

The  king  hurried  up  in  all  haste  to  the  aid  of  his  brother ; but 
he  had  scarcely  arrived,  and  as  yet  knew  nothing  of  his  brother’s 
fate,  when  he  himself  engaged  so  impetuously  in  the  battle  that  he 
was  on  the  point  of  being  taken  prisoner  by  six  Saracens  who  had 
already  seized  the  reins  of  his  horse.  He  was  defending  himself 
vigorously  with  his  sword  when  several  of  his  knights  came  up 
with  him  and  set  him  free.  He  asked  one  of  them  if  he  had  any 
news  of  his  brother ; and  the  other  answered,  “ Certainly  I have 
news  of  him  : for  I am  sure  that  he  is  now  in  Paradise.”  Praised 
be  God  ! ” answered  the  king,  with  a tear  or  two,  and  went  on  with 


SIRE  DE  JOINVILLE. 


EIBRAH  Y 


THE 

university  OF  Iuihois 


Louis  IX.  a prisoner  in  the  East.  91 

his  fighting.  The  "battle-field  was  left  that  day  to  the  crusaders ; 
but  they  were  not  allowed  to  occupy  it  as  conquerors,  for  three 
days  afterwards,  on  the  11th  of  February,  1250,  the  camp  of  St 
Louis  was  assailed  by  clouds  of  Saracens,  horse  and  foot,  Marne 
lukes  and  Bedouins.  All  surprise  had  vanished  ; the  Mussulman 
measured  at  a glance  the  numbers  of  the  Christians,  and  attacked 
them  in  full  assurance  of  success,  whatever  heroism  they  might 
display ; and  the  crusaders  themselves  indulged  in  no  more  self 
illusion,  and  thought  only  of  defending  themselves.  An  attempt 
was  made  by  the  king  of  France  to  negociate  with  the  enemy,  but 
to  no  purpose,  and  on  the  5th  of  April,  1250,  the  crusaders  de- 
cided upon  retreating. 

This  was  the  most  deplorable  scene  of  a deplorable  drama ; and, 
at  the  same  time  it  was,  for  the  king,  an  occasion  for  displaying,  in 
their  most  sublime  and  most  attractive  traits,  all  the  virtues  of  the 
Christian.  Whilst  sickness  and, famine  were  devastating  the  camp, 
Louis  made  himself  visitor,  physician,  and  comforter ; and  his 
presence  and  his  words  exercised  upon  the  worst  cases  a searching 
influence.  But  neither  his  courage  nor  his  servants’  devotion  were 
enough  to  ensure  success  even  to  the  retreat ; a truce  was  about  to 
be  concluded,  and  the  Mussulman  was  taking  off  his  ring  from  his 
finger  as  a pledge  that  he  would  observe  it.  “ But  during  this,” 
says  Joinville,  “ there  took  place  a great  mishap.  A traitor  of  a 
sergeant,  whose  name  was  Marcel,  began  calling  to  our  people, 
‘ Sirs  knights,  surrender,  for  such  is  the  king’s  command  : cause 
not  the  king’s  death  ’ All  thought  that  it  was  the  king’s  com- 
mand ; and  they  gave  up  their  swords  to  the  Saracens.”  Being 
forthwith  declared  prisoners,  the  king  and  all  the  rear-guard  were 
removed  to  Mansourah  ; the  king  by  boat ; and  his  two  brothers, 
the  Counts  of  Anjou  and  Poitiers,  and  all  the  other  crusaders, 
drawn  up  in  a body  and  shackled,  followed  on  foot  on  the  river- 
bank.  The  advance-guard  and  all  the  rest  of  the  army  soon  met 
the  same  fate. 

Ten  thousand  prisoners — this  was  all  that  remained  of  the 
crusade  that  had  started  eighteen  months  before  from  Aigues- 
Mortes.  Nevertheless  the  Lfty  bearing  and  the  piety  of  the  king 
still  inspired  the  Mussulmans  with  great  respect.  A negotiation 
was  opened  between  him  and  the  Sultan  Malek-Moaddam,  who, 
having  previously  freed  him  from  his  chains,  had  him  treated  with 
a certain  magnificence ; he  perceived  that  he  had  to  do  with  an  in- 
domitable spirit ; and  he  did  not  insist  any  longer  upon  more  than 
the  surrender  of  Damietta  and  on  a ransom  of  500,000  livres  (that 
is,  about  10,132,000  francs,  or  405,280/.,  of  modern  money.  “I 


Retreat 
the  Chris- 
tians. 


St.  Louis 
prisoner  of 
the  Mus 
sulmans. 


92 


History  of  France. 


St  Louis 
leaves 
Egypt  for 
Palestine. 


will  pay  willingly  500,000  livres  for  the  deliverance  of  my  people,’’ 
said  Louis,  “ and  I will  give  up  Damietta  for  the  deliverance  of  my 
own  person,  for  I am  not  a man  who  ought  to  be  bought  and  sold 
for  money.”  “By  my  faith,”  said  the  sultan,  “ the  Frank  is  liberal 
not  to  have  haggled  about  so  large  a sum.  Go  tell  him  that  I will 
give  him  100,000  livres  to  help  towards  paying  the  ransom.”  On  the 
7th  of  May,  1250.  the  faithful  friend  and  companion  of  Saint  Louis, 
Geoffrey  de  Sargines,  gave  up  to  the  emirs  the  keys  of  Damietta ; 
and  the  Mussulmans  entered  in  tumultuously.  The  king  was 
awaiting  aboard  his  ship  for  the  payment  which  his  people  were  to 
make  for  the  release  of  his  brother,  the  Count  of  Poitiers ; and 
when  he  saw  approaching  a bark  on  which  he  recognised  his 
brother,  “Light  up  ; light  up  !”  he  cried  instantly  to  his  sailors  ; 
which  was  the  signal  agreed  upon  for  setting  out.  And  leaving 
forthwith  the  coast  of  Egypt,  the  fleet  which  bore  the  remains  of 
the  Christian  army  made  sail  for  the  shores  of  Palestine. 

The  king,  having  arrived  at  St.  Jean  d’Acre  on  the  14th  of  May, 
1250,  accepted,  without  shrinking,  the  trial  imposed  upon  him  by 
his  unfortunate  situation.  Twice  he  believed  he  was  on  the  point 
of  accomplishing  his  desire — the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
from  the  Mussulmans,  and  the  re-establishment  of  the  kingdom  of 
Jerusalem.  Towards  the  end  of  1250,  and  again,  in  1252,  the 
Sultan  of  Aleppo  and  Damascus,  and  the  Emirs  of  Egypt,  being 
engaged  in  a violent  struggle,  made  offers  to  him,  by  turns,  of 
restoring  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  if  he  would  form  an  active 
alliance  with  one  or  the  other  party  against  its  enemies.  Louis 
sought  means  of  accepting  either  of  these  offers  without  neglecting 
his  previous  engagements,  and  without  compromising  the  fate  of 
the  Christians  still  prisoners  in  Egypt,  or  living  in  the  territories  of 
Aleppo  and  Damascus ; but,  during  the  negotiations  entered  upon 
with  a view  to  this  end,  the  Mussulmans  of  Syria  and  Egypt  sus- 
pended their  differences,  and  made  common  cause  against  the 
remnants  of  the  Christian  crusaders  ; and  all  hope  of  re-entering 
Jerusalem  by  these  means  vanished  away.  Another  time,  the 
Sultan  of  Damascus,  touched  by  Louis’  pious  perseverance,  had 
word  sent  to  him  that  he,  if  he  wished,  could  go  on  a pilgrimage  to 
Jerusalem  and  should  find  himself  in  perfect  safety.  “ The  king,” 
says  Join ville,  “ held  a great  council ; and  none  urged  him  to  go. 
It  was  shown  unto  him  that  if  he,  who  was  the  greatest  king  in 
Christendom,  performed  his  pilgrimage  without  delivering  the  Holy 
City  from  the  enemies  of  God,  all  the  other  kings  and  other  pilgrims 
who  came  after  him  would  hold  themselves  content  with  doing  just 
as  much,  and  would  trouble  themselves  no  more  about  the  de- 


State  of  the  Christians  in  the  East . 


93 


liverance  of  Jerusalem.”  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  sixty  years 
before,  had  refused  to  cast  even  a look  upon  Jerusalem,  when  ho 
was  unable  to  deliver  her  from  her  enemies.  Louis,  just  as 
Richard  had,  refused  the  incomplete  satisfaction  which  had  been 
offered  him,  and  for  nearly  four  years,  spent  by  him  on  the  coasts 
of  Palestine  and  Syria  since  his  departure  from  Damietta,  from 
1250  to  1254,  he  expended,  in  small  works  of  piety,  sympathy, 
protection,  and  care  for  the  future  of  the  Christian  populations  in 
Asia,  his  time,  his  strength,  his  pecuniary  resources,  and  the  ardour 
of  a soul  which  could  not  remain  idly  abandoned  to  sorrowing  over 
great  desires  unsatisfied. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  year  1253,  at  Sidon,  the  ramparts  A.D.  1252. 
of  which  he  was  engaged  in  repairing,  he  heard  that  his  mother, 

Queen  Blanche,  had  died  at  Paris  on  the  27th  of  November,  1252.  Castile. 
This  melancholy  news  induced  him  to  return  to  Europe ; he  em- 
barked at  St.  Jean  d’Acre,  on  the  24th  of  April,  1254,  carrying  A.D.  1254. 
away  with  him,  on  thirteen  vessels,  large  and  small,  Queen 
Marguerite,  his  children,  his  personal  retinue,  and  his  own  more  Palestine, 
immediate  men-at-arms,  and  leaving  the  Christians  of  Syria,  for 
their  protection  in  his  name,  a hundred  knights  under  the  orders  of 
Geoffrey  de  Sargines,  that  comrade  of  his  in  whose  bravery  and 
pious  fealty  he  had  the  most  entire  confidence.  After  two  months 
and  a half  at  sea,  the  king  and  his  fleet  arrived,  on  the  8th  of  July, 

1254,  off  the  port  of  Hyeres,  where  he  landed,  and,  passing  slowly 
through  France,  he  made  his  solemn  entry  into  Paris  on  the  7th  of 
September,  1254. 

For  seven  years  after  his  return  to  France,  from  1254  to  1261,  state  of 
d 7 7 Ch.ri.s- 

Louis  seemed  to  think  no  more  about  them,  and  there  is  nothing  tians  in 

to  show  that  he  spoke  of  them  even  to  his  most  intimate  confidants  ; the  East, 
but,  in  spite  of  his  apparent  calmness,  he  was  living,  so  far  as  they 
were  concerned,  in  a continual  ferment  of  imagination  and  internal 
fever,  ever  flattering  himself  that  some  favourable  circumstance 
would  call  him  back  to  his  interrupted  work.  And  he  had  reason 
to  believe  that  circumstances  were  responsive  to  his  wishes.  The 
Christians  of  Palestine  and  Syria  were  a prey  to  perils  and  evils 
which  became  more  pressing  every  day ; the  cross  was  being 
humbled  at  one  time  before  the  Tartars  of  Tchingis-Khan,  at 
another  before  the  Mussulmans  of  Egypt ; Pope  Urban  was  calling 
upon  the  King  of  France ; and  Geoffrey  de  Sargines,  the  heroic 
representative  whom  Louis  had  left  in  St.  Jean  d’Acre,  at  the 
head  of  a small  garrison,  was  writing  to  him  that  ruin  was  im- 
minent and  speedy  succour  indispensable  to  prevent  it.  In  12bl, 


History  of  France 


A.D.  1270. 
St.  Louis 
starts  for 
another 
crusade. 


Lands  at 
Tunis. 


04 

Louis  held,  at  Paris,  a parliament  at  which,  without  any  talk  of  a 
new  crusade,  measures  were  taken  which  revealed  an  idea  of  it : 
there  were  decrees  for  fasts  and  prayers  on  behalf  of  the  Christians 
of  the  East,  and  for  frequent  and  earnest  military  drill.  In  1263, 
the  crusade  was  openly  preached  ; taxes  were  levied,  even  on  the 
clergy,  for  the  purpose  of  contributing  towards  it ; and  princes  and 
barons  bound  themselves  to  take  part  in  it.  Louis  was  all  approval 
and  encouragement,  without  declaring  his  own  intention.  In  1267, 
a parliament  was  convoked  at  Paris.  The  king,  at  first,  conversed 
discreetly  with  some  of  his  barons  about  the  new  plan  of  crusade ; 
and  then,  suddenly,  having  had  the. precious  relics  deposited  in  the 
Holy  Chapel  set  before  the  eyes  of  the  assembly,  he  opened  the 
session  by  ardently  exhorting  those  present  “ to  avenge  the  insult 
which  had  so  long  been  offered  to  the  Saviour  in  the  Holy  Land, 
and  to  recover  the  Christian  heritage  possessed,  for  our  sins,  by  the 
infidels.”  Next  year,  on  the  9th  February,  1268,  at  a new 
parliament  assembled  at  Paris,  the  king  took  an  oath  to  start  in  the 
month  of  May,  1270. 

Saint  Louis  left  Paris  on  the  16th  of  March,  1270,  a sick  man 
almost  already,  but  with  soul  content,  and  probably  the  only  one 
without  misgiving  in  the  midst  of  all  his  comrades.  It  was  once 
more  at  Aigues  Mortes  that  he  went  to  embark.  All  was  as  yet 
dark  and  undecided  as  to  the  plan  of  the  expedition.  At  last,  on 
the  2nd  of  July,  1270,  he  set  sail  without  any  one’s  knowing  and 
without  the  king’s  telling  any  one  whither  they  were  going.  It 
was  only  in  Sardinia,  after  four  days’  halt  at  Cagliari,  that  Louis 
announced  to  the  chiefs  of  the  crusade,  assembled  aboard  his  ship 
the  Mountjoy,  that  he  was  making  for  Tunis,  and  that  their 
Christian  work  would  commence  there.  The  King  of  Tunis 
(as  he  was  then  called),  Mohammed  Mostanser,  had  for  some  time 
been  talking  of  his  desire  to  become  a Christian,  if  he  could  be 
efficiently  protected  against  the  seditions  of  his  subjects.  Louis 
welcomed  with  transport  the  prospect  of  Mussulman  conversions. 
“ Ah  ! ” he  cried,  “ if  I could  only  see  myself  the  gossip  and  sponsor 
of  so  great  a godson  ! ” 

But  on  the  17th  of  July,  when  the  fleet  arrived  before  Tunis, 
the  admiral,  Florent  de  Yarennes,  probably  without  the  king’s 
orders,  and  with  that  want  of  reflection  which  was  conspicuous  at 
each  step  of  the  enterprise,  immediately  took  possession  of  the 
harbour  and  of  some  Tunisian  vessels  as  prize,  and  sent  word  to 
the  king  “ that  he  had  only  to  support  him  and  that  the  dis- 
embarcation  of  the  troops  might  be  effected  in  perfect  safety.” 


Death  of  Saint  Louis . 


95 


/ 


Thus  war  was  commenced  at  the  very  first  moment  against  the 
Mussulman  prince  whom  there  had  been  a promise  of  seeing  before 
long  a Christian. 

At  the  end  of  a fortnight,  after  some  fights  between  the  Tu- 
nisians and  the  crusaders,  so  much  political  and  military  blindness 
produced  its  natural  consequences.  On  the  3rd  of  August  Louis  His  illness, 
was  attacked  by  the  epidemic  fever,  and  obliged  to  keep  his  bed 
in  his  tent;  the  illness  soon  took  an  unfavourable  turn,  and  no 
hopes  of  recovery  could  be  entertained.  It  was  announced  to 
him,  on  the  24th  of  August,  that  envoys  from  the  Emperor 
Michael  Palseologus  had  landed  at  Cape  Carthage,  with  orders  to 
demand  his  intervention  with  his  brother  Charles,  king  of  Sicily, 
to  deter  him  from  making  war  on  the  but  lately  re-established 
Greek  empire.  Louis  summoned  all  his  strength  to  receive  them 
in  his  tent,  in  the  presence  of  certain  of  his  counsellors,  who  were 
uneasy  at  the  fatigue  he  was  imposing  upon  himself.  “ I promise 
you,  if  I live,”  said  he  to  the  envoys,  “ to  co-operate,  so  far  as  I 
may  be  able,  in  what  your  master  demands  of  me;  meanwhile,  I 
exhort  you  to  have  patience,  and  be  of  good  courage.”  This  was 
his  last  political  act,  and  his  last  concern  with  the  affairs  of  the 
world ; henceforth  he  was  occupied  only  with  pious  effusions 
which  had  a bearing  at  one  time  on  his  hopes  for  his  soul,  at 
another  on  those  Christian  interests  which  had  been  so  dear  to 
him  all  his  life.  He  kept  repeating  his  customary  orisons  in  a low 
voice ; and  he  was  heard  murmuring  these  broken  words : “ Eair 
Sir  God,  have  mercy  on  this  people  that  bideth  here,  and  bring 
them  back  to  their  own  land ! Let  them  not  fall  into  the  hands  of 
their  enemies,  and  let  them  not  be  constrained  to  deny  Thy  name  ! ” 

And  at  the  same  time  that  he  thus  expressed  his  sad  reflections 
upon  the  situation  in  which  he  was  leaving  his  army  and  his 
people,  he  cried  from  time  to  time,  as  he  raised  himself  on  his  bed, 

“ Jerusalem  ! Jerusalem  ! we  will  go  up  to  Jerusalem  ! ” During  the 
night  of  the  24th-25th  of  August  he  ceased  to  speak,  all  the  time 
continuing  to  show  that  he  was  in  full  possession  of  his  senses; 
he  insisted  upon  receiving  extreme  unction  out  of  bed,  and  lying 
upon  a coarse  sack-cloth  covered  with  cinders,  with  the  cross 
before  him  ; and  on  Monday,  the  25th  of  August,  1270,  at  3 p.m., 
he  departed  in  peace,  whilst  uttering  these  his  last  words  : “ Father, 
after  the  example  of  the  Divine  Master,  into  Thy  hands  I commend  25). 
my  spirit ! " 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  KINGSHIP,  THE  COMMONERS  AND  THE  THIRD  ESTATE. 

teristics  of  8^ance’  two  ^ac^s  strike  ns  in  the  history  of  the  king- 

the  French  ship  in  France.  It  was  in  France  that  it  adopted  soonest  and  most 
kingship,  persistently  maintained  its  fundamental  principle,  heredity  ; only 
in  France  was  there,  at  any  time  during  eight  centuries,  but  a single 
king  and  a single  line  of  kings.  Unity  and  heredity,  those  two 
essential  principles  of  monarchy,  have  been  the  invariable  charac- 
teristics of  the  kingship  in  France. 

A second  fact,  less  apparent  and  less  remarkable,  but,  never- 
theless, not  without  importance  or  without  effect  upon  the  history 
of  the  kingship  in  France,  is  the  extreme  variety  of  character,  of 
faculties,  of  intellectual  and  moral  bent,  of  policy  and  personal 
conduct  amongst  the  French  kings.  Absolute  monarchical  power 
in  France  was,  almost  in  every  successive  reign,  singularly  modi- 
fied, being  at  one  time  aggravated  and  at  another  alleviated  accord- 
ing to  the  ideas,  sentiments,  morals,  and  spontaneous  instincts  of 
the  monarchs.  Nowhere  else,  throughout  the  great  European 
monarchies,  has  the  difference  between  kingly  personages  exercised 
so  much  influence  on  government  and  national  condition.  In  that 
country  the  free  action  of  individuals  has  filled  a prominent  place 
and  taken  a prominent  part  in  the  course  of  events. 

It  has  been  shown  how  insignificant  and  inert,  as  sovereigns, 
were  the  first  three  successors  of  Hugh  Capet.  The  goodness  to 
his  people  displayed  by  King  Robert  was  the  only  kingly  trait 


Royal  domains. 


97 


which,  during  that  period,  deserved  to  leave  a trace  in  history. 

The  kingship  appeared  once  more  with  the  attributes  of  energy 
and  efficiency  on  the  accession  of  Louis  VI.,  son  of  Philip  I. 

Brought  up  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Denis,  he  had  the  good  fortune 
to  find  there  a fellow-student  capable  of  becoming  a king’s  coun- 
sellor. Suger,  a child  born  at  St.  Denis,  of  obscure  parentage,  and 
three  or  four  years  younger  than  Prince  Louis,  had  been  brought  up 
for  charity’s  sake  in  the  abbey,  and  the  Abbot  Adam,  who  had 
perceived  his  natural  abilities,  had  taken  pains  to  develope  them. 

A bond  of  esteem  and  mutual  friendship  was  formed  between  the 
two  young  people,  both  of  whom  were  disposed  to  earnest  thought 
and  earnest  living;  and  when,  in  1108,  Louis  ascended  the  throne, 
the  monk  Suger  became  his  adviser  whilst  remaining  his  friend. 

A very  small  kingdom,  was  at  that  time  the  domain  belonging 
properly  and  directly  to  the  King  of  France.  Ile-de-France,  strictly 
so  called,  and  a part  of  Orleanness  (l’Crleanais),  pretty  nearly  the 
five  departments  of  the  Seine,  Seine-et  Oise,  Seine-et-Marne,  Oise 
and  Loiret,  besides,  through  recent  acquisition,  French  Vexin 
(which  bordered  on  the  Ile-de-France  and  had  for  its  chief  place 
Pontoise,  being  separated  by  the  little  River  Epte  from  Norman 
Vexin,  of  which  Rouen  was  the  capital),  half  the  countship  of  Sens 
and  the  countship  of  Bourges  — such  was  the  whole  of  its  extent. 

But  this  limited  State  was  as  liable  to  agitation,  and  often  as 
troublous  and  as  toilsome  to  govern  as  the  very  greatest  of  modern 
States.  It  was  full  of  petty  lords,  almost  sovereigns  in  their  own 
estates,  and  sufficiently  strong  to  struggle  against  their  kingly 
suzerain,  who  had,  besides,  all  around  his  domains,  several  neigh- 
bours more  powerful  than  himself  in  the  extent  and  population  of 
their  States.  But  lord  and  peasant,  layman  and  ecclesiastic,  castle 
and  country  and  the  churches  of  France  were  not  long  discovering, 
that,  if  the  kingdom  was  small,  it  had  verily  a king.  Louis  did 
not  direct  to  a distance  from  home  his  ambition  and  his  efforts  ; it 
was  within  his  own  dominion,  to  check  the  violence  of  the  strong 
against  the  weak,  to  put  a stop  to  the  quarrels  of  the  strong  amongst 
themselves,  to  make  an  end,  in  France  at  least,  of  unrighteousness 
and  devastation,  and  to  establish  there  some  sort  of  order  and  some 
sort  of  justice,  that  he  displayed  his  energy  and  his  perseverance. 
Sometimes,  when  the  people  and  their  habitual  protectors,  the 
bishops,  invoked  his  aid,  Louis  would  carry  his  arms  beyond  his 
own  dominions,  by  sole  right  of  justice  and  kingship.  “It  is 
known,”  says  Suger,  “that  kings  have  long  hands.” 

Into  his  relations  with  his  two  powerful  neighbours,  the  King  of  rela’ 

England,  dukn  of  Normandy,  and  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  Louis  his  neigh- 

tt  hours. 


A D.  1137. 
Marriage 
of  Louis 
the  Young. 


9S  History  of  France . 

the  Fat  (such  was  his  surname)  introduced  the  same  watchfulness, 
the  same  firmness,  and,  at  need,  the  same  warlike  energy,  whilst 
observing  the  same  moderation  and  the  same  policy  of  holding  aloof 
from  all  turbulent  or  indiscreet  ambition,  adjusting  his  pretensions 
to  his  power,  and  being  more  concerned  to  govern  his  kingdom 
efficiently  than  to  add  to  it  by  conquest.  Twice,  in  1109  and  in 
1116,  be  had  war  in  Normandy  with  Henry  I.,  king  of  England, 
and  he  therein  was  guilty  of  certain  temerities  resulting  in  a reverse, 
which  he  hastened  to  repair  during  a vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
campaign ; but,  when  once  his  honour  was  satisfied,  he  showed  a 
ready  inclination  for  the  peace  which  the  pope,  Calixtus  II.,  in 
council  at  Rome,  succeeded  in  establishing  between  the  two  rivals. 
The  war  with  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  Henry  V.,  in  1124, 
appeared,  at  the  first  blush,  a more  serious  matter.  The  emperor 
had  raised  a numerous  army  of  Lorrainers,  Allemannians,  Bavarians, 
Suabians,  and  Saxons,  and  was  threatening  the  very  city  of  Rheims 
with  instant  attack.  Louis  hastened  to  put  himself  in  position ; 
he  went  and  took  solemnly,  at  the  altar  of  St.  Denis,  the  banner  of 
that  patron  of  the  kingdom,  and  flew  with  a mere  handful  of  men 
to  confront  the  enemy,  and  parry  the  first  blow,  calling  on  the 
whole  of  France  to  follow  him.  France  summoned  the  flower  of 
her  chivalry  ; and  at  the  news  of  this  mighty  host,  and  of  the 
ardour  -with  which  they  were  animated,  the  Emperor  Henry  V. 
advanced  no  farther,  and,  before  long,  “ marching,  under  some  pre- 
text, towards  other  places,  he  preferred  the  shame  of  retreating  like 
a coward  to  the  risk  of  exposing  his  empire  and  himself  to  certain 
destruction.  After  this  victory,  which  was  more  than  as  great  as 
a triumph  on  the  field  of  battle,  the  French  returned  every  one  to 
their  homes.” 

The  three  elements  which  contributed  to  the  formation  and 
character  of  the  kingship  in  France,  the  German  element,  the 
Roman  element,  and  the  Christian  element,  appear  in  conjunction 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  the  Fat.  In  his  last  days  he  found  great 
cause  for  rejoicing  as  a father.  William  VII.,  duke  of  Aquitaine, 
had,  at  his  death,  entrusted  to  him  the  guardianship  of  his  daughter 
Eleanor,  heiress  of  all  his  dominions,  that  is  to  say,  of  Poitou,  of 
Saintonge,  of  Gascony,  and  of  the  Basque  country,  the  most  beau- 
tiful provinces  of  the  south-west  of  France  from  the  lower  Loire  to 
the  Pyrenees.  A marriage  between  Eleanor  and  Louis  the  Young, 
already  sharing  his  father’s  throne,  was  soon  concluded  ; it  took 
place  at  Bordeaux,  at  the  end  of  July,  1137,  and  on  the  8th  of 
August  following,  Louis  the  Young,  on  his  way  backj  to  Paris,  was 
crowned  at  Poitiers  as  duke  of  Aquitaine.  He  there  learned 


Philip  Augustus, 


99 


that  the  king  his  father  had  lately  died,  on  the  1st  of  August. 

Louis  the  Fat  was  far  from  foreseeing  the  deplorable  issues  of  the 
marriage  which  he  regarded  as  one  of  the  blessings  of  his  reign. 

In  spite  of  its  long  duration  of  forty-three  years,  the  reign  of  Barren- 
Louis  VII.  called  ihe  Young , was  a period  barren  of  events  and  ^gSre|fn 
of  persons  worthy  of  keeping  a place  in  history.  We  have  already 
had  the  story  of  this  king’s  unfortunate  crusade,  the  commencement 
at  Antioch  of  his  imbroglio  with  his  wife,  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine, 
and  the  subsequent  divorce.  A petty  war  or  a sullen  strife  be- 
tween the  Kings  of  France  and  England,  petty  quarrels  of  Louis 
with  some  of  the  great  lords  of  his  kingdom,  certain  rigorous 
measures  against  certain  districts  in  travail  of  local  liberties,  the 
first  bubblings  of  that  religious  fermentation  which  resulted  before 


long,  in  the  south  of  France,  in  the  crusade  against  the  Albigensians 
— such  were  the  facts  which  went  to  make  up  with  somewhat  of 
insipidity  the  annals  of  this  reign.  So  long  as  Suger  lived  the 
kingship  preserved,  at  home,  the  wisdom  which  it  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  display,  and  abroad  the  respect  it  had  acquired  under 
Louis  the  Fat;  but  at  the  death  of  Suger  it  went  on  languishing 
and  declining  without  encountering  any  great  obstacles.  It  was 
reserved  for  Louis  the  Young’s  son,  Philip  Augustus,  to  open  for 
France  and  for  the  kingship  in  France  a new  era  of  strength  and 
progress. 

Philip  II.,  to  whom  history  has  preserved  the  name  of  Philip 
Augustus,  given  him  by  his  contemporaries,  had  shared  the  crown, 
been  anointed,  and  taken  to  wife  Isabel  of  Hainault,  a year  before 
the  death  of  Louis  VII.  put  him  in  possession  of  the  kingdom. 
He  was  as  yet  only  fifteen,  and  his  father,  by  his  will,  had  left 
him  under  the  guidance  of  Philip  of  Alsace,  count  of  Flanders,  as 
regent,  and  of  Kobert  Clement,  marshal  of  France,  as  governor. 
But  Philip,  though  he  began  his  reign  under  this  double  influence, 
soon  let  it  be  seen  that  he  intended  to  reign  by  himself,  and  to 
reign  with  vigour ; it  was  not  granted  to  Philip  Augustus  to  re- 
suscitate the  Frankish  empire  of  Charlemagne,  a work  impossible 
for  him  or  any  one  whatsoever  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
turies ; but  he  made  the  extension  and  territorial  construction  of 
the  kingdom  of  France  the  chief  aim  of  his  life,  and  in  that  work 
he  was  successful.  Out  of  the  forty-three  years  of  his  reign, 
twenty-six  at  the  least  were  war-years,  devoted  to  that  very  pur- 
pose. During  the  first  six,  it  was  with  some  of  his  great  French 
vassals,  the  Count  of  Champagne,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and 
even  the  Count  of  Flanders,  sometime  regent,  that  Philip  had  to 
do  battle,  for  they  all  sought  to  profit  by  his  minority  so  as  to 

H 2 


A.D. 1180 
—1223. 
Philip 
Augustus. 


Character 
of  his 
Policy. 


100 


History  of  France. 


Wars 
against 
England 
and  Ger- 
many. 


make  themselves  independent  and  aggrandize  themselves  at  the 
expense  of  the  crown ; but,  once  in  possession  of  the  personal 
power  as  well  as  the  title  of  king,  it  was,  from  1187  to  1216, 
against  three  successive  kings  of  England,  Henry  II.,  Eichard 
Coeur  de  Lion,  and  John  Lackland,  masters  of  the  most  beautiful 
provinces  of  France,  that  Philip  directed  his  persistent  efforts. 
They  were  in  respect  of  power,  of  political  capacity  and  military 
popularity,  his  most  formidable  foes;  he  managed,  however,  to  hold 
his  own  against  them ; and  when,  after  Eichard’s  death,  he  had  to 
do  with  John  Lackland,  he  had  over  him,  even  more  than  over  his 
brother  Eichard,  immense  advantages.  He  made  such  use  of  them 
that  after  six  years’ struggling,  from  1199  to  1205,  he  deprived 
John  of  the  greater  part  of  his  French  possessions,  Anjou,  Nor- 
mandy,  Touraine,  Maine,  and  Poitou.  Philip  would  have  been 
quite  willing  to  dispense  with  any  legal  procedure  by  way  of 
sanction  to  his  conquests,  but  John  furnished  him  with  an  excel- 
lent pretext;  for  on  the  3rd  of  April,  1203,  he  assassinated  with 
his  own  hand,  in  the  tower  of  Eouen,  his  young  nephew  Arthur, 
duke  of  Brittany,  and  in  that  capacity  vassal  of  Philip  Augustus, 
to  whom  he  was  coming  to  do  homage.  The  king  of  France  thus 
recovered  possession  of  nearly  all  the  territories  which  his  father, 
Louis  VII.,  had  kept  but  for  a moment.  He  added,  in  succession, 
other  provinces  to  his  dominions ; in  such  wise  that  the  kingdom 
of  France  which  was  limited,  as  we  have  seen,  under  Louis  the 
Fat,  to  the  Ile-de-France  and  certain  portions  of  Picardy  and 
Orleanness,  comprised  besides,  at  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Philip 
Augustus,  Vermandois,  Artois,  the  two  Vexins,  French  and  Nor- 
man, Berri,  Normandy,  Maine,  Anjou,  Poitou,  Touraine,  and  Au- 
vergne. 

In  1206  the  territorial  work  of  Philip  Augustus  was  well  nigh 
completed;  but  his  wars  were  not  over.  John  Lackland  when 
worsted  kicked  against  the  pricks,  and  was  incessantly  hankering, 
in  his  antagonism  to  the  King  of  France,  after  hostile  alliances  and 
local  conspiracies,  easy  to  hatch  amongst  certain  feudal  lords  dis- 
contented with  their  suzerain.  Being  on  intimate  terms  with  his 
nephew,  Otho  IV.,  emperor  of  Germany  and  the  foe  of  Philip 
Augustus,  he  urged  him  to  prepare  for  a grand  attack  upon  the 
King  of  France,  and  the  two  allies  had  won  over  to  their  coalition 
some  of  his  most  important  vassals,  amongst  others,  Eenaud  de 
Dampierre,  count  of  Boulogne.  The  invasion  of  England,  boldly 
attempted  by  Philip,  proved  a failure;  on  the  8th  of  April,  1213, 
he  convoked,  at  Soissons,  his  principal  vassals  or  allies,  explained 
to  them  the  grounds  of  his  design  against  the  King  of  England, 


Battle  of  Bouvines . 


101 


and,  by  a sort  of  special  confederation,  they  bound  themselves,  all 
of  them,  to  support  him.  One  of  the  most  considerable  vassals, 
however,  the  sometime  regent  of  France  during  the  minority  of 
Philip,  Ferrand,  count  of  Flanders,  did  not  attend  the  meeting  to 
which  he  had  been  summoned  and  declared  his  intention  of  taking 
no  part  in  the  war  against  England.  “ By  all  the  saints  of  France,” 
cried  Philip,  “either  France  shall  become  Flanders,  or  Flanders 
France ! ” He  entered  Flanders  accordingly,  besieged  and  took 
several  of  the  richest  cities  in  the  country,  Cassel,  Ypres,  Bruges, 
and  Courtrai,  and  pitched  his  camp  before  the  walls  of  Ghent,  “ to 
lower,”  as  he  said,  “ the  pride  of  the  men  of  Ghent  and  make  them 
bend  their  necks  beneath  the  yoke  of  kings.”  The  confederates 
had  at  their  head  the  Emperor  Otho  IV.,  who  had  already  won  the 
reputation  of  a brave  and  able  soldier;  and  they  numbered  in  their 
ranks  several  of  the  greatest  lords,  German,  Flemish,  and  Dutch,  * 
and  Hugh  de  Boves,  the  most  dreaded  of  those  adventurers  in  the 
pay  of  wealthy  princes  who  were  known  at  that  time  by  the  name 
of  roadsters  ( routiers , mercenaries).  They  proposed,  it  was  said, 
to  dismember  France ; and  a promise  to  that  effect  had  been  made 
by  the  Emperor  Otho  to  his  principal  chieftains  assembled  in  secret 
conference.  “ It  is  against  Philip  himself  and  him  alone,*’  he  had 
said  to  them,  “ that  we  must  direct  all  our  efforts ; it  is  he  who 
must  be  slain  first  of  all,  for  it  is  he  alone  who  opposes  us  and 
makes  himself  our  foe  in  every  thing.  When  he  is  dead,  you  will 
be  able  to  subdue  and  divide  the  kingdom  according  to  our  pleasure; 
as  for  thee,  Renaud,  thou  shalt  take  Peronne  and  all  Verinandois  ; 

Hugh  shall  be  master  of  Beauvais,  Salisbury  of  Dreux,  Conrad  of 
Mantes  together  with  Vexin,  and  as  for  thee,  Ferrand,  thou  shalt 
have  Paris.” 

The  two  armies  marched  over  the  Low  Countries  and  Flanders,  A.D.  1214, 
seeking  out  both  of  them  the  most  favourable  position  ^or  com_  bouvines 
mencing  the  attack.  On  Sunday,  the  27th  of  July,  1214,  Philip 
had  halted  near  the  bridge  of  Bouvines,  not  far  from  Lille,  and  was 
resting  under  an  ash  beside  a small  chapel  dedicated  to  St.  Peter. 

There  came  running  to  him  a messenger,  sent  by  Guerin,  bishop  of 
Senlis,  his  confidant  in  war  as  well  as  government,  and  brought 
him  word  that  his  rear  guard,  attacked  by  the  Emperor  Otho,  was 
not  sufficient  to  resist  him.  Philip  went  into  the  chapel,  said  a 
short  prayer,  and  cried  as  he  came  out,  “ Haste  we  forward  to  the 
rescue  of  our  comrades  ! ” Then  he  put  on  his  armour,  mounted 
his  horse,  and  made  swiftly  for  the  point  of  attack,  amidst  the 
shouts  of  all  those  who  were  about  him,  “ To  arms  ! to  arms  ! ” 

Both  armies  numbered  in  their  ranks  not  only  all  the  feudal 


102  History  of  France. 

important  chivalry  on  the  two  sides,  hut  burgher-forces,  those  from  the 
init  by  the  majorihy  of  the  great  cities  of  Flanders  being  for  Otho,  and  those 
communes,  from  sixteen  towns  or  communes  of  France  for  Philip  Augustus. 

These  communal  forces  evidently  filled  an  important  place  in  the 
king’s  army  at  Bouvines,  and  maintained  it  brilliantly.  The  battle 
was  not  the  victory  of  Philip  Augustus,  alone,  over  a coalition  of 
foreign  princes ; the  victory  was  the  work  of  king  and  people,  barons, 
knights,  burghers,  and  peasants  of  Ile-de-France,  of  Orleanness,  of 
Picardy,  of  Normandy,  of  Champagne,  and  of  Burgundy.  And 
this  union  of  different  classes  and  different  populations  in  a senti- 
ment, a contest  and  a triumph  shared  in  common  was  a decisive 
step  in  the  organization  and  unity  of  France.  The  victory  of  Bou- 
vines marked  the  commencement  of  the  time  at  which  men  might 
speak  and  indeed  did  speak,  by  one  single  name,  of  the  French. 
The  nation  in  France  aud  the  kingship  in  France  on  that  day  rose 
out  of  and  above  the  feudal  system. 

Philip  Augustus  was  about  the  same  time  apprised  of  his  son 
Louis’  success  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire.  The  incapacity  and 
swaggering  insolence  of  King  John  had  made  all  his  Poitevine 
allies  disgusted  with  him ; he  had  been  obliged  to  abandon  his 
attack  upon  the  King  of  France  in  the  provinces,  and  the  insur- 
rection, growing  daily  more  serious,  of  the  English  barons  and 
clergy  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  Magna  Charta,  was  preparing 
for  him  other  reverses.  He  had  ceased  to  be  a dangerous  rival  to 
Philip. 

Religions  The  organization  of  the  kingdom,  the  nation,  and  the  kingship 
lectual *n  -^rance  was  n°f  only  great  event  and  the  only  great  achieve- 
state  of  ment  of  that  epoch.  At  the  same  time  that  this  political  movement 
France.  -was  going  on  in  the  State,  a religious  and  intellectual  ferment  was 
making  head  in  the  Church  and  in  men’s  minds ; in  the  course  of 
this  active  and  salutary  participation  in  the  affairs  of  the  world, 
the  Christian  clergy  lost  somewhat  of  their  primitive  and  proper 
character ; religion  in  their  hands  was  a means  of  power  as  well  as 
of  civilization ; and  its  principal  members  became  rich  and  fre- 
quently substituted  material  weapons  for  the  spiritual  authority 
which  had  originally  been  their  only  reliance.  Morals  had  sunk 
far  below  the  laws,  and  religion  was  in  deplorable  contrast  to 
morals.  It  was  not  laymen  only  who  abandoned  themselves  with 
impunity  to  every  excess  of  violence  and  licentiousness ; scandals 
were  frequent  amongst  the  clergy  themselves ; bishoprics  and  other 
ecclesiastical  benefices,  publicly  sold  or  left  by  will,  passed  down 
through  families  from  father  to  son,  and  from  husband  to  wife,  and 
tiie  possessions  of  the  Church  served  for  dowry  to  the  daughters  of 


io3 


State  of  the  Church  in  France . 

bishops.  Absolution  was  at  a low  quotation  in  the  market,  and 
redemption  for  sins  of  the  greatest  enormity  cost  scarcely  the  price 
of  founding  a church  or  a monastery.  In  the  midst  of  such  irre- 
gularities, the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  saw  the  outbreak  of  a 
grand  religious,  moral  and  intellectual  fermentation,  and  it  was  the 
Church  herself  that  had  the  honour  and  the  power  of  taking  the  Reforms  in 
initiative  in  the  reformation.  Under  the  influence  of  Gregory  VII.  tlleClmrch. 
the  rigour  of  the  popes  began  to  declare  itself  against  the  scandals 
of  the  episcopate,  the  traffic  in  ecclesiastical  benefices  and  the  bad 
morals  of ^ the  secular  clergy.  At  the  same  time,  austere  men 
exerted  themselves  to  rekindle  the  fervour  of  monastic  life,  re- 
established rigid  rules  in  the  cloister,  and  refilled  the  monasteries  by 
their  preaching  and  example.  Rich  and  powerful  laymen,  filled 
with  ardour  for  their  faith  or  fear  for  their  eternal  welfare,  went 
seeking  after  solitude,  and  devoted  themselves  to  prayer  in  the 
monasteries  they  had  founded  or  enriched  with  their  wealth  ; whole 
families  were  dispersed  amongst  various  religious  houses ; and  all 
the  severities  of  penance  hardly  sufficed  to  quiet  imaginations 
scared  at  the  perils  of  living  in  the  world  or  at  the  vices  of  their 
age.  And,  at  the  same  time,  in  addition  to  this  outburst  of  piety,  Progress 
ignorance  was  decried  and  stigmatized  as  the  source  of  the  prevail- 
ing  evils  ; the  function  of  teaching  was  included  amongst  the  duties 
of  the  religious  estate;  and  every  newly-founded  or  reformed 
monastery  became  a school  in  which  pupils  of  all  conditions  were 
gratuitously  instructed  in  the  sciences  known  by  the  name  of  liberal 
arts.  Bold  spirits  began  to  use  the  rights  of  individual  thought  in 
opposition  to  the  authority  of  established  doctrines ; and  others, 
without  dreaming  of  opposing,  strove  at  any  rate  to  understand, 
which  is  the  way  to  produce  discussion.  Activity  and  freedom  of 
thought  were  receiving  development  at  the  same  time  that  fervent 
faith  and  fervent  piety  were.  The  quarrel  of  Abelard  with  St. 

Bernard  and  the  crusade  against  the  Albigensians  are  the  two  most 
striking  events  in  connection  with  this  part  of  our  subject ; they 
show  us  how  Northern  France  and  Southern  France  differed  one 
from  the  other  before  the  bloody  crisis  which  was  to  unite  them  in 
one  single  name  and  one  common  destiny. 

It  was  in  the  very  midst  of  the  clergy  themselves,  amongst 
literates  and  teachers,  that,  in  Northern  France,  the  intellectual 
and  innovating  movement  of  the  period  was  manifested  and  con- 
centrated. .The  movement  was  vigorous  and  earnest,  and  it  was  a a.D.  1079 
really  studious  host  which  thronged  to  the  lessons  of  Abelard  — 
at  Paris,  on  Mount  St.  Genevieve,  at  Melun,  at  Corbeil,  and  at  the 
Paraclete ; it  was  to  expound  and  propagate  what  they  regarded  os 


104 


History  of  France . 


His  doc- 
trines con- 
demned. 


Religious 
condition 
of  South- 
ern France 


the  philosophy  of  Christianity  that  masters  and  pupils  made  hold 
use  of  the  freedom  of  thought ; they  made  but  slight  war  upon  the 
existing  practical  abuses  of  the  Church ; they  differed  from  her  in 
the  interpretation  and  comments  contained  in  some  of  her  dogmas; 
and  they  considered  themselves  in  a position  to  explain  and  con- 
firm faith  by  reason.  The  chiefs  of  the  Church,  with  St.  Bernard 
at  their  head,  were  not  slow  to  decry,  in  these  interpretations  and 
comments  based  upon  science,  danger  to  the  simple  and  pure  faith 
of  the  Christian ; they  saw  the  apparition  of  dawning  rationalism 
confronting  orthodoxy.  They  had  Abelard’s  doctrines  condemned 
at  the  councils  of  Soissons  and  Sens;  they  prohibited* him  from 
public  lecturing ; and  they  imposed  upon  him  the  seclusion  of  the 
cloister ; but  they  did  not  even  harbour  the  notion  of  having  him 
burnt  as  a heretic,  and  science  and  glory  were  respected  in  his 
person,  even  when  his  ideas  were  proscribed.  Peter  the  Venerable, 
abbot  of  Cluni,  one  of  the  most  highly  considered  and  honoured 
prelates  of  the  Church,  received  him  amongst  his  own  monks  and 
treated  him  with  paternal  kindness,  taking  care  of  his  health  as 
well  as  of  his  eternal  welfare ; and  he  who  was  the  adversary  of 
St.  Bernard,  and  the  teacher  condemned  by  the  councils  of  Soissons 
and  Sens,  died  peacefully,  on  the  21st  of  April,  1142,  in  the  abbey 
of  St.  Marcellus,  near  Clialon-sur-Saone,  after  having  received  the 
sacraments  with  much  piety  and  in  presence  of  all  the  brethren  of 
the  monastery. 

The  struggle  of  Abelard  with  the  Church  of  Northern  France 
and  the  crusade  against  the  Albigensians  in  Southern  France  are 
divided  by  much  more  than  diversity  and  contrast ; there  is  an 
abyss  between  them.  In  Northern  France,  in  spite  of  internal 
disorder  and  through  the  influence  of  its  bishops,  missionaries,  and 
monastic  reformers,  the  orthodox  Church  had  obtained  a decided 
superiority  and  full  dominion ; but  in  Southern  France,  on  the 
contrary,  all  the  controversies,  all  the  sects,  and  all  the  mystical  or 
philosophical  heresies  which  had  disturbed  Christendom  from  the 
second  century  to  the  ninth,  had  crept  in  and  spread  abroad.  In 
it  there  were  Arians,  Manicheans,  Gnostics,  Paulicians,  Cathars 
(the  pure),  and  other  sects  of  more  local  or  more  recent  origin  and 
name,  Albigensians,  Vaudians,  Good  People  and  Poor  of  Lyons, 
some  piously  possessed  with  the  desire  of  returning  to  the  pure 
faith  and  fraternal  organization  of  the  primitive  evangelical  Church, 
others  given  over  to  the  extravagances  of  imagination  or  asceticism. 
The  princes  and  the  great  laic  lords  of  the  country,  the  Counts  of 
Toulouse,  Foix,  and  Comminges,  the  Viscount  of  Beziers,  and 
many  others  had  not  remained  unaffected  by  this  condition  of  the 


Crusade  against  the  Albigensians . 105 

people : the  majority  were  accused  of  tolerating  and  even  protect- 
ing the  heretics ; and  some  were  suspected  of  allowing  their  ideas 
to  penetrate  within  their  own  households. 

After  a not  very  effectual  mission  of  St.  Bernard,  who  died  in 
1153,  and  for  half  a century,  the  orthodox  Church  was  several  The  Albi- 
times  occupied  with  the  heretics  of  Southern  France,  who  were  gensians. 
before  long  called  Albigensians,  either  because  they  were  numerous 
in  the  diocese  of  Albi,  or  because  the  council  of  Lombers,  one  of 
the  first  at  which  their  condemnation  was  expressly  pronounced 
(in  1165),  was  held  in  that  diocese.  Innocent  III.  at  first  em- 
ployed against  them  only  spiritual  and  legitimate  weapons.  Before 
proscribing,  he  tried  to  convert  them;  but  the  murder  of  Peter  de 
Castelnau,  his  legate,  by  supposed  agents  of  Baymond  VI.,  Count 
of  Toulouse,  brought  matters  to  extremities.  The  crusade  against  a.D.  1208 
the  Albigensians  was  the  most  striking  application  of  two  principles,  ~^29^ 
equally  false  and  fatal,  which  did  more  than  as  much  evil  to  the  against 
Catholics  as  to  the  heretics  and  to  the  papacy  as  to  freedom ; and  them, 
they  are,  the  right  of  the  spiritual  power  to  claim  for  the  coercion 
of  souls  the  material  force  of  the  temporal  powers,  and  its  right  to 
strip  temporal  sovereigns,  incase  they  set  at  nought  its  injunctions, 
of  their  title  to  the  obedience  of  their  people;  in  other  words, 
denial  of  religious  liberty  to  conscience  and  of  political  indepen- 
dence to  States.  It  was  by  virtue  of  these  two  principles,  at  that 
time  dominant,  but  not  without  some  opposition,  in  Christendom, 
that  Innocent  III.,  in  1208,  summoned  the  king  of  France,  the 
great  lords  and  the  knights,  and  the  clergy,  secular  and  regular,  of 
the  kingdom  to  assume  the  cross  and  go  forth  to  extirpate  from 
Southern  France  the  Albigensians  “worse  than  the  Saracens 
and  that  he  promised  to  the  chiefs  of  the  crusaders  the  sovereignty 
of  such  domains  as  they  should  win  by  conquest  from  the  princes 
who  were  heretics  or  protectors  of  heretics. 

Through  all  France  and  even  outside  of  France  the  passions  of 
religion  and  ambition  were  aroused  at  this  summons.  Twelve 
abbots  and  twenty  monks  of  Citeaux  dispersed  themselves  in  all 
directions  preaching  the  crusade ; and  lords  and  knights,  burghers 
and  peasants,  laymen  and  clergy,  hastened  to  respond.  Peter  of 
Vaulx-Cernay,  the  chief  contemporary  chronicler  of  this  crusade, 
says  that,  at  the  siege  of  Carcassonne,  one  of  the  first  operations 
of  the  crusaders,  “it  was  said  that  their  army  numbered  fifty 
thousand  men.”  Whatever  may  be  the  truth  about  the  numbers, 
the  crusaders  were  passionately  ardent  and  persevering  : the  war 
against  the  Albigensians  lasted  twenty-one  years  (from  1208  to 
1229),  and  of  the  two  leading  spirits,  one  ordering  and  the  other 


io6 


History  of  France. 


The  war 
changes 
character. 
Simon  de 
Montfort. 


A.D.  1218. 
He  is  killed 
at  Tou- 
louse. 


executing,  Pope  Innocent  III.  and  Simon  de  Montfort,  neither  saw 
the  end  of  it.  During  these  twenty-one  years,  in  the  region  situated 
between  the  Rhone,  the  Pyrenees,  the  Garonne,  and  even  the 
Dordogne,  nearly  all  the  towns  and  strong  castles  were  taken,  lost, 
retaken,  given  over  to  pillage,  sack,  and  massacre,  and  burnt  by 
the  crusaders  with  all  the  cruelty  of  fanatics,  and  all  the  greed  of 
conquerors. 

In  the  midst  of  these  atrocious  unbridlements  of  passions  sup- 
posed to  be  religious,  other  passions  were  not  slow  to  make  their 
appearance.  Innocent  III.  had  promised  the  crusaders  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  domains  they  might  win  by  conquest  from  princes  who 
were  heretics  or  protectors  of  heretics.  After  the  capture,  in  1209, 
of  Beziers  and  Carcassonne,  the  sovereignty  of  these  possessions 
was  granted  by  the  Pope  to  Simon,  lord  of  Montfort,  earl  of 
Leicester ; from  this  time  forth  the  war  in  Southern  France 
changed  character,  or,  rather,  it  assumed  a double  character ; with 
the  war  of  religion  was  openly  joined  a war  of  conquest ; it  was 
no  longer  merely  against  the  Albigensians  and  their  heresies,  it  was 
against  the  native  princes  of  Southern  France  and  their  domains 
that  the  crusade  was  prosecuted.  Simon  de  Montfort  was  emi- 
nently qualified  to  direct,  and  accomplished  this  twofold  design ; 
when,  however,  it  became  evident  that  the  question  lay  far  less 
between  catholics  and  heretics  than  between  the  independence  of 
the  southern  people  and  the  triumph  of  warriors  come  from  the  north 
of  France,  that  is  to  say,  between  two  different  races,  civilizations, 
and  languages,  the  count  of  Toulouse,  Raymond  YI.  and  his  son 
recovered  certain  supports  and  opportunities  of  which  hitherto  the 
accusation  of  heresy  and  the  judgments  of  the  court  of  Rome  had 
robbed  them  ; their  neighbouring  allies  and  their  secret  or  intimi- 
dated partisans  took  fresh  courage  ; the  fortune  of  battle  became 
shiity  ; successes  and  reverses  were  shared  by  both  sides  ; and  not 
only  many  small  places  and  castles  but  the  largest  towns,  Toulouse 
amongst  others,  fell  into  the  hands  of  each  party  alternate^. 
Innocent  III.’s  successor  in  the  Holy  See,  Pope  Honorius  III., 
though  at  first  very  pronounced  in  his  opposition  to  the  Albi- 
gensians, had  less  ability,  less  perseverance,  and  less  influence  than 
his  predecessor.  Finally,  on  the  25th  of  June,  1218,  Simon  de 
Montfort,  who  had  been  for  nine  months  unsuccessfully  besieging 
Toulouse,  which  had  again  come  into  the  possession  of  Ray- 
mond YI.,  was  killed  by  a shower  of  stones  under  the  walls  of  the 
place,  and  left  to  his  son  Amaury  the  inheritance  of  his  war  and 
his  conquests,  but  not  of  his  vigorous  genius  and  his  warlike 
renown.  The  struggle  still  dragged  on  for  five  years  with  varied 


Philip  Augustus  as  a Politician.  107 

fortune  on  each  side,  hut  Amaury  de  Montfort  was  losing  ground 
every  day,  and  Raymond  VI.,  when  he  died  in  August,  1222,  had 
recovered  the  greater  part  of  his  dominions.  His  son,  Ray- 
mond VII.,  continued  the  war  for  eighteen  months  longer,  with 
enough  of  popular  favour  and  of  success  to  make  his  enemies  despair 
of  recovering  their  advantages  ; and,  on  the  14th  of  January,  1224, 

Amaury  de  Montfort,  after  having  concluded  with  the  counts  of 
Toulouse  and  Foix  a treaty  which  seemed  to  have  only  a provi- 
sional character,  ceded  to  Louis  VIII.,  then  king  of  France,  his 
rights  over  the  domains  which  the  crusaders  had  conquered. 

Whilst  this  cruel  war  lasted  Philip  Augustus  would  not  take  any 
part  in  it.  Not  that  he  had  any  leaning  towards  the  Albigensian 
heretics  on  the  score  of  creed  or  religious  liberty ; hut  his  sense  of 
justice  and  moderation  was  shocked  at  the  violence  employed 
against  them,  and  he  had  a repugnance  to  the  idea  of  taking  part 
in  the  devastation  of  the  beautiful  southern  provinces.  Never- 
theless, on  the  pope’s  repeated  entreaty,  he  authorized  his  son  to  Di?creti}n 
join  in  the  war  with  such  lords  as  might  he  willing  to  accompany  of  Philip 
him  ; hut  he  ordered  that  the  expedition  should  not  start  before  ^uSustus* 
the  spring,  and,  on  the  occurrence  of  some  fresh  incident,  he  had 
it  further  put  off  until  the  following  year.  He  received  visits  from 
Count  Raymond  VI.,  and  openly  testified  good  will  toward^  him. 

When  Simon  de  Montfort  was  decisively  victorious,  and  in  pos- 
session of  the  places  wrested  from  Raymond,  Philip  Augustus 
recognized  accomplished  facts,  and  received  the  new  count  of 
Toulouse  as  his  vassal ; but  when,  after  the  death  of  Simon  de 
Montfort  and  Innocent  III.  the  question  was  once  more  thrown 
open,  and  when  Raymond  VI.  first  and  then  his  son  Raymond  VII. 
had  recovered  the  greater  part  of  their  dominions,  Philip  formally 
refused  to  recognize  Amaury  de  Montfort  as  successor  to  his  father’s 
conquests  ; nay,  he  did  more,  he  refused  to  accept  the  cession  of 
those  conquests,  offered  to  him  by  Amaury  de  Montfort  and  pressed 
upon  him  by  Pope  Honorius  III.  Philip  Augustus  was  not  a scrupu- 
lous sovereign,  nor  disposed  to  compromise  himself  for  the  mere  sake 
of  defending  justice  and  humanity  ; but  he  was  too  judicious  not  to 
respect  and  protect,  to  a certain  extent,  the  rights  of  his  vassals  as 
well  as  his  own,  and,  at  the  same  time,  too  discreet  to  involve 
himself,  without  necessity,  in  a barbarous  and  dubious  war.  He 
held  aloof  from  the  crusade  against  the  Albigensians  with  as  much 
wisdom  and  more  than  as  much  dignity  as  he  displayed,  seven- 
teen years  before,  in  withdrawing  from  the  crusade  against  the  Expcdi^6 
Saracens.  tion  of 

He  had,  in  1210,  another  great  chance  of  showing  his  discretion.  ?rince 

0 0 Louis  mto 

England. 


A.D.  1196. 

Philip 

Augustus 

marries 

Agnes  of 

Merania. 


The  inter- 
dict. 


108  History  of  France. 

The  English  barons  were  at  war  with  their  king,  John  Lackland, 
in  defence  of  Magna  Charta,  which  they  had  obtained  the  year 
before ; and  they  offered  the  crown  of  England  to  the  king  of 
France,  for  his  son,  Prince  Louis.  Philip  Augustus,  who  in  his 
youth  had  dreamed  of  resuscitating  the  empire  of  Charlemagne, 
was  strongly  tempted  to  seize  the  opportunity  of  doing  over  again 
the  work  of  William  the  Conqueror;  but  he  hesitated  to  endanger 
his  power  and  his  kingdom  in  such  a war  against  King  John  and 
the  pope.  Foreseeing  the  dangers  of  events  to  come,  he  did  not 
give  his  public  consent,  and,  without  any  expression  of  wish  or 
counsel,  permitted  the  young  prince  to  go,  with  the  gift  of  his 
blessing.  It  was  the  ambitious  princess  Blanche  of  Castile,  wife 
of  Prince  Louis,  and  destined  to  be  the  mother  of  St.  Louis,  who, 
after  her  husband’s  departure  for  England,  made  it  her  business  to 
raise  troops  for  him  and  to  send  him  means  of  sustaining  the  war. 
Events  justified  the  discreet  reserve  of  Philip  Augustus ; for  John 
Lackland,  after  having  suffered  one  reverse  previously,  died  on  the 
18th  of  October,  1216  ; his  death  broke  up  the  party  of  the  insur- 
gent barons ; and  his  son,  Henry  III.,  who  was  crowned  on  the 
28th  of  October  in  Gloucester  cathedral,  immediately  confirmed 
the  Great  Charter.  Thus  the  national  grievance  vanished,  and 
national  feeling  resumed  its  sway  in  England ; the  French  every 
where  became  unpopular ; and  after  a few  months’  struggle,  with 
equal  want  of  skill  and  success,  Prince  Louis  gave  up  his  enter- 
prise and  returned  to  France  with  his  French  comrades,  on  no 
other  conditions  but  a mutual  exchange  of  prisoners  and  an 
amnesty  for  the  English  who  had  been  his  adherents. 

At  this  juncture,  as  well  as  in  the  crusade  against  the  Albigen- 
sians,  Philip  Augustus  behaved  towards  the  pope  with  a wisdom 
and  ability  hard  of  attainment  at  any  time,  and  very  rare  in  his 
own : he  constantly  humoured  the  papacy  without  being  subser- 
vient to  it,  and  he  testified  towards  it  his  respect  and  at  the  same 
time  his  independence.  In  his  political  life  he  always  preserved 
this  proper  mean,  and  he  found  it  succeed ; but  in  his  domestic 
life  there  came  a day  when  he  suffered  himself  to  be  hurried  out 
of  his  usual  deference  towards  the  pope ; and,  after  a violent  at- 
tempt at  resistance,  he  resigned  himself  to  submission.  The  cir- 
cumstance we  are  alluding  to  is  his  repudiation  of  Ingeburga  of 
Denmark,  and  his  marriage  with  the  Tyrolese  princess  Agnes  of 
Merania,  daughter  of  Bethold,  Marquis  of  Istria,  whom,  about 
1180,  the  Emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa  had  made  Duke  of 
Moravia.  The  pope  threatened  Philip  with  the  interdict ; that  is, 
the  suspension  of  all  religious  ceremonies,  festivals,  and  forms  in 


A dministration . 


109 


the  Church  of  France.  The  king' resisted  not  only  the  threat,  hub 
also  the  sentence  of  the  interdict,  which  was  actually  pronounced, 
first  in  the  churches  of  the  royal  domain,  and  afterwards  in  those 
of  the  whole  kingdom.  For  four  years  the  struggle  went  on.  At 
last  Philip  yielded  to  the  injunction  of  the  pope  and  the  feeling  of 
his  people ; he  sent  away  Agnes,  and  recalled  Ingeburga. 

Philip  Augustus  was  as  energetic  and  effective  in  the  internal  Admin  i- 
administration  of  his  kingdom  as  in  foreign  affairs  ; thus,  during  his  ^rea^°g.cf 
reign,  we  find  a record  of  forty-one  acts  confirming  certain  com-  dom, 
munes  already  established  or  certain  privileges  previously  granted 
to  certain  populations,  forty-three  acts  establishing  new  communes, 
or  granting  new  local  privileges,  and  nine  acts  decreeing  suppres- 
sion of  certain  communes  or  a repressive  intervention  of  the  royal 
authority  in  their  internal  regulation,  on  account  of  quarrels  or 
irregularities  in  their  relations  either  with  their  lord,  or,  especially, 
with  their  bishop.  These  mere  figures  show  the  liberal  character 
of  the  government  of  Philip  Augustus  in  respect  of  this  important 
work  of  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and  thirteenth  centuries.  Nor  are 
we  less  struck  by  his  efficient  energy  in  his  care  for  the  interests 
and  material  civilization  of  his  people ; “ he  ordered  that  all  the 
thoroughfares  and  streets  of  Paris  should  be  paved  with  hard  and 
solid  stone,  for  this  right  Christian  prince  aspired  to  rid  Paris  of 
her  ancient  name,  Lutetia  ( Mud-town ).”  In  1190,  on  the  eve  of 
his  departure  for  the  crusade,  “ he  ordered  the  burghers  of  Paris 
to  surround  with  a good  wall  flanked  by  towers  the  city  he  loved 
so  well,  and  to  make  gates  thereto  ; ” and,  in  twenty  years,  this 
great  work  was  finished  on  both  sides  of  the  Seine.  “ The  king 
gave  the  same  orders,”  adds  the  historian  Pigord,  “ about  the  towns 
and  castles  of  all  his  kingdom.”  His  foresight  went  beyond  such 
important  achievements.  “ He  had  a good  wall  built  to  enclose  the 
wood  of  Vincennes,  heretofore  open  to  any  sort  of  folk.  The 
King  of  England,  on  hearing  thereof,  gathered  a great  mass  of 
fawns,  hinds,  does,  and  bucks,  taken  in  his  forests  in  Normandy 
and  Aquitaine ; and  having  had  them  shipped  aboard  a large 
covered  vessel,  with  suitable  fodder,  he  sent  them  by  way  of  the 
Seine  to  King  Philip  Augustus,  his  liege-lord  at  Paris.  King 
Philip  received  the  gift  gladly,  had  his  parks  stocked  with  the 
animals  and  put  keepers  over  them.”  A feeling,  totally  uncon- 
nected with  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  caused  him  to  order  an 
enclosure  very  different  from  that  of  Vincennes.  “ The  common 
cemetery  of  Paris,  hard  by  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Innocents, 
opposite  the  street  of  St.  Denis,  had  remained  up  to  that  time  open 
to  all  passers,  man  and  beast,  without  any  thing  to  prevent  it  from 


IIO 


History  of  France . 


being  confounded  with  the  most  profane  spot ; and  the  king,  hurt 
at  such  indecency,  had  it  enclosed  by  high  stone- walls,  with  as 
many  gates  as  were  judged  necessary,  which  were  closed  every 
night.”  At  the  same  time  he  had  built,  in  this  same  quarter,  the 
first  great  municipal  market-places,  enclosed,  likewise,  by  a wall, 
with  gates  shut  at  night,  and  surmounted  by  a sort  of  covered 
gallery.  Before  his  time,  the  ovens  employed  by  the  baking-trade 
in  Paris  were  a monopoly  for  the  profit  of  certain  religious  or  laic 
establishments ; but  when  Philip  Augustus  ordered  the  walling-in 
of  the  new  and  much  larger  area  of  the  city  “ he  did  not  think  it 
right  to  render  its  new  inhabitants  subject  to  these  old  liabilities, 
• and  he  permitted  all  the  bakers  to  have  ovens  wherein  to  bake 

their  bread,  either  for  themselves,  or  for  all  individuals  who  might 
wish  to  make  use  of  them.”  His  reign  saw  the  completion,  and, 
it  might  also  be  said,  the  construction  of  Notre- 1) time  de  Paris , 
the  frontage  of  which,  in  particular,  was  the  work  of  this  epoch. 
At  the  same  time  the  king  had  the  palace  of  the  Louvre  repaired 
and  enlarged ; and  he  added  to  it  that  strong  tower  in  which  he 
kept  in  captivity  for  more  than  twelve  years,  Ferrand,  count  of 
Flanders,  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Bouvines.  We  must  also 
add  to  these  proofs  of  manifold  and  indefatigable  activity  on  the 
part  of  Philip  Augustus  the  constant  interest  he  testified  in  letters, 
science,  study,  the  University  of  Paris,  and  its  masters  and  pupils. 
It  was  to  him  that  in  1200,  after  a violent  riot,  in  which  they  con- 
sidered they  had  reason  to  complain  of  the  provost  of  Paris,  the 
students  owed  a decree,  which,  by  regarding  them  as  clerics,  ex- 
empted them  from  the  ordinary  criminal  jurisdiction  so  as  to 
render  them  subject  only  to  ecclesiastical  authority.  At  that  time 
there  was  no  idea  how  to  efficiently  protect  freedom  save  by  grant- 
ing some  privilege. 

Death  of  A death  which  seems  premature  for  a man  as  sound  and  strong 
the  king.  in  constitution  as  in  judgment  struck  down  Philip  Augustus  at  the 
age  of  only  fifty-eight,  as  he  was  on  his  way  from  Pacy-sur-Eure 
to  Paris  to  be  present  at  the  council  which  was  to  meet  there  and 
once  more  take  up  the  affair  of  the  Albigensians.  He  had  for 
several  months  been  battling  with  an  incessant  fever;  he  was 
obliged  to  halt  at  Mantes,  and  there  he  died  on  the  14th  of  January, 
1222,  leaving  the  kingdom  of  France  far  more  extensive  and  more 
compact,  and  the  kingship  in  France  far  stronger  and  more  re- 
A.D.  1223.  spected  than  he  had  found  them.  His  son,  Louis  VIII.,  inherited 
Lous  VIII.  a great  kingdom,  an  undisputed  crown,  and  a power  that  was  re- 
His  cha-  spected.  It  was  matter  of  general  remark,  moreover,  that,  by  his 
racter.  mother,  Isabel  of  Hainault,  he  was  descended  in  the  direct  line 


Louis  IX.  and  Blanche  of  Castile. 


I II 


from  Hermengarde,  countess  of  Namur,  daughter  of  Charles  of 
Lorraine,  the  last  of  the  Carlovingians.  Thus  the  claims  of  the 
two  dynasties  of  Charlemagne  and  of  Hugh  Capet  were  united  in 
his  person ; and,  although  the  authority  of  the  Capetians  was  no 
longer  disputed,  contemporaries  were  glad  to  see  in  Louis  VIII.  this 
twofold  heirship,  which  gave  him  the  perfect  stamp  of  a legitimate 
monarch.  He  was  a man  of  downright  mediocrity,  without  fore- 
sight, volatile  in  his  resolves,  and  weak  and  fickle  in  the  execution 
of  them.  He,  as  well  as  Philip  Augustus,  had  to  make  war  on  the 
king  of  England  and  negotiate  with  the  pope  on  the  subject  of  the 
Albigensians ; hut  at  one  time  he  followed,  without  well  under- 
standing it,  his  father’s  policy,  at  another  he  neglected  it  for  some 
whim  or  under  some  temporary  influence.  He  died  on  the  8th  of  a.D.  1226. 
November,  1226,  after  a reign  of  three  years,  adding  to  the  history  houis  IX. 
of  France  no  glory  save  that  of  having  been  the  son  of  Philip  the  throne. 
Augustus,  the  husband  of  Blanche  of  Castile,  and  the  father  of 
St.  Louis. 

We  have  already  perused  the  most  brilliant  and  celebrated 
amongst  the  events  of  St.  Louis’  reign,  his  two  crusades  against  the 
Mussulmans;  and  we  have  learned  to  know  the  man  at  the  same 
time  with  the  event,  for  it  was  in  these  warlike  outbursts  of  his 
Christian  faith  that  the  king’s  character,  nay,  his  whole  soul,  was 
displayed  in  all  its  originality  and  splendour.  It  was  his  good 
fortune,  moreover,  to  have  at  that  time  as  his  comrade  and  bio- 
grapher, Sire  de  Joinville,  one  of  the  most  sprightly  and  charming 
writers  of  the  nascent  French  language.  It  is  now  of  Louis  in 
France  and  of  his  government  at  home  that  we  have  to  take  note. 

And  in  this  part  of  his  history  he  is  not  the  only  royal  and  really 
regnant  personage  we  encounter;  for  of  the  forty-four  years  of 
St.  Louis’  reign,  nearly  fifteen,  with  a long  interval  of  separation,  a.D.  1226 
pertained  to  the  government  of  Queen  Blanche  of  Castile  rather  “^6 . 
than  that  of  the  king  her  son.  Louis,  at  his  accession,  in  1226,  ment  of 

■was  only  eleven  ; and  he  remained  a minor  up  to  the  age  of  twenty-  Blanche  of 
• • • • Castil© 

one,  in  1236,  for  the  time  of  majority  in  the  case  of  royalty  was 

not  yet  specially  and  rigorously  fixed.  During  those  ten  years 
Queen  Blanche  governed  France ; not  at  all,  as  is  commonly  as- 
serted, with  the  official  title  of  regent,  but  simply  as  guardian  of  the 
king  her  son.  With  a good  sense  really  admirable  in  a person  so 
proud  and  ambitious,  she  saw  that  official  power  was  ill  suited  to  her 
woman’s  condition  and  would  weaken  rather  than  strengthen  her ; 
and  she  screened  herself  from  view  behind  her  son.  He  it  was  who, 
in  1226,  wrote  to  the  great  vassals  bidding  them  to  his  consecra- 
tion ; he  it  was  who  reigned  and  commanded ; and  his  name  alone 


History  of  France . 


Her  qua 
lities. 


Her  politi 
cal  fore- 
sight. 


A.D. 1234. 
Marriago 
of  the 
k;ng. 


1X2 

appeared  on  royal  decrees  and  on  treaties.  It  was  not  nntil  twenty- 
two  years  had  passed,  in  1248,  that  Louis,  on  starting  for  the 
crusade,  officially  delegated  to  his  mother  the  kingly  authority, 
and  that  Blanche,  during  her  son’s  absence,  really  governed  with 
the  title  of  regent,  up  to  the  1st  of  December,  1252,  the  day  of 
his  death. 

During  the  first  period  of  his  government,  and  so  long  as  her 
son’s  minority  lasted,  Queen  Blanche  had  to  grapple  with  intrigues, 
plots,  insurrections,  and  open  war,  and,  what  was  still  worse  for 
her,  with  the  insults  and  calumnies  of  the  crown’s  great  vassals, 
burning  to  seize  once  more,  under  a woman’s  government,  the 
independence  and  power  which  had  been  effectually  disputed  with 
them  by  Philip  Augustus.  Blanche  resisted  their  attempts,  at  one 
time  with  open  and  persevering  energy,  at  another  dexterously 
with  all  the  tact,  address  and  allurements  of  a woman.  Neither 
in  the  events  nor  in  the  writings  of  the  period  is  it  easy  to  find  any 
thing  which  can  authorize  the  accusations  made  by  the  foes  of 
Queen  Blanche,  to  the  effect  that  she  encouraged  the  passion  of 
Theobald  IV.,  count  of  Champagne ; but  it  is  certain  that  neither 
the  poetry  nor  the  advances  of  the  nobleman  made  any  difference 
in  the  resolutions  and  behaviour  of  the  queen.  She  continued 
her  resistance  to  the  pretensions  and  machinations  of  the  great 
vassals,  whether  foes  or  lovers,  and  she  carried  forward,  in  the  face 
and  in  the  teeth  of  all,  the  extension  of  the  domains  and  the  power 
of  the  kingship.  She  saw  by  profound  instinct  what  forces  and 
alliances  might  be  made  serviceable  to  the  kingly  power  against 
its  rivals.  When,  on  the  29th  of  November,  1226,  only  three 
weeks  after  the  death  of  her  husband  Louis  VIII.,  she  had  her  son 
crowned  at  Rheims,  she  bade  to  the  ceremony  not  only  the  prelates 
and  grandees  of  the  kingdom,  but  also  the  inhabitants  of  the 
neighbouring  communes ; wishing  to  let  the  great  lords  see  the 
people  surrounding  the  royal  child.  In  1228,  amidst  the  insur- 
rection of  the  barons,  who  were  assembled  at  Corbeil,  and  who 
meditated  seizing  the  person  of  the  young  king  during  his  halt  at 
Montlhery  on  his  march  to  Paris,  Queen  Blanche  had  summoned 
to  her  side,  together  with  the  faithful  chivalry  of  the  country,  the 
burghers  of  Paris  and  of  the  neighbourhood  ; and  they  obeyed  the 
appeal  with  alacrity.  Eight  years  later,  in  1236,  Louis  IX. 
attained  his’ majority,  and  Blanche  transferred  to  him  a power 
respected,  feared  and  encompassed  by  vassals  always  turbulent  and 
still  often  aggressive,  but  disunited,  weakened,  intimidated,  or 
discredited,  and  always  outwitted,  for  a space  of  ten  years,  in 
their  plots.  In  1234,  amidst  great  rejoicings,  he  married  by  his 


Relations  of  Saint  Louis  zvith  the  Nobles.  1 13 

mother’s  advice  the  princess  Marguerite,  elder  daughter  of  Raymond 
Beranger,  count  of  Provence. 

The  entrance  of  Louis  IX.  upon  personal  exercise  of  the  kingly  Main^ams 

power  produced  no  change  in  the  conduct  of  public  affairs. 

There  was  no  vain  seeking  after  innovation  on  purpose  to  mark  crown 

the  accession  of  a new  master,  and  no  reaction  in  the  deeds  and  against 

’ the  great 

words  'of  the  sovereign  or  in  the  choice  and  treatment  of  his  vassals, 

advisers  ; the  kingship  of  the  son  was  a continuance  of  the  mother’s 

government.  Louis  persisted  in  struggling  for  the  preponderance 

of  the  crown  against  the  great  vassals  ; succeeded  in  taming  Peter 

Mauclerc,  the  turbulent  count  of  Brittany ; wrung  from  Theobald 

IV.,  count  of  Champagne,  the  rights  of  suzerainty  in  the 

countships  of  Chartres,  Blois,  and  Sancerre,  and  the  viscountship 

of  Chateaudun ; and  purchased  the  fertile  countship  of  Macon 

from  its  possessor.  It  was  almost  always  by  pacific  procedure,  by 

negotiations  ably  conducted,  and  conventions  faithfully  executed, 

that  he  accomplished  these  increments  of  the  kingly  domain ; and 

when  he  made  war  on  any  of  the  great  vassals,  he  engaged  therein  Rebellion 

only  on  their  provocation,  to  maintain  the  rights  or  honour  of  his  of  the 

crown,  and  he  used  victory  with  as  much  moderation  as  he  had  Ra  Marche 

shown  before  entering  upon  the  struggle.  Thus  Hugh  de  Lusignan, 

count  of  la  Marche,  had  not  only  declined  doing  homage  to  the 

king’s  brother,  Alphonso,  count  of  Poitiers,  whose  vassal  he  was, 

but  had  also  excited  to  rebellion  certain  powerful  lords,  of  la  Marche, 

Saintonge,  and  Angoumois,  and  had  called  to  his  assistance  Henry 

III.,  king  of  England,  son  of  the  countess  of  la  Marche.  Louis 

summoned  the  crown’s  vassals  to  a parliament ; and  “ What  think  A Par- 

you,”  he  asked  them,  “ should  be  done  to  a vassal  who  would  fain  liament 
17  . . summoned, 

hold  land  without  owning  a lord,  and  who  goeth  against  the  fealty 

and  homage  due  from  him  and  his  predecessors  1 ” The  answer  was 

that  the  lord  ought  in  that  case  to  take  back  the  fief  as  his  own 

property.  “ As  my  name  is  Louis,”  said  the  king,  “ the  count  of 

la  Marche  doth  claim  to  hold  land  in  such  wise,  land  which  hath 

been  a fief  of  Prance  since  the  days  of  the  valiant  King  Clovis,  who 

won  all  Aquitaine  from  King  Alaric,  a pagan  without  faith  or 

creed,  and  all  the  country  to  the  Pyrenean  mount.”  And  the 

barons  promised  the  king  their  energetic  co-operation. 

The  war  was  pushed  on  zealously  by  both  sides.  In  this  young 
king  of  Prance,  this  docile  son  of  an  able  mother,  none  knew  what 
a hero  there  was,  until  he  revealed  himself  on  a sudden.  Hear  two  A. I).  1242. 
towns  of  Saintonge,  Taillebourg  and  Saintes,  at  a bridge  which  Battle  of 
covered  the  approaches  of  one  and  in  front  of  the  walls  of  the  bourg" 
other,  Louis,  on  the  21st  and  22nd  of  July,  delivered  two  battles 

1 


History  of  France. 


114 

in  which  the  brilliancy  of  his  personal  valour  and  the  affectionate 
enthusiasm  he  excited  in  his  troops  secured  victory  and  the  sur- 
render of  the  two  places.  The  successes  he  had  gained  in  his 
campaign  of  1242  were  not  for  him  the  first  step  in  an  endless 
career  of  glory  and  conquest ; he  was  anxious  only  to  consolidate 
them,  whilst  securing,  in  Western  Europe,  for  the  dominions  of  his 
* adversaries  as  well  as  for  his  own  the  benefits  of  peace.  He 
entered  into  negotiations,  successively,  with  the  count  of  la  Marche, 
the  king  of  England,  the  count  of  Toulouse,  the  king  of  Aragon, 
and  the  various  princes  and  great  feudal  lords  who  had  been  more 
Treaty^*  °r  ^ess  enSage(l  in  the  war;  and  in  January,  1243,  the  treaty  of 
Lorris.  Lorris  marked  the  end  of  feudal  troubles  for  the  whole  duration  of 
St.  Louis’  reign.  He  drew  his  sword  no  more,  save  only  against 
the  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith  and  Christian  civilization,  the 
Mussulmans. 

Nevertheless  there  was  no  lack  of  opportunities  for  interfering 
with  a powerful  arm  amongst  the  sovereigns  his  neighbours,  and 
for  working  their  disagreements  to  the  profit  of  his  ambition,  had 
ambition  guided  his  conduct ; but  into  his  relations  with  foreign 
sovereigns,  his  neighbours,  he  imported  the  most  loyal  spirit. 
Relations  “ Certain  of  his  council  used  to  tell  him,”  reports  Joinville,  “ that 
^°uisIX-  he  did  not  well  in  not  leaving  these  foreigners  to  their  warfare ; 
foreign  for,  if  he  gave  them  his  good  leave  to  impoverish  one  another,  they 
sovereigns,  would  not  attack  him  so  readily  as  if  they  were  rich.  To  that  the 
king  replied  'that  they  said  not  well ; for,  quoth  he,  if  the  neigh- 
bouring princes  perceived  that  I left  them  to  their  warfare,  they 
might  take  counsel  amongst  themselves,  and  say,  ‘It  is  through 
malice  that  the  king  leaves  us  to  our  warfare then  it  might 
happen  that  by  cause  of  the  hatred  they  would  have  against  me, 
they  would  come  and  attack  me,  and  I might  be  a great  loser 
thereby.  Without  reckoning  that  I should  thereby  earn  the 
hatred  of  God,  who  says,  ‘Blessed  be  the  peacemakers !”’ 

So  well  established  was  his  renown  as  a sincere  friend  of  peace 
and  a just  arbiter  in  great  disputes  between  princes  and  peoples, 
that  his  intervention  and  his  decisions  were  invited  wherever 
obscure  and  dangerous  questions  arose.  Louis  gave  not  only  to 
the  king  of  England,  but  to  the  whole  English  nation,  a striking 
A D.  1264.  proof  of  his  judicious  and  true-hearted  equity.  An  obstinate  civil 
Is  chosen  war  was  raging  between  Henry  III.  and  his  barons.  Neither 
between  party,  in  defending  its  own  rights,  had  any  notion  of  respecting 
Henry  III.  the  rights  of  its  adversaries,  and  England  was  alternating  between 
and^is™*  a kingly  and  an  aristocratic  tyranny.  Louis,  chosen  as  arbiter  by 
barons.  both  sides,  delivered  solemnly,  on  the  23rd  of  January,  1264,  a 


A rbitrates  between  Henry  III.  and  the  English  Barons.  1 1 5 

decision  which  was  favourable  to  the  English  kingship,  but  at  the 
same  time  expressly  upheld  the  Great  Charter  and  the  traditional 
liberties  of  England.  He  concluded  his  decision  with  the  following 
suggestions  of  amnesty  : “We  will  also  that  the  king  of  England 
and  his  barons  do  forgive  one  another  mutually,  that  they  do  forget 
all  the  resentments  that  may  exist  between  them  by  consequence 
of  the  matters  submitted  to  our  arbitration,  and  that  henceforth 
they  do  refrain  reciprocally  from  any  offence  and  injury  on  account 
of  the  same  matters.”  But  when  men  have  had  their  ideas,  passions, 
and  interests  profoundly  agitated  and  made  to  clash,  the  wisest 
decisions  and  the  most  honest  counsels  in  the  world  are  not 
sufficient  to  re-establish  peace ; the  cup  of  experience  has  to  be  Fairness  of 
drunk  to  the  dregs ; and  the  parties  are  not  resigned  to  peace  until  H3  deci- 
one  or  the  other,  or  both  have  exhausted  themselves  in  the  struggle,  S10n‘ 
and  perceive  the  absolute  necessity  of  accepting  either  defeat  or 
compromise.  In  spite  of  the  arbitration  of  the  king  of  France,  the 
civil  war  continued  in  England ; but  Louis  did  not  seek  in  any 
way  to  profit  by  it  so  as  to  extend,  at  the  expense  of  his  neighbours, 
his  own  possessions  or  power ; he  held  himself  aloof  from  their 
quarrels,  and  followed  up  by  honest  neutrality  his  ineffectual 
arbitration.  Five  centuries  afterwards  the  great  English  historian, 

Hume,  rendered  him  due  homage  in  these  terms : “ Every  time 
this  virtuous  prince  interfered  in  the  affairs  of  England,  it  was 
invariably  with  the  view  of  settling  differences  between  the  king 
and  the  nobility.  Adopting  an  admirable  course  of  conduct,  as 
politic  probably  as  it  certainly  was  just,  he  never  interposed  his 
good  offices  save  to  put  an  end  to  the  disagreements  of  the  English; 
he  seconded  all  the  measures  which  could  give  security  to  both 
parties,  and  he  made  persistent  efforts,  though  without  success,  to 
moderate  the  fiery  ambition  of  the  earl  of  Leicester.”  (Hume, 

History  of  England,  t.  ii.  p.  465.) 

To  watch  over  the  position  and  interests  of  all  parties  in  his  His  ad- 
dominions  and  to  secure  to  all  his  subjects  strict  and  prompt  justice, 
this  was  what  continually  occupied  the  mind  of  Louis  IX.  On  justice, 
this  subject  we  may  transcribe  Joinville’s  often-quoted  account  of 
St.  Louis’s  familiar  intervention  in  his  subjects’  disputes  about 
matters  of  private  interest.  “Many  a,  time,”  says  he,  “it  hap- 
pened in  summer  that  the  king  went  and  sat  down  in  the  wood 
of  Vincennes  after  Mass,  and  leaned  against  an  oak  and  made  us  sit 
down  round  about  him.  And  all  those  who  had  business  came  to 
speak  to  him  without  restraint  of  usher  or  other  folk.  And  then  he 
demanded  of  them  with  his  own  mouth,  ‘ Is  there  here  any  who 
hath  a suit  1 ’ and  they  who  had  their  suit  rose  up ; and  then  he 

1 2 


Ii  6 


History  of  France . 


His  laws 
and  ordi- 
nances. 


“ Etablis- 
sements  de 
Saint 
Louis.” 


“Prag- 
matic 
Sanction.” 
“The  Gal- 
lic an 
Church.” 


said,  ‘ Keep  silence  all  of  ye ; and  ye  shall  have  despatch  one  after 
the  other.’  And  then  he  called  my  lord  Peter  de  Fontaines  and 
my  lord  Geoffrey  de  Villette  (two  learned  lawyers  of  the  day  and 
counsellors  of  St.  Louis),  and  said  to  one  of  them,  £ Despatch  me 
this  suit.’  And  when  he  saw  ought  to  amend  in  the  words  of 
those  who  were  speaking  for  another,  he  himself  amended  it  with 
his  own  mouth.  I sometimes  saw  in  summer  that,  to  despatch  his 
people’s  business,  he  went  into  the  Paris  garden,  clad  in  camlet 
coat  and  linsey  surcoat  without  sleeves,  a mantle  of  black  taffety 
round  his  neck,  hair  right  well  combed  and  without  coif,  and  on 
his  head  a hat  with  white  peacock’s  plumes.  And  he  had  carpets 
laid  for  us  to  sit  round  about  him.  And  all  the  people  who  had 
business  before  him  set  themselves  standing  around  him  ; and  then 
he  had  their  business  despatched  in  the  manner  I told  you  of 
before  as  to  the  wood  of  Vincennes.”  (Joinville,  chap,  xii.) 

The  active  benevolence  of  St.  Louis  was  not  confined  to  this 
paternal  care  for  the  private  interests  of  such  subjects  as  approached 
his  person ; he  was  equally  attentive  and  zealous  in  the  case  of 
measures  called  for  by  the  social  condition  of  the  times  and  the 
general  interests  of  the  kingdom.  Amongst  the  twenty-six 
government  ordinances,  edicts,  or  letters,  contained  under  the  date 
of  his  reign  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Recueil  des  Ordonnances  des 
Rois  de  France , seven,  at  the  least,  are  great  acts  of  legislation  and 
administration  of  a public  kind ; and  these  acts  are  all  of  such  a 
stamp  as  to  show  that  their  main  object  is  not  to  extend  the  power 
of  the  crown  or  subserve  the  special  interests  of  the  kingship  at 
strife  with  other  social  forces ; they  are  real  reforms,  of  public  and 
moral  interest,  directed  against  the  violence,  disturbances,  and 
abuses  of  the  feudal  system.  As  for  the  large  collection  of  legis- 
tive  enactments  known  by  the  name  of  Etablissements  de  Saint 
Louis,  it  is  probably  a lawyer’s  work,  posterior,  in  great  part  at 
least,  to  his  reign,  full  of  incoherent  and  even  contradictory  enact- 
ments, and  without  any  claim  to  be  considered  as  a general  code  of 
law  of  St.  Louis’  date  and  collected  by  his  order,  although  the 
paragraph  which  serves  as  preface  to  the  work  is  given  under  his 
name  and  as  if  it  had  been  dictated  by  him. 

Another  act,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction , has 
likewise  got  placed,  with  the  date  of  March,  1268,  in  the  Recueil 
des  Ordonnances  des  Rois  de  France,  as  having  originated  with  St. 
Louis.  Its  object  is,  first  of  all,  to  secure  the  rights,  liberties,  and 
canonical  rules,  internally,  of  the  Church  of  France ; and,  next,  to 
interdict  “ the  exactions  and  very  heavy  money-charges  which  have 
been  imposed  or  may  hereafter  be  imposed  on  the  said  Church  by 


Police  Regulations. 


ii  7 


the  court  of  Rome,  and  by  the  which  our  kingdom  hath  been 
miserably  impoverished ; unless  they  take  place  for  reasonable, 
pious,  and  very  urgent  cause,  through  inevitable  necessity,  and  with 
our  spontaneous  and  express  consent,  and  that  of  the  Church  of  our 
kingdom.”  The  authenticity  of  this  act,  vigorously  maintained  in 
the  seventeenth  century  by  Bossuet  (in  his  Defense  de  la  Decla- 
ration da  Clerge  de  France  de  1682,  chap.  ix.  t.  xliii.  p.  26),  and 
in  our  time  by  M.  Daunou  (in  the  Histoire  litteraire  de  la  France , 
continuee  par  des  Membres  de  Vlnstitut,  t.  xvi.  p.  75,  and  t.  xix. 
p.  169),  has  been  and  still  is  rendered  doubtful  for  strong  reasons, 
which  M.  Felix  Faure,  in  his  Histoire  de  Saint  Louis  (t.  ii.  p.  271), 
has  summed  up  with  great  clearness.  There  is  no  design  of 
entering  here  upon  an  examination  of  this  little  historical  problem  ; 
but  it  is  a ’bounden  duty  to  point  out  that,  if  the  authenticity  of 
the  Pragmatic  Sanction , as  St.  Louis’,  is  questionable,  the  act  has, 
at  bottom,  nothing  but  what  bears  a very  strong  resemblance  to 
and  is  quite  in  conformity  with  the  general  conduct  of  that  prince. 

He  was  profoundly  respectful,  affectionate,  and  faithful  towards  the 
papacy,  but,  at  the  same  time,  very  careful  in  upholding  both  the 
independence  of  the  crown  in  things  temporal  and  its  right  of 
superintendence  in  things  spiritual. 

One  special  fact  in  the  civil  and  municipal  administration  of  Police  in 
St.  Louis  deserves  to  find  a place  in  history.  After  the  time  of  staep^en 
Philip  Augustus  there  was  malfeasance  in  the  police  of  Paris.  The  Boileau. 
provostship  of  Paris,  which  comprehended  functions  analogous  to 
those  of  prefect,  mayor,  and  receiver- general,  became  a purchaseable 
office,  filled  sometimes  by  two  provosts  at  a time.  The  burghers 
no  longer  found  justice  or  security  in  the  city  where  the  king  re- 
sided. At  his  return  from  his  first  crusade,  Louis  recognized 
the  necessity  for  applying  a remedy  to  this  evil ; the  provostship 
ceased  to  be  a purchaseable  office ; and  he  made  it  separate  from  the 
receivership  of  the  royal  domain.  In  1258,  he  chose  as  provost 
Stephen  Boileau,  a burgher  of  note  and  esteem  in  Paris;  and  in 
order  to  give  this  magistrate  the  authority  of  which  he  had  need, 
the  king  sometimes  came  and  sat  beside  him,  when  he  was  admi- 
nistering justice  at  the  Chatelet.  Stephen  Boileau  justified  tho 
king’s  confidence,  and  maintained  so  strict  a police  that  he  had  his 
own  godson  hanged  for  theft.  His  administrative  foresight  was 
equal  to  his  judicial  severity.  He  established  registers  wherein 
were  to  be  inscribed  the  rules  habitually  followed  in  respect  of  the 
organization  and  work  of  the  different  corporations  of  artisans,  the 
tariffs  of  the  dues  charged,  in  the  name  of  the  king,  upon  the  ad- 
mittance of  provisions  and  merchandise,  and  the  titles  on  which  tho 


Charity 
and  piety 
of  the 
hing„ 


1 1 8 History  of  France . 

abbots  and  other  lords  founded  the  privileges  they  enjoyed  within 
the  walls  of  Paris.  The  corporations  of  artisans,  represented  by 
their  sworn  masters  or  prud’hommes,  appeared  one  after  the  other 
before  the  provost  to  make  declaration  of  the  usages  in  practice 
amongst  their  communities,  and  to  have  them  registered  in  the  book 
prepared  for  that  purpose.  This  collection  of  regulations  relating 
to  the  arts  and  trades  of  Paris  in  the  thirteenth  century,  known  under 
the  name  of  Livre  des  Metiers  d’ Etienne  Boileau,  is  the  earliest  monu- 
ment of  industrial  statistics  drawn  up  by  the  French  administration. 

All  the  chroniclers  of  the  age,  all  the  historians  of  his  reign 
have  celebrated  the  domestic  virtues  of  Saint  Louis,  his  charity  as 
much  as  his  piety  ; and  the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century 
almost  forgave  him  his  taste  for  relics  in  consideration  of  his 
beneficence.  And  it  was  not  merely  legislative  and  administrative 
beneficence ; St.  Louis  did  not  confine  himself  to  founding  and 
endowing  hospitals,  hospices,  asylums,  the  Hotel-Dieu  at  Pontoise, 
that  at  Yernon,  that  at  Compiegne,  and,  at  Paris,  the  house  of 
Quinze-Vingts,  for  300  blind  ; but  he  did  not  spare  his  person 
in  his  beneficence,  and  regarded  no  deed  of  charity  as  beneath 
a king’s  dignity.  “Every  day,  wherever  the  king  went,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-two  of  the  poor  received  each  two  loaves,  a 
quart  of  wine,  meat  or  fish  for  a good  dinner,  and  a Paris  denier. 
The  mothers  of  families  had  a loaf  more  for  each  child.  Besides 
these  hundred  and  twenty-two  poor  having  out-door  relief,  thirteen 
others  were  every  day  introduced  into  the  h6tel  and  there  lived  as 
the  king’s  officers ; and  three  of  them  sat  at  table  at  the  same  time 
with  the  king,  in  the  same  hall  as  he,  and  quite  close.”  . ...  44  Many 
a time,”  says  Joinville,  44  I saw  him  cut  their  bread  and  give  them 
to  drink.  He  asked  me  one  day  if  I washed  the  feet  of  the  poor  on 
Holy  Thursday  : 4 Sir,’  said  I,  4 what  a benefit  ! The  feet  of  those 
knaves  ! Not  I.’  4 Verily,’  said  he,  4 that  is  ill  said,  for  you  ought 
not  to  hold  in  disdain  what  God  did  for  our  instruction.  I pray 
you,  therefore,  for  love  of  me,  accustom  yourself  to  wash  them.’  ” 

He  who  thus  felt  and  acted  was  no  monk,  no  prince  enwrapt  in 
mere  devoutness  and  altogether  given  up  to  works  and  practices 
of  piety ; he  was  a knight,  a warrior,  a politician,  a true  king,  who 
attended  to  the  duties  of  authority  as  well  as  to  those  of  charity, 
and  who  won  respect  from  his  nearest  friends  as  well  as  from 
strangers,  whilst  astonishing  them  at  one  time  by  his  bursts  of 
mystic  piety  and  monastic  austerity,  at  another  by  his  flashes  of 
the  ruler’s  spirit  and  his  judicious  independence,  even  towards  the 
representatives  of  the  faith  and  Church  with  whom  he  was  in 
sympathy.  44  He  passed  for  the  wisest  man  in  all  his  council.”  He 


Saint  Louis  encourages  literature. 


I IQ 

delighted  in  hooks  and  literates ; “ He  was  sometimes  present  at  His  fond- 
the  discourses  and  disputations  of  the  University ; hut  he  took 
care  to  search  out  for  himself  the  truth  in  the  word  of  God  and  in 

the  traditions  of  the  Church Having  found  out,  during  his 

travels  in  the  East,  that  a Saracenic  sultan  had  collected  a quantity 
of  books  for  the  service  of  the  philosophers  of  his  sect,  he  was 
shamed  to  see  that  Christians  had  less  zeal  for  getting  instructed  in 
the  truth  than  infidels  had  for  getting  themselves  made  dexterous 
in  falsehood ; so  much  so  that,  after  his  return  to  France,  he  had 
search  made  in  the  abbeys  for  all  the  genuine  works  of  St.  Augustin, 

St.  Ambrose,  St.  Jerome,  St.  Gregory,  and  other  orthodox  teachers, 
and,  having  caused  copies  of  them  to  be  made,  he  had  them  placed 
in  the  treasury  of  Sainte-Chapelle.  He  used  to  read  them  when 
he  had  any  leisure,  and  he  readily  lent  them  to  those  who  might 
get  profit  from  them  for  themselves  or  for  others.  Sometimes,  at 
the  end  of  the  afternoon  meal,  he  sent  for  pious  persons  with  whom 
he  conversed  about  God,  about  the  stories  in  the  Bible  and  the 
histories  of  the  saints,  or  about  the  lives  of  the  Fathers.”  He  had 
a particular  friendship  for  the  learned  Bobert  of  Sorbon,  founder 
of  the  Sorbonne,  whose  idea  was  a society  of  secular  ecclesiastics, 
who,  living  in  common  and  having  the  necessaries  of  life,  should 
give  themselves  up  entirely  to  study  and  gratuitous  teaching.  Not 
only  did  St.  Louis  give  him  every  facility  and  every  aid  necessary 
for  the  establishment  of  his  learned  college ; but  he  made  him  one 
of  his  chaplains,  and  often  invited  him  to  his  presence  and  his 
table  in  order  to  enjoy  his  conversation. 

For  all  his  moral  sympathy,  and  superior  as  he  was  to  his  age,  His  blun- 
St.  Louis,  nevertheless,  shared  and  even  helped  to  prolong  two  of  ^rssc'“ 
its  greatest  mistakes  ; as  a Christian  he  misconceived  the  rights  of  ception  of 
conscience  in  respect  of  religion,  and,  as  a king,  he  brought  upon  the  rights 
his  people  deplorable  evils  and  perils  for  the  sake  of  a fruitless 
enterprise.  War  against  religious  liberty  was,  for  a long  course  of 
ages,  the  crime  of  Christian  communities  and  the  source  of  the  most 
cruel  evils  as  well  as  of  the  most  formidable  irreligious  reactions 
the  world  has  had  to  undergo.  The  thirteenth  century  was  tho 
culminating  period  of  this  fatal  notion  and  the  sanction  of  it  con- 
ferred by  civil  legislation  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  teaching.  St. 

Louis  joined,  so  far,  with  sincere  conviction,  in  the  general  and 
ruling  idea  of  his  age ; and  the  j umbled  code  which  bears  the  name 
of  JEtablissements  de  Saint  Louis,  formally  condemns  heretics  to 
death,  and  bids  the  civil  judges  to  see  to  the  execution,  in  this 
respect,  of  the  bishops’  sentences.  In  1255  St.  Louis  himself  • 
demanded  of  Pope  Alexander  IV.  leave  for  the  Dominicans  and 


120 


History  of  France. 


Franciscans  to  exercise,  throughout  the  whole  kingdom,  the  inquisi- 
tion already  established,  on  account  of  the  Albigensians,  in  the  old 
domains  of  the  counts  of  Toulouse.  His  extreme  severity  towards 
what  he  called  the  knavish  oath  (yilain  sennent ),  that  is,  blasphemy, 
an  offence  for  which  there  is  no  definition  save  what  is  contained 
in  the  bare  name  of  it,  is,  perhaps,  the  most  striking  indication  of 
the  state  of  men’s  minds,  and  especially  of  the  king’s,  in  this  re- 
spect. Every  blasphemer  was  to  receive  on  his  mouth  the  imprint 
of  a red-hot  iron.  In  the  matter  of  religious  liberty  St.  Louis  is 
a striking  example  of  the  vagaries  which  may  be  fallen  into,  under 
the  sway  of  public  feeling,  by  the  most  equitable  of  minds  and 
the  most  scrupulous  of  consciences.  A solemn  warning,  in  times 
of  great  intellectual  and  popular  ferment,  for  those  men  whose 
hearts  are  set  on  independence  in  their  thoughts  as  well  as  in  their 
conduct,  and  whose  only  object  is  justice  and  truth.  As  for  the 
crusades,  the  situation  of  Louis  was  with  respect  to  them  quite 
different  and  his  responsibility  far  more  personal.  It  was  a great 
error  in  his  judgment  that  he  prolonged,  by  his  blindly  prejudiced 
obstinacy,  a movement  which  was  more  and  more  inopportune  and 
illegitimate,  for  it  was  becoming  day  by  day  more  factitious  and 
more  inane. 

A.D.  1270.  St.  Louis  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Philip  III.,  a prince,  no 
Philip  III.  doubt,  of  some  personal  valour,  since  he  has  retained  in  history  the 
king  of  nickname  of  The  Bold,  but  not,  otherwise,  beyond  mediocrity.  His 
Prance.  reign  had  an  unfortunate  beginning.  After  having  passed  several 
months  before  Tunis,  in  slack  and  unsuccessful  continuation  of  his 
father’s  crusade,  he  gave  it  up  and  re-embarked  in  November,  1270, 
with  the  remnants  of  an  army  anxious  to  quit  “that  accursed  land,” 
wrote  one  of  the  crusaders,  “where  we  languish  rather  than  live, 
exposed  to  torments  of  dust,  fury  of  winds,  corruption  of  atmos- 
phere and  putrefaction  of  corpses.”  He  arrived  at  Paris,  on  the 
21st  of  May,  1271,  bringing  back  with  him  five  royal  biers,  that 
of  his  father,  that  of  his  brother  John  Tristan,  count  of  Nevers, 
that  of  his  brother-in-law  Theobald  king  of  Navarre,  that  of  his 
wife  and  that  of  his  son.  The  day  after  his  arrival  he  conducted 
them  all  in  state  to  the  Abbey  of  St.  Denis,  and  was  crowned,  at 
Pheims,  not  until  the  30th  of  August  following.  His  reign,  which 
lasted  fifteen  years,  was  a period  of  neither  repose  nor  glory.  He 
engaged  in  war  several  times  over  in  Southern  France  and  in  the 
north  of  Spain,  in  1272,  against  Roger  Bernard,  count  of  Foix,  and 
in  1275  against  Don  Pedro  III.,  king  of  Aragon,  attempting  con- 
quests and  gaining  victories,  but  becoming  easily  disgusted  with 
his  enterprises  and  gaining  no  result  of  importance  or  durability. 


121 


Philip  III.  and  Peter  de  la  Brosse. 


Without  his  taking  himself  any  official  or  active  part  in  the  matter, 
the  name  and  credit  of  France  were  more  than  once  compromised 
in  the  affairs  of  Italy  through  the  continual  wars  and  intrigues  of 
his  uncle  Charles  of  Anjou,  king  of  Sicily,  who  was  just  as  ambi- 
tious, just  as  turbulent  and  just  as  tyrannical  as  his  brother  St. 
Louis  was  scrupulous,  temperate  and  just.  It  was  in  the  reign  of 
Philip  the  Bold  that  there  took  place  in  Sicily,  on  the  30th  of 
March,  1282,  that  notorious  massacre  of  the  French  which  is  known 
by  the  name  of  Sicilian  Vespers , which  was  provoked  by  the  un- 
bridled excesses  of  Charles  of  Anjou’s  comrades,  and  through  which 
many  noble  French  families  had  to  suffer  cruelly.  At  the  same  time, 
the  celebrated  Italian  admiral  Roger  de  Loria  inflicted,  by  sea,  on  the 
French  party  in  Italy,  the  Provencal  navy,  and  the  army  of  Philip 
the  Bold,  who  was  engaged  upon  incursions  into  Spain,  considerable 
reverses  and  losses.  At  the  same  period  the  foundations  were  being 
laid  in  Germany  and  in  the  north  of  Italy,  in  the  person  of  Rudolph 
of  Hapsburg,  elected  emperor,  of  the  greatness  reached  by  the 
House  of  Austria,  which  was  destined  to  he  so  formidable  a rival  to 
France.  The  government  of  Philip  III.  showed  hardly  more  ability 
at  home  than  in  Europe ; not  that  the  king  was  himself  violent, 
tyrannical,  greedy  of  power  or  money,  and  unpopular ; hut  he 
was  weak,  credulous,  very  illiterate,  and  without  penetration,  fore- 
sight, or  intelligent  and  determined  will.  He  fell  under  the 
influence  of  an  inferior  servant  of  his  house,  Peter  de  la  Brosse, 
who  had  been  surgeon  and  barber  first  of  all  to  St.  Louis  and 


A.D.  1282. 
“ Sic  liau 
Vespers.” 


Character 
of  Philip’s 
g ivern- 
ment. 


Peter  de  la 
Brosse. 


then  to  Philip  III.,  who  made  him,  before  long,  his  chancellor 
and  familiar  counsellor.  This  barber-mu shrcom  was  soon  a mark 
for  the  jealousy  and  the  attacks  of  the  great  lords  of  the  court ; he 
joined  issue  with  them,  and  even  with  the  young  queen,  Maria  of 
Brabant,  the  second  wife  of  Philip  III.  Accusations  of  treason,  of 
poisoning  and  peculation  were  raised  against  him,  and,  in  1278,  he 
was  hanged  at  Paris,  on  the  thieves’  gibbet,  in  presence  of  the 
dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Brabant,  the  count  of  Artois,  and  many 
other  personages  of  note,  who  took  pleasure  in  witnessing  his 
execution.  Peter  de  la  Brosse  was  one  of  the  first  examples,  in 
French  history,  of  those  favourites  who  did  not  understand  that, 
if  the  scandal  caused  by  their  elevation  were  not  to  entail  their 
ruin,  it  was  incumbent  upon  them  to  be  great  men. 

In  spite  of  the  want  of  ability  and  the  weakness  conspicuous  in 
the  government  of  Philip  the  Bold,  the  kingship  in  France  had,  in 
his  reign,  better  fortunes  than  could  have  been  expected.  The 
death,  without  children,  of  his  uncle  Alphonso,  St.  Louis’s  brother, 
count  of  Poitiers  and  also  count  of  Toulouse,  through  his  wife, 


122 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  1285. 
Philip  IV. 
(the  hand- 
some).— 
His  cha- 
racter. 


Relations 
with  Eng- 
land, 


Joan,  daughter  of  Raymond  VII.,  put  Philip  in  possession  of  those 
fair  provinces.  He  at  first  possessed  the  countship  of  Toulouse 
merely  with  the  title  of  count,  and  as  a private  domain  which  was 
not  definitely  incorporated  with  the  crown  of  France  until  a century 
later.  Certain  disputes  arose  between  England  and  France  in 
respect  of  this  great  inheritance ; and  Philip  ended  them  by  ceding 
Agenois  to  Edward  I.,  king  of  England,  and  keeping  Quercy. 
He  also  ceded  to  Pope  Urban  IY.,  the  county  of  Yenaissin,  with 
its  capital  Avignon,  which  the  court  of  Pome  claimed  by  virtue  of 
a gift  from  Raymond  YII.,  count  of  Toulouse,  and  which,  through 
a course  of  many  disputations  and  vicissitudes,  remained  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Holy  See  until  it  was  reunited  to  France  on  the  19th 
of  February,  1797,  by  the  treaty  of  Tolentino.  But,  notwith- 
standing these  concessions,  when  Philip  the  Bold  died,  at  Per- 
pignan, the  5th  of  October,  1285,  on  his  return  from  his  expedition 
in  Aragon,  the  sovereignty  in  Southern  France,  as  far  as  the 
frontiers  of  Spain,  had  been  won  for  the  kingship  of  France. 

A Flemish  chronicler,  a monk  at  Egmont,  describes  the  character 
of  Philip  the  Bold’s  successor  in  the  following  words  : “ A certain 
king  of  France,  also  named  Philip,  eaten  up  by  the  fever  of  avarice 
and  cupidity.”  And  that  was  not  the  only  fever  inherent  in 
Philip  IY.,  called  the  Handsome ; he  was  a prey  also  to  that  of 
ambition,  and  above  all,  to  that  of  power.  When  he  mounted  the 
throne,  at  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  was  handsome,  as  his  nick- 
name tells  us,  cold,  taciturn,  harsh,  brave  at  need,  but  without  fire 
or  dash,  able  in  the  formation  of  his  designs  and  obstinate  in 
prosecuting  them  by  craft  or  violence,  by  means  of  bribery  or 
cruelty,  with  wit  to  choose  and  support  his  servants,  passionately 
vindictive  against  his  enemies,  and  faithless  and  unsympathetic 
towards  his  subjects,  but  from  time  to  time  taking  care  to  conciliate 
them  either  by  calling  them  to  his  aid  in  his  difficulties  or  his 
dangers,  or  by  giving  them  protection  against  other  oppressors. 
Never,  perhaps,  w~as  king  better  served  by  circumstances  or  more 
successful  in  his  enterprises ; but  he  is  the  first  of  the  Capetians 
who  had  a scandalous  contempt  for  rights,  abused  success,  and 
thrust  the  kingship,  in  France,  upon  the  high-road  of  that  arrogant 
and  reckless  egotism  which  is  sometimes  compatible  with  ability 
and  glory,  but  which  carries  with  it  in  the  germ,  and  sooner  or 
later  brings  out  in  full  bloom,  the  native  vices  and  fatal  con- 
sequences of  arbitrary  and  absolute  power. 

Away  from  his  own  kingdom,  in  his  own  dealings  with  foreign 
countries,  Philip  the  Handsome  had  a good  fortune,  which  his 
predecessors  had  lacked,  and  which  his  successors  lacked  still  more. 


123 


Philip  IV. — Wars  with  Flanders . 

Through  William  the  Conqueror’s  settlement  in  England  and 
Henry  II. ’s  marriage  with  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  the  kings  of 
England  had,  by  reason  of  their  possessions  and  their  claims  in 
Erance,  become  the  natural  enemies  of  the  kings  of  Erance,  and 
war  was  almost  incessant  between  the  two  kingdoms.  But  Edward 
I.,  king  of  England,  ever  since  his  accession  to  the  throne,  in  1272, 
had  his  ideas  fixed  upon,  and  his  constant  efforts  directed  towards 
the  conquests  of  the  countries  of  Wales  and  Scotland,  so  as  to  unite 
under  his  sway  the  whole  Island  of  Great  Britain.  In  spite,  then, 
of  frequent  interruptions,  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  was  on  the  whole 
a period  of  peace  between  England  and  France,  being  exempt,  at 
any  rate,  from  premeditated  and  obstinate  hostilities. 

In  Southern  France,  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees,  Philip  the  And  with 
Handsome,  just  as  his  father  Philip  the  Bold,  was,  during  the  first  Aragon, 
year  of  his  reign,  at  war  with  the  kings  of  Aragon,  Alphonso  .III. 
and  Jayme  II. ; but  these  campaigns,  originating  in  purely  local 
quarrels  or  in  the  ties  between  the  descendants  of  St.  Louis  and  of 
his  brother  Charles  of  Anjou,  king  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  rather  than 
in  furtherance  of  the  general  interests  of  Erance,  were  terminated  in 
1291  by  a treaty  concluded  at  Tarascon  between  the  belligerents, 
and  have  remained  without  historical  importance. 

The  Flemish  were  the  people  with  whom  Philip  the  Handsome  His 
engaged  in  and  kept  up,  during  the  whole  of  his  reign,  with  quarrels 
frequent  alternations  of  defeat  and  success,  a really  serious  war.  Flemings. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  Flanders  was  the  most  populous  and  the 
richest  country  in  Europe.  She  owed  the  fact  to  the  briskness  of 
her  manufacturing  and  commercial  undertakings  not  only  amongst 
her  neighbours,  but  throughout  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe,  in 
Italy,  in  Spain,  in  Sweden,  in  Norway,  in  Hungary,  in  Kussia,  and 
even  as  far  as  Constantinople,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  Baldwin  I., 
count  of  Flanders,  became,  in  1204,  Latin  Emperor  of  the  East. 

Cloth  and  all  manner  of  woollen  stuffs  were  the  principal  articles 
of  Flemish  production,  and  it  was  chiefly  from  England  that 
Flanders  drew  her  supply  of  wool,  the  raw  material  of  her  industry. 

Thence  arose  between  the  two  countries  commercial  relations,  which 
could  not  fail  to  acquire  political  importance.  At  the  time  of 
Philip  the  Handsome’s  accession  to  the  throne,  Guy  de  Dam pierre,  Guy  de 
of  noble  Champagnese  origin,  had  been  for  five  years  count  of  Dampierre 
Flanders,  as  heir  to  his  mother  Marguerite  II.  He  was  a prince  Glanders 
who  did  not  lack  courage,  or,  on  a great  emergency,  high-minded- 
ness and  honour ; but  he  was  ambitious,  covetous,  as  parsimonious 
as  his  mother  had  been  munificent,  and  above  all  concerned  to  get 
his  children  married  in  a manner  conducive  to  his  own  political 


124 


History  of  France . 


importance.  In  1293  he  was  secretly  negotiating  the  marriage  of 
Philippa,  one  of  his  daughters,  with  Prince  Edward,  eldest  son  of 
the  king  of  England.  Philip  the  Handsome,  having  received  due 
warning,  invited  the  count  of  Flanders  to  Paris,  “ to  take  counsel 
with  him  and  the  other  barons  touching  the  state  of  the  kingdom.” 
At  first  Guy  hesitated  ; but  he  dared  not  refuse,  and  he  repaired  to 
Is  arrested  par;s  hjs  sons  j 0hn  anc[  GUy#  The  three  princes  were 

marched  off  at  once  to  the  tower  of  the  Louvre,  where  Guy 
remained  for  six  months,  and  did  not  then  get  out  save  by  leaving 
as  hostage  to  the  king  of  France  his  daughter  Philippa  herself,  who 
was  destined  to  pass  in  this  prison  her  young  and  mournful  life. 
On  once  more  entering  Flanders,  and  driven  to  extremity  by  the 
haughty  severity  of  Philip,  Count  Guy  at  last  came  to  a decision, 
concluded  a formal  treaty  with  Edward  I.,  affianced  to  the  English 
crown-prince  the  most  youthful  of  his  daughters,  Isabel  of  Flanders, 
and  formally  renounced  his  allegiance  to  Philip  the  Handsome. 
A.D.  1297.  This  meant  war.  And  it  was  prompt  and  sharp  on  the  part  of 
iUanders  ^ie  king  France,  s^ow  an(i  dull  011  the  part  of  the  king  of 
England,  who  was  always  more  bent  upon  the  conquest  of  Scotland 
than  upon  defending,  on  the  Continent,  his  ally  the  count  of 
Flanders.  The  French  arms  were  at  first  crowned  with  success ; 
but  the  greed  and  cruelty  of  the  conquerors  soon  led  to  an  outburst 
of  violent  sedition.  A simple  weaver,  obscure,  poor,  undersized 
and  one-eyed,  but  valiant  and  eloquent  in  his  Flemish  tongue,  one 
A.D.  1301.  Peter  Deconing,  became  the  leader  of  revolt  in  Bruges  ; accomplices 
Bruges Et  fi°cked  to  him  from  nearly  all  the  towns  of  Flanders ; and  he  found 
allies  amongst  their  neighbours.  In  1302  war  again  broke  out; 
but  it  was  no  longer  a war  between  Philip  the  Handsome  and  Guy 
de  Dampierre  : it  was  a war  between  the  Flemish  communes  and 
their  foreign  oppressors.  Every  where  resounded  the  cry  of 
insurrection : “ Our  bucklers  and  our  friends  for  the  lion  of 
Flanders!  Death  to  all  Walloons !”  Philip  the  Handsome  pre- 
cipitately levied  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men,  says  Villani,  and 
gave  the  command  of  it  to  Count  Robert  of  Artois,  the  hero  of 
Furnes.  The  forces  of  the  Flemings  amounted  to  no  more  than 
A.D.  1302.  twenty  thousand  fighting  men.  The  two  armies  met  near  Courtrai. 
Battle  of  The  French  chivalry  were  full  of  ardour  and  confidence ; and  the 
Italian  archers  in  their  service  began  the  attack  with  some  success. 
“ My  lord,”  said  one  of  his  knights  to  the  count  of  Artois,  “ these 
knaves  will  do  so  well  that  they  will  gain  the  honour  of  the  day ; 
and,  if  they  alone  put  an  end  to  the  Avar,  what  will  be  left  for 
the  noblesse  to  do1?”  “Attack  then  !”  answered  the  prince.  Two 
grand  attacks  succeeded  one  another;  the  first  under  the  orders  of 


Battles  of  Courtrai  arid  of  Mons-en-Puelle.  125 

the  Constable  Raoul  of  Nesle,  the  second  under  those  of  the  count 
of  Artois  in  person.  After  two  hours’  fighting,  both  failed  against 
the  fiery  national  passion  of  the  Flemish  communes,  and  the  two 
French  leaders,  the  Constable  and  the  count  of  Artois,  were  left 
both  of  them  lying  on  the  field  of  battle  amidst  twelve  or  fifteen 
thousand  of  their  dead.  “I  yield  me!  I yield  me!”  cried  the 
count  of  Artois,  but,  “We  understand  not  thy  lingo,”  ironically 
answered  in  their  own  tongue  the  Flemings  who  surrounded  him ; 
and  he  was  forthwith  put  to  the  sword.  Too  late  to  save  him 
galloped  up  a noble  ally  of  the  insurgents,  Guy  of  Namur.  “ From 
the  top  of  the  towers  of  our  monastery,”  says  the  abbot  of  St. 

Martin’s  of  Tournai,  “we  could  see  the  French  flying  over  the 
roads,  across  fields  and  through  hedges,  in  such  numbers  that  the 
sight  must  have  been  seen  to  be  believed.  There  were  in  the  out- 
skirts of  our  town  and  in  the  neighbouring  villages  so  vast  a mul- 
titude of  knights  and  men-at-arms  tormented  with  hunger,  that  it 
was  a matter  horrible  to  see.  They  gave  their  arms  to  get  bread.” 

A French  knight,  covered  with  wounds,  whose  name  has  remained 
unknown,  hastily  scratched  a few  words  upon  a scrap  of  parchment 
dyed  with  blood ; and  that  was  the  first  account  Philip  the 
Handsome  received  of  the  battle  of  Courtrai,  which  was  fought  and 
lost  on  the  11th  of  July,  1302. 

The  news  of  this  great  defeat  of  the  French  spread  rapidly 
throughout  Europe,  and  filled  with  joy  all  those  who  were  hostile 
to  or  jealous  of  Philip  the  Handsome.  The  wily  monarch  spent 
two  years  in  negotiations,  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  time,  and  of 
letting  the  edge  wear  off  the  Flemings’  confidence.  In  the  spring  ^.D.  1304 
of  1304,  the  cry  of  war  resounded  every  where.  Philip  had  laid  The  war 
an  impost  extraordinary  upon  all  real  property  in  his  kingdom  ; °U' 

regulars  and  reserves  had  been  summoned  to  Arras,  to  attack  the 
Flemings  by  land  and  sea.  He  had  taken  into  his  pay  a Genoese 
fleet  commanded  by  Regnier  de  Grimaldi,  a celebrated  Italian 
admiral ; and  it  arrived  in  the  North  Sea,  and  blockaded  Zierikzee, 
a maritime  town  of  Zealand.  On  the  10th  of  August,  1304,  the 
Flemish  fleet  which  was  defending  the  place  was  beaten  and 
dispersed.  Philip  hoped  for  a moment  that  this  reverse  would 
discourage  the  Flemings ; but  it  was  not  so  at  all.  A great  battle 
took  place  on  the  17th  of  August  between  the  two  land  armies  at 
Mons-en-Puelle  (or,  Mont-en-Pevele,  according  to  the  true  local  Battle  of 
spelling),  near  Lille ; the  action  was  for  some  time  indecisive,  and  ^elle!D" 
even  after  it  was  over  both  sides  hesitated  about  claiming  the 
victory;  but  when  the  Flemings  saw  their  camp  swept  off  and 
rifled,  and  when  they  no  longer  found  in  it,  say  the  chroniclers, 


126 


History  of  France . 


Struggles 
with  the 
Papacy. 


Philip  the 
Handsome 
curtails 
the  privi- 
leges of 
theChurch. 


“their  fine  stuffs  of  Bruges  and  Ypres,  their  wines  of  Rochelle, 
their  beers  of  Cambrai  and  their  cheeses  of  Bethune,  “ they 
declared  that  they  would  return  to  their  hearths  ; and  their  leaders, 
unable  to  restrain  them,  were  obliged  to  shut  themselves  up  in 
Lille,  whither  Philip,  who  had  himself  retired  at  first  to  Arras, 
came  to  besiege  them.  Thus  during  ten  years,  from  1305  to  1314, 
there  was  between  France  and  Flanders  a continual  alternation  of 
reciprocal  concessions  and  retractions,  of  treaties  concluded  and  of 
renewed  insurrections  without  decisive  and  ascertained  results.  It 
was  neither  peace  nor  war;  and,  after  the  death  of  Philip  the 
Handsome,  his  successors  were  destined  for  a long  time  to  come  to 
find  again  and  again  amongst  the  Flemish  communes  deadly  enmities 
and  grievous  perils. 

At  the  same  time  that  he  was  prosecuting  this  interminable  war 
against  the  Flemings,  Philip  was  engaged,  in  this  case  also  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  his  kingdom,  in  a struggle  which  was  still  more 
serious  owing  to  the  nature  of  the  questions  which  gave  rise  to  it 
and  to  the  quality  of  his  adversary.  The  French  kingship  and 
papacy,  the  representatives  of  which  had  but  lately  been  great  and 
glorious  princes  such  as  Philip  Augustus  and  St.  Louis,  Gregory  VII. 
and  Innocent.  III.,  were,  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
vested  in  the  persons  of  men  of  far  less  moral  worth  and  less 
political  wisdom,  Philip  the  Handsome  and  Boniface  VIII.  We 
have  already  had  glimpses  of  Philip  the  Handsome’s  greedy,  rug- 
gedly obstinate,  haughty  and  tyrannical  character ; and  Boni- 
face VIII.  had  the  same  defects,  with  more  hastiness  and  less 
ability.  Philip  the  Handsome  had  been  nine  years  king  when 
Boniface  VIII.  became  pope.  On  his  accession  to  the  throne  he 
had  testified  an  intention  of  curtailing  the  privileges  and  power  of 
the  Church.  He  had  removed  the  clergy  from  judicial  functions, 
in  the  domains  of  the  lords  as  wTell  as  in  the  domain  of  the  king, 
and  he  had  every  where  been  putting  into  the  hands  of  laymen  the 
administration  of  civil  justice.  He  had  considerab  y increased  the 
per  centage  to  be  paid  on  real  property  acquired  by  the  Church 
(called  possessions  in  mortmain),  by  way  of  compensation  for  the 
mutation-dues  which  their  fixity  caused  the  State  to  lose.  At  the 
time  of  the  crusades  the  property  of  the  clergy  had  been  subjected 
to  a special  tax  of  a tenth  of  the  revenues,  and  this  tax  had  been 
several  times  renewed  for  reasons  other  than  the  crusades.  In  1296, 
Philip  the  Handsome,  at  war  with  the  king  of  England  and  the 
Flemings,  imposed  upon  the  clergy  two  fresh  tenths.  The  bishops 
alone  were  called  upon  to  vote  them  ; and  the  order  of  Citeaux 
refused  to  pay  them,  and  addressed  to  the  pope  a protest,  with  a 


1 27 


The  King  and  the  Pope . 


comparison  between  Philip  and  Pharaoh.  Boniface  not  only 
entertained  the  protest,  but  addressed  to  the  king  a bull  (called 
Clericis  laicos,  from  its  first  two  words),  in  which,  led  on  by  his  A.D.  1296. 
zeal  to  set  forth  the  generality  and  absoluteness  of  his  power,  he  ja^e" 
laid  down  as  a principle  that  churches  and  ecclesiastics  . could  not  cos.” 
be  taxed  save  with  the  permission  of  the  sovereign-pontiff,  and 
that  “all  emperors,  kings,  dukes,  counts,  barons,  or  governors 
whatsoever,  who  should  violate  this  principle,  and  all  prelates  or 
other -ecclesiastics  who  should  through  weakness  lend  themselves 


to  such  violation,  would  by  this  mere  fact  incur  excommunication 
and  would  be  incapable  of  release  therefrom,  save  in  articulo  mortis , 
unless  by  a special  decision  of  the  Holy  See.”  This  was  going  far 
beyond  the  traditions  of  the  French  Church,  and,  in  the  very  act 
of  protecting  it,  to  strike  a blow  at  its  independence  in  its  dealings 
with  the  French  State.  Philip  was  mighty  wroth,  but  he  did  not 
burst  out ; he  confined  himself  to  letting  the  pope  perceive  his 
displeasure  by  means  of  divers  administrative  measures,  amongst 
others  by  forbidding  the  exportation  from  the  kingdom  of  gold, 
silver,  and  valuable  articles,  which  found  their  way  chiefly  to 
Pome.  Boniface,  on  his  side,  was  not  slow  to  perceive  that  he 
had  gone  too  far,  and  that  his  own  interests  did  not  permit  him  to 
give  so  much  offence  to  the  king  of  France.  A year  after  the 
bull  Clericis  laicos  he  modified  it  by  a new  bull,  which  not  only 
authorized  the  collection  of  the  two  tenths  voted  by  the  French 
bishops,  but  recognized  the  right  of  the  king  of  France  to  tax 
the  French  clergy  with  their  consent  and  without  authorization 
from  the  Holy  See,  whenever  there  was  a pressing  necessity  for 
it.  Philip,  on  his  side,  testified  to  the  pope  his  satisfaction  at 
this  concession  by  himself  making  one  at  the  expense  of  the 
religious  liberty  of  his  subjects. 

Thus  the  two  absolute  sovereigns  changed  their  policy  and  Policy  of 
made  temporary  sacrifice  of  their  mutual  pretensions,  according  of^the 
as  it  suited  them  to  fight  or  to  agree.  But  there  arose  a question  p0pe 
in  respect  of  which  this  continual  alternation  of  pretensions 
and  compromises,  of  quarrels  and  accommodations,  was  no  longer 
possible ; in  order  to  keep  up  their  position  in  the  eyes  of  one 
another  they  were  obliged  to  come  to  a deadly  clash ; and  in  this 
struggle,  perilous  for  both,  Boniface  VIII.  was  the  aggressor,'  and 
with  Philip  the  Handsome  remained  the  victory.  An  opportunity 
for  a splendid  confirmation  of  the  pope’s  universal  supremacy 
in  the  Christian  world  came  to  tempt  him.  A quarrel  had  arisen 
between  Philip  and  the  archbishop  of  Narbonne  on  the  subject 
of  certain  dues  claimed  by  both  in  that  great  diocese.  Boniface 


128 


History  of  France. 


Bernard  de 
Saisset, 
bishop  of 
Pamiers. 


AD.  1301. 
Bull 

‘‘  AuscuPa 
fill.” 


was  loud  in  his  advocacy  of  the  archbishop  against  the  officers 
of  the  king : he  sent  to  Paris,  to  support  his  words,  Bernard  de 
Saisset,  whom  he,  on  his  own  authority,  had  just  appointed 
bishop  of  Pamiers.  On  arriving  in  Paris  as  the  pope’s  legate, 
Saisset  made  use  there  of  violent  and  inconsiderate  language  ; Philip 
had,  at  that  time,  as  his  chief  councillors,  lay-lawyers,  servants 
passionately  attached  to  the  kingship.  They  were  Peter  Plotte, 
his  chancellor,  William  of  Nogaret,  judge-major  at  Beaucaire,  and 
William  of  Plasian,  lord  of  Yezenobre,  the  two  latter  belonging, 
as  Bernard*  de  Saisset  belonged,  to  Southern  Prance,  and  de- 
termined to  withstand,  in  the  south  as  well  as  the  north,  the 
domination  of  ecclesiastics.  They,  in  their  turn,  rose  up  against 
the  doctrine  and  language  of  the  bishop  of  Pamiers.  He  was 
arrested  and  committed  to  the  keeping  of  the  archbishop  of 
Harbonne;  and  Philip  sent  to  Pome  his  chancellor  Peter  Plotte 
himself,  and  William  of  Nogaret,  with  orders  to  demand  the 
condemnation  of  the  bishop  of  Pamiers.  Boniface  replied  by 
changing  the  venue  to  his  own  personal  tribunal  in  the  case  of 
Bernard  de  Saisset.  “ My  power — the  spiritual  power,”  said  the 
pope  to  the  chancellor  of  Prance,  “ embraces  the  temporal,  and 
includes  it.”  “ Be  it  so,”  answered  Peter  Flotte  ; “ but  your  power 
is  nominal,  the  king’s  real.” 

Here  was  a coarse  challenge  hurled  by  the  crown  at  the  tiara : 
and  Boniface  VIII.  unhesitatingly  accepted  it.  But,  instead  of 
keeping  the  advantage  of  a defensive  position  by  claiming,  in  the 
name  of  lawful  right,  the  liberties  and  immunities  of  the  Church, 
he  assumed  the  offensive  against  the  kingship  by  proclaiming  the 
supremacy  of  the  Holy  See  in  things  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual, 
and  by  calling  upon  Philip  the  Handsome  to  acknowledge  it.  On 
the  5th  of  December,  1301,  he  addressed  to  the  king,  commencing 
with  the  words,  “ Hearken , most  dear  Son”  ( Ausmlta , carissime  fill ), 
a long  bull  in  which,  with  circumlocutions  and  expositions  full  of 
obscurity  and  subtlety,  he  laid  down  and  affirmed,  at  bottom,  the 
principle  of  the  final  sovereignty  of  the  spiritual  power,  being 
of  divine  origin,  over  every  temporal  power,  being  of  human 
creation.  The  final  supremacy  of  the  pope  in  the  body  politic 
and  over  all  sovereigns  meant  the  absorption  of  the  laic  com 
munity  in  the  religious  and  the  abolition  of  the  State’s  independence 
not  in  favour  of  the  national  Church,  but  to  the  advantage  of  the 
foreign  head  of  the  universal  Church.  The  defenders  of  the  French 
kingship  formed  a better  estimate  than  was  formed  at  Rome  of  the 
effect  which  would  be  produced  by  such  doctrine  on  France,  in  the 
existing  condition  of  the  French  mind  ; they  entered  upon  no  theo- 


The  States-general  and  the  Pope . 


129 


logical  and  abstract  polemics  ; they  confined  themselves  entirely  to 
setting  in  a vivid  light  the  pope’s  pretensions  and  their  conse- 
quences, feeling  sure  that  by  confining  themselves  to  this  question 
they  would  enlist  in  their  opposition  not  only  all  laymen,  nobles, 
and  commoners,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  French  ecclesiastics 
themselves,  who  were  no  strangers  to  the  feeling  of  national 
patriotism,  and  to  whom  the  pope’s  absolute  power  in  the  body 
politic  was  scarcely  more  agreeable  than  the  king’s.  On  the  11th 
of  February,  1302,  the  bull  Hearken,  most  dear  Son , was  solemnly 
burnt  at  Paris  in  presence  of  the  king  and  a numerous  multitude. 
Philip  convoked,  for  the  8th  of  April  following,  an  assembly  of  the 
barons,  bishops,  and  chief  ecclesiastics,  and  of  deputies  from  the 
communes  to  the  number  of  two  or  three  for  each  city,  all  being 
summoned  “ to  deliberate  on  certain  affairs  which  in  the  highest 
degree  concern  the  king,  the  kingdom,  the  churches,  and  all  and 
sundry.”  This  assembly,  which  really  met  on  the  10th  of  April  at 
Paris  in  the  church  of  Notre-Dame,  is  reckoned  in  French  history 
as  the  first  “ states-general.”  The  three  estates  wrote  separately  to 
Rome ; the  clergy  to  the  pope  himself,  the  nobility  and  the 
deputies  of  the  communes  to  the  cardinals,  all,  however,  protest- 
ing against  the  pope’s  pretensions  in  matters  temporal,  the  two  laic 
orders  writing  in  a rough  and  threatening  tone,  the  clergy  making 
an  appeal  “ to  the  wisdom  and  paternal  clemency  of  the  Holy 
Father  with  tearful  accents  and  sobs  mingled  with  their  tears.” 
The  king  evidently  had  on  his  side  the  general  feeling  of  the 
nation  : and  the  publication  of  a third  bull  ( Unam  sanctam ),  which 
threatened  him  with  excommunication,  only  the  more  irritated 
him  ; he  resolved  to  act  speedily.  Notification  must  be  sent  to 
the  pope  of  the  king’s  appeal  to  the  future  council.  Philip  could 
r.o  longer  confide  this  awkward  business  to  his  chancellor  Peter 
Flotte ; for  he  had  fallen  at  Courtrai,  in  the  battle  against  the 
Flemings.  William  of  Nogaret  undertook  it,  at  the  same  time 
obtaining  from  the  king  a sort  of  blank  commission  authorizing 
and  ratifying  in  advance  all  that,  under  the  circumstances,  he 
might  consider  it  advisable  to  do.  Notification  of  the  appeal  had 
to  be  made  to  the  pope  at  Anagni,  his  native  town,  whither  he  had 
gone  for  refuge,  and  the  people  of  which,  being  zealous  in  his 
favour,  had  already  dragged  in  the  mud  the  lillies  and  the  banner 
of  France.  Nogaret  was  bold,  ruffianly,  and  clever.  He  repaired 
in  haste  to  Florence  to  the  king’s  banker,  got  a plentiful  supply  of 
money,  established  communications  in  Anagni,  and  secured,  above 
all,  the  co-operation  of  Sciarra  Colonna,  who  was  passionately 
hostile  to  the  pope,  had  been  formerly  proscribed  by  him,  and, 


A.D.  1302. 
The  States- 
general 
convoked 
in  Paris. 


A.D.  1303. 
William  of 
Nogaret  ac 
Anagni. 


130  History  of  France . 

having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  corsairs,  had  worked  at  the  oar 
for  them  during  many  a year  rather  than  reveal  his  name  and  be 
sold  to  Boniface  Gaetani.  On  the  7th  of  September,  1303, 
Colonna  and  his  associates  introduced  Hogaret  and  his  following 
into  Anagni,  with  snouts  of  “ Death  to  Pope  Boniface ! Long 
live  the  king  of  France  ! ” The  populace,  dumb-founded,  re- 
mained motionless.  The  pope,  deserted  by  all,  even  by  his  own 
nephew,  tried  to  touch  the  heart  of  Colonna  himself,  whose  only 

answer  was  a summons  to  abdicate,  and  to  surrender  at  discretion. 

A D 1303  1 

Death  of  * Thus  outraged  in  spite  of  his  advanced  years  (he  was  seventy-five), 
Pore  Boni-  Boniface  maintained  a dauntless  attitude  under  the  grossest  insults, 
face  VIII.  digd  very  shortly  after. 

On  the  22nd  of  October,  1303,  eleven  days  after  the  death  of 
Boniface  VIII.,  Benedict  XI.,  son  of  a simple  shepherd,  was  elected 
at  Rome  to  succeed  him.  Philip  the  Handsome  at  once  sent  his 
congratulations,  but  by  William  of  Plasian,  who  had  lately  been 
the  accuser  of  Boniface,  and  who  was  charged  to*  hand  to  the  new 
pope,  on  the  king’s  behalf,  a very  bitter  memorandum  touching  his 
predecessor.  Philip  at  the  same  time  caused  an  address  to  be 
presented  to  himself  in  his  own  kingdom  and  in  the  vulgar  tongue, 
called  a supplication  from  the  people  of  France  to  the  king  against 
Boniface.  Benedict  XI.  exerted  himself  to  give  satisfaction  to  the 
conqueror;  Hogaret  and  the  direct  authors  of  the  assault  at  Anagni 
were  alone  excepted  from  the  general  amnesty.  The  pope  reserved 
for  a future  occasion  the  announcement  of  their  absolution,  when 
he  should  consider  it  expedient.  But,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1304, 
instead  of  absolving  them,  he  launched  a fresh  bull  of  excommuni- 
cation against  “ certain  wicked  men  who  had  dared  to  commit  a 
hateful  crime  against  a person  of  good  memory,  Pope  Boniface.” 
A.D.  1304.  A month  after  this  bull  Benedict  XI.  was  dead.  It  is  related  that 
Pope  Bene  a youn§  woman  had  Put  before  him  at  table  a basket  of  fresh  figs, 
diet  XI.  of  which  he  had  eaten  and  which  had  poisoned  him.  The 
chroniclers  of  the  time  impute  this  crime  to  William  of  Xogaret, 
to  the  Colonnas,  and  to  their  associates  at  Anagni;  a single  one 
names  King  Philip.  The  king  of  France,  who  had  gained  the 
battle  of  Mons-en-Puelle,  then  took  advantage  of  his  success  to 
procure  the  election  of  a pope  who  would  be  entirely  and  exclu- 
sively his  creature.  The  archbishop  of  Bordeaux,  Bertrand  de  Got, 
proclaimed  under  the  title  of  Clement  V.,  had  to  accept,  in  return, 
Trial  and  the  harshest  conditions,  such  as  pronouncing  the  condemnation  of 
condemna-  Boniface  VIII.,  transferring  the  Papal  See  from  Rome  to  Avignon, 
knights-^6  allthorizing  the  suppression  of  the  order  of  the  Knights  Templars, 
templars,  etc.  This  last  clause  cost  the  new  pontiff  a great  deal  of  pains, 


The  Knights  Templars . 


131 


and  it  was  with  the  utmost  reluctance  that  he  yielded  to  it.  The 
great  wealth  possessed  by  the  order  of  the  Temple  was  the  true 
cause  of  Philip’s  hatred,  but  as  some  plausible  cause  was  needed  to 
procure  their  condemnation,  they  were  accused  of  heresy,  immo- 
rality and  sacrilege.  The  council  of  Yienne  condemned  them,  but 
the  Grand  Master  Jacques  Molay  protested  of  their  innocence  to  the 
very  last ; a poet  chronicler,  Godfrey  of  Paris,  who  was  a witness 
of  the  scene,  thus  describes  it : “ The  Grand  Master,  seeing  the  fire 
prepared,  stripped  himself  briskly ; I tell  just  as  I saw ; he  bared 
himself  to  his  shirt,  light-heartedly  and  with  a good  grace,  without 
a whit  of  trembling,  though  he  was  dragged  and  shaken  mightily. 
They  took  hold  of  him  to  tie  him  to  the  stake,  and  they  were 
binding  his  hands  with  a cord,  but  he  said  to  them,  ‘ Sirs,  sutler 
me  to  fold  my  hands  awhile,  and  make  my  prayer  to  God,  for  verily 
it  is  time.  I am  presently  to  die ; but  wrongfully,  God  wot. 
Wherefore  woe  will  come,  ere  long,  to  those  who  condemn  us 
without  a cause.  God  will  avenge  our  death.’  ” 

It  was  probably  owing  to  these  last  words  that  there  arose  a 
popular  rumour,  soon  spread  abroad,  that  Jacques  Molay,  at  his 
death,  had  cited  the  pope  and  the  king  to  appear  with  him, 
the  former  at  the  end  of  forty  days,  and  the  latter  within  a 
year,  before  the  judgment- seat  of  God.  Events  gave  a sanction  to 
the  legend : for  Clement  Y.  actually  died  on  the  20th  of  April, 
1314,  and  Philip  the  Handsome  on  the  29th  of  November,  1314; 
the  pope,  undoubtedly  uneasy  at  the  servile  acquiescence  he  had 
shown  towards  the  king,  and  the  king  expressing  some  sorrow  for 
his  greed,  and  for  the  imposts  ( maltote , maletolta,  or  black  mail) 
with  which  he  had  burdened  his  people. 

In  excessive  and  arbitrary  imposts,  indeed,  consisted  the  chief 
grievance  for  which  France,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  had  to  com- 
plain of  Philip  the  Handsome ; and,  probably,  it  was  the  only 
wrong  for  which  he  upbraided  himself.  As  he  was  no  stranger  to 
the  spirit  of  order  in  his  own  affairs,  he  tried,  towards  the  end  of 
his  reign,  to  obtain  an  exact  account  of  his  finances.  His  chief 
adviser,  Enguerrand  de  Marigny,  became  his  superintendent-general, 
and  on  the  19th  of  January,  1311,  at  the  close  of  a grand  council 
held  at  Poissy,  Philip  passed  an  ordinance  which  established,  under 
the  headings  of  expenses  and  receipts , two  distinct  tables  and 
treasuries,  one  for  ordinary  expenses,  the  civil  list  and  the  payment 
of  the  great  bodies  of  the  State,  incomes,  pensions,  &e..  and  the 
other  for  extraordinary  expenses. 

The  general  history  of  France  has  been  more  indulgent  towards 
Philip  the  Handsome  than  his  contemporaries  were;  it  has 

k 2 


Jacques 

Molay 

burnt 

alive. 


A.B.  1314. 
Death  of 
Pope  Cle- 
ment V. 
(April  20), 
and  of  the 
king  of 
France 
(April  29). 


General 
view  of 
Philip  the 
Hand- 
some's 
govern- 
ment. 


I 3?* 


History  of  France. 


Deve’op- 
ment  ot' 
civil  order. 


A.D.  1314 
—1328. 
Reigns  of 
Philip  the 
Hand- 
some’s 
three  sons. 


expressed  its  acknowledgments  to  him  for  the  progress  made,  under 
his  sway,  by  the  particular  and  permanent  characteristics  of 
civilization  in  France.  The  kingly  domain  received  in  the  Pyre- 
nees, in  Aquitaine,  in  Franche-Comte,  and  in  Flanders  territorial 
increments  which  extended  national  unity.  The  legislative  power 
of  the  king  penetrated  into,  and  secured  footing  in  the  lands  of  his 
vassals.  The  scattered  semi-sovereigns  of  feudal  society  bowed 
down  before  the  incontestable  pre-eminence  of  the  kingship;  which 
gained  the  victory  in  its  struggle  against  the  papacy.  The  general 
constitution  of  the  judiciary  power,  as  delegated  from  the  kingship, 
the  creation  of  several  classes  of  magistrates  devoted  to  this  great 
social  function,  and,  especially,  the  strong  organization  and  the 
permanence  of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  were  important  progressions 
in  the  development  of  civil  order  and  society  in  France.  But  it 
was  to  the  advantage  of  absolute  power  that  all  these  facts  were 
turned,  and  the  perverted  ability  of  Philip  the  Handsome  consisted 
in  working  them  for  that  single  end.  He  was  a profound  egotist ; 
he  mingled  with  his  imperiousness  the  leaven  of  craft  and  patience, 
but  he  was  quite  a stranger  to  the  two  principles  which  constitute 
the  morality  of  governments,  respect  for  rights  and  patriotic 
sympathy  with  public  sentiment ; he  concerned  himself  about 
nothing  but  his  own  position,  his  own  passions,  his  own  wishes,  or 
his  own  fancies.  And  this  is  the  radical  vice  of  absolute  power. 
Philip  the  Handsome  is  one  of  the  kings  of  France  who  have  most 
contributed  to  stamp  upon  the  kingship  in  France  this  lamentable 
characteristic  from  which  France  has  suffered  so  much  even  in  the 
midst  of  her  glories,  and  which,  in  our  time,  was  so  grievously 
atoned  for  by  the  kingship  itself  when  it  no  longer  deserved  the 
reproach. 

Philip  the  Handsome  left  three  sons,  Louis  X.,  called  le  Hutin 
( the  quarreller ),  Philip  V.,  called  the  Long , and  Charles  IV.,  called 
the  Handsome,  who,  between  them,  occupied  the  throne  only 
thirteen  years  and  ten  months.  Hot  one  of  them  distinguished 
himself  by  his  personal  merits  ; and  the  events  of  the  three  reigns 
hold  scarcely  a higher  place  in  history  than  the  actions  of  the  three 
kings  do.  Shortly  before  the  death  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  his 
greedy  despotism  had  already  excited  amongst  the  people  such 
lively  discontent  that  several  leagues  were  formed  in  Champagne, 
Burgundy,  Artois,  and  Beauvaisis,  to  resist  him ; and  the  members 
of  these  leagues,  “ nobles  and  commoners,”  say  the  accounts,  engaged 
to  give  one  another  mutual  support  in  their  resistance  “ at  their  own 
cost  and  charges.”  After  the  death  of  Philip  the  Handsome  the 
opposition  made  head  more  extensively  and  effectually;  and  it 


The  Salic  law. 


133 


produced  two  results : ten  ordinances  of  Louis  the  Quarreller  for 
redressing  the  grievances  of  the  feudal  aristocracy,  for  one  ; and, 
for  the  other,  the  trial  and  condemnation  of  Enguerrand  de  Marigny, 

“ coadjutor  and  rector  of  the  kingdom  ” under  Philip  the  Handsome. 

Marigny  was  accused,  condemned  by  a commission  assembled  at 
Vincennes,  and  hanged  on  the  gibbet  of  Montfaucon  which  he 
himself,  it  is  said,  had  set  up. 

Whilst  the  feudal  aristocracy  was  thus  avenging  itself  of  kingly 

tyranny,  the  spirit  of  Christianity  was  noiselessly  pursuing  its 

work,  the  general  enfranchisement  of  men.  Louis  the  Quarreller  ^ ^ 

had  to  keep  up  the  war  with  Flanders,  which  was  continually  being  Emaneipa- 

renewed  : and  in  order  to  find,  without  hateful  exactions,  the lio^ of  tJle 

. serfs  on  the 

necessary  funds,  he  was  advised  to  offer  freedom  to  the  serfs  of  his  royai  a0. 
domains ; accordingly  he  issued,  on  the  3rd  of  July,  1315,  an  edict  mains, 
to  that  effect. 

Another  fact  which  has  held  an  important  place  in  the  history  of 
France,  and  exercised  a great  influence  over  her  destinies,  likewise 
dates  from  this  period  ; and  that  is  the  exclusion  of  women  from 
the  succession  to  the  throne,  by  virtue  of  an  article,  ill  understood,  c .. 
of  the  Salic  law.  The  ancient  law  of  the  Salian  Franks,  drawn  up,  law. 
probably,  in  the  seventh  century,  had  no  statute  at  all  touching 
this  grave  question  ; the  article  relied  upon  was  merely  a regulation 
of  civil  law  prescribing  that  “no  portion  of  really  Salic  land 
(that  is  to  say,  in  the  full  territorial  ownership  of  the  head  of  the 
family)  should  pass  into  the  possession  of  women,  but  it  should 
belong  altogether  to  the  virile  sex.”  From  the  time  of  Hugh 
Capet  heirs  male  had  never  been  wanting  to  the  crown,  and  the 
succession  in  the  male  line  had  been  a fact  uninterrupted  indeed, 
but  not  due  to  prescription  or  law.  Louis  the  Quarreller,  at  his 
death,  on  the  5th  of  June,  1316,  left  only  a daughter,  but  his 
second  wife,  Queen  Clemence,  was  pregnant.  As  soon  as  Philip  the 
Long,  then  count  of  Poitiers,  heard  of  his  brother’s  death,  he  hur- 
ried to  Paris,  assembled  a certain  number  of  barons,  and  got  them 
to  decide  that  he,  if  the  queen  should  be  delivered  of  a son, 
should  be  regent  of  the  kingdom  for  eighteen  years  ; but  that  if 
she  should  bear  a daughter  he  should  immediately  take  possession 
of  the  crown.  On  the  15th  of  November,  1316,  the  queen  gave 
birth  to  a son,  who  was  named  John,  and  who  figures  as  John  I. 
in  the  series  of  French  kings,  but  the  child  died  at  the  end  of  five 
days,  and  on  the  6th  of  January,  1317,  Philip  the  Long  was 
crowned  king  at  Pheims.  He  forthwith  summoned,  there  is  no 
knowing  exactly  where  and  in  what  numbers,  the  clergy,  barons, 
and  third  estate,  who  declared,  on  the  2nd  of  February,  that  “ the 


Conse- 
quences of 
the  Salic 
law. 


The  Com- 
munes. 


134  History  of  France. 

laws  and  customs,  inviolably  observed  among  the  Franks,  excluded 
daughters  from  the  crown.”  There  was  no  doubt  about  the  fact ; 
but  the  law  was  not  established,  nor  even  in  conformity  with  the 
entire  feudal  system  or  with  general  opinion.  And  “ thus  the 
kingdom  went,”  says  Froissart,  “ as  seemeth  to  many  folks,  out  of 
the  right  line.”  But  the  measure  was  evidently  wise  and  salutary 
for  France  as  well  as  for  the  kingship ; and  it«was  renewed,  after 
Philip  the  Long  died,  on  the  3rd  of  January,  1322,  and  left 
daughters  only,  in  favour  of  his  brother  Charles  the  Handsome, 
who  died,  in  his  turn,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1328,  and  likewise 
left  daughters  only.  The  question  as  to  the  succession  to  the  throne 
then  lay  between  the  male  line  represented  by  Philip,  count  of 
Yalois,  grandson  of  Philip  the  Bold  through  Charles  of  Valois,  his 
father,  and  the  female  line  represented  by  Edward  III.,  king  of 
England,  grandson,  through  his  mother  Isabel,  sister  of  the  late 
king  Charles  the  Handsome,  of  Philip  the  Handsome.  A war  of 
more  than  a century’s  duration  between  France  and  England 
was  the  result  of  this  lamentable  rivalry,  which  all  but  put  the 
kingdom  of  France  under  an  English  king;  but  France  was  saved 
by  the  stubborn  resistance  of  the  national  spirit  and  by  Joan  of  Arc, 
inspired  by  God.  One  hundred  and  twenty-eight  years  after  the 
triumph  of  the  national  cause  and  four  years  after  the  accession  of 
Henry  IV.,  which  was  still  disputed  by  the  League,  a decree  of 
the  parliament  of  Paris,  dated  the  28th  of  June,  1593,  maintained, 
against  the  pretentions  of  Spain,  the  authority  of  the  Salic  law, 
and  on  the  1st  of  October,  1789,  a decree  of  the  National  Assembly, 
in  conformity  with  the  formal  and  unanimous  wish  of  the  me- 
morials drawn  up  by  the  States-general,  gave  a fresh  sanction  to 
that  principle,  which,  confining  the  heredity  of  the  crown  to  the 
male  line,  had  been  salvation  to  the  unity  and  nationality  of  the 
monarchy  in  France. 

We  have  traced  the  character  and  progressive  development  of  the 
French  kingship  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century, 
through  the  reigns  of  Louis  the  Fat,  of  Philip  Augustus,  of  St. 
Louis  and  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  princes  very  diverse  and  very 
unequal  in  merit,  but  all  of  them  able  and  energetic.  This  period 
was  likewise  the  cradle  of  the  French  nation.  That  was  the  time 
when  it  began  to  exhibit  itself  in  its  different  elements,  and  to 
arise  under  monarchical  rule  from  the  midst  of  the  feudal  system. 
The  Communes , which  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  Third 
Estate,  are  the  first  to  appear  in  history.  They  appear  there  as 
local  facts,  isolated  one  from  another,  often  very  different  in  point 
of  origin  though  analogous  in  their  aim,  and  in  every  case  neither 


The  Communes . 


135 


assuming  nor  pretending  to  assume  any  place  in  the  government  of 
the  State.  Local  interests  and  rights,  the  special  affairs  of  certain 
populations  agglomerated  in  certain  spots,  are  the  only  objects,  the 
only  province  of  the  communes.  With  this  purely  municipal  and 
individual  character  they  come  to  their  birth,  their  confirmation 
and  their  development  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century ; 
and  at  the  end  of  two  centuries  they  enter  upon  their  decline,  they 
occupy  far  less  room  and  make  far  less  noise  in  history.  It  is 
exactly  then  that  the  Third  Estate  comes  to  the  front,  and  uplifts 
itself  as  a general  fact,  a national  element,  a political  power.  It  is 
the  successor,  not  the  contemporary,  of  the  Communes  ; they  con- 
tributed much  towards,  but  did  not  suffice  for  its  formation;  it 
drew  upon  other  resources,  and  was  developed  under  other  in- 
fluences than  those  which  gave  existence  to  the  communes.  The  Their  cta- 
struggles  which  from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century  gave  racter. 
existence  to  so  many  communes  had  no  such  profound  character ; 
the  populations  did  not  pretend  to  any  fundamental  overthrow  of 
the  regimen  they  attacked ; they  conspired  together,  they  swore 
together , as  the  phrase  is  according  to  the  documents  of  the  time — 
they  rose  to  extricate  themselves  from  the  outrageous  oppression 
and  misery  they  were  enduring,  but  not  to  abolish  feudal  sove- 
reignty and  to  change  the  personality  of  their  masters.  When 
they  succeeded,  they  obtained  those  treaties  of  peace  called  charters , 
which  brought  about  in  the  condition  of  the  insurgents  salutary 
changes  accompanied  by  more  or  less  effectual  guarantees.  When 
they  failed  or  when  the  charters  were  violated,  the  result  was 
violent  reactions,  mutual  excesses  ; the  relations  between  the  popu- 
lations and  their  lords  were  tempestuous  and  full  of  vicissitude ; 
but  at  bottom  neither  the  political  regimen  nor  the  social  system 
of  the  communes  were  altered. 

Feudal  oppression  and  insurrection  were  the  chief  cause,  but  not  Cause  of 

the  sole  origin  of  the  communes.  The  first  cause  was  . the  continu-  tte  com" 

in.un.es. 

ance  of  the  Koman  municipal  regimen,  which  kept  its  footing  in  a Roman 
great  number  of  towns,  especially  in  those  of  Southern  Gaul,  Mar-  municipal 
seilles,  Arles,  Nismes,  JSTarbonne,  Toulouse,  &c. ; as  the  feudal  re§ime* 
system  grew  and  grew,  these  Koman  municipalities  still  went  on 
in  the  midst  of  universal  darkness  and  anarchy.  They  had  pene- 
trated into  the  north  of  Gaul  in  fewer  numbers  and  with  a 
weaker  organization  than  in  the  south,  but  still  keeping  their  foot- 
ing and  vaunting  themselves  on  their  Koman  origin  in  the  face  of 
their  barbaric  conquerors.  Under  different  names,  in  accordance 
with  changes  of  language,  the  Koman  municipal  regimen  held  on 
and  adapted  itself  to  new  social  conditions. 


1 36 


History  of  France . 


Part 

played  by 
the  king- 
ship, 


and  by  the 
clergy. 


Feudal 

oppression. 


Decline  of 
the  com- 
munes. 


Rise  of  the 
Third 
Estate. 


In  our  own  day  there  has  been  far  too  much  inclination  to 
dispute  the  active  and  effective  part  played  by  the  kingship  in  the 
formation  and  protection  of  the  French  communes.  Not  only  did 
the  kings  often  interpose  as  mediators  in  the  quarrels  of  the 
communes  with  their  laic  or  ecclesiastical  lords,  but  many  amongst 
them  assumed  in  their  own  domains  and  to  the  profit  of  the  com- 
munes an  intelligent  and  beneficial  initiative.  Nor  was  it  the 
kings  alone  who  in  the  middle  ages'  listened  to  the  counsels  of 
reason,  and  recognized  in  their  behaviour  towards  their  towns  the 
rights  of  justice.  Many  bishops  had  become  the  feudal  lords  of 
the  episcopal  city ; and  the  Christian  spirit  enlightened  and 
animated  many  amongst  them  just  as  the  monarchical  spirit  some- 
times enlightened  and  guided  the  kings.  The  third  and  chief 
source  of  the  communes  was  the  case  of  those  which  met  feudal 
oppression  with  energetic  resistance,  and  which  after  all  the  suffer- 
ings, vicissitudes  and  outrages,  on  both  sides,  of  a prolonged  struggle 
ended  by  winning  a veritable  administrative  and,  to  a certain 
extent,  political  independence.  The  number  of  communes  thus 
formed  from  the  eleventh  to  the  thirteenth  century  was  great,  and 
we  have  a detailed  history  of  the  fortunes  of  several  amongst  them, 
Cambrai,  Beauvais,  Laon,  Amiens,  Bheims,  Etampes,  Vezelay,  &c. 
When,  however,  we  arrive  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  and  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century  we  see  a host  of  communes 
falling  into  decay  or  entirely  disappearing;  they  cease  really  to 
belong  to,  and  govern  themselves;  some,  like  Laon,  Cambrai, 
Beauvais,  and  Bheims,  fought  a long  while  against  decline,  and 
tried  more  than  once  to  re-establish  themselves  in  all  their  indepen- 
dence ; but  they  could  not  do  without  the  king’s  support  in  their 
resistance  to  their  lords,  laic  or  ecclesiastical ; and  they  were  not  in 
a condition  to  resist  the  kingship  which  had  grown  whilst  they 
were  perishing.  Others,  Meulan  and  Soissons  for  example  (in  1320 
and  1335),  perceived  their  weakness  early,  and  themselves  requested 
the  kingship  to  deliver  them  from  their  communal  organization  and 
itself  assume  their  administration.  And  so  it  is  about  this  period, 
under  St.  Louis  and  Philip  the  Handsome,  that  there  appear  in  the 
collections  of  acts  of  the  French  kingship,  those  great  ordinances 
which  regulate  the  administration  of  all  communes  within  the 
kingly  domains. 

At  the  very  time  that  the  communes  were  perishing  and  the 
kingship  was  growing,  a new  power,  a new  social  element,  the 
Third  Estate , was  springing  up  in  France ; and  it  was  called  to 
take  a far  more  important  place  in  the  history  of  France,  and  to 
exercise  far  more  influence  upon  the  fate  of  the  French  fatherland, 


The  Third  Estate. 


*37 

than  it  had  been  granted  to  the  communes  to  acquire  during  their 
short  and  incoherent  existence. 

It  may  astonish  many  who  study  the  records  of  French  history 
from  the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century,  not  to  find  any  where 
the  words  third  estate;  it  was  at  the  great  States  of  Tours,  in 
1468,  that,  for  the  first  time,  the  third  order  bore  the  name  which 
has  been  given  to  it  by  history. 

The  fact  was  far  before  its  name.  The  third  estate  drewT  its 
origin  and  nourishment  from  all  sorts  of  sources ; and  whilst  one 
was  within  an  ace  of  drying  up,  the  others  remained  abundant  and 
fruitful.  Independently  of  the  commune  properly  so  called  and 
invested  with  the  right  of  self-government,  many  towns  had  privi- 
leges, serviceable  though  limited  franchises,  and  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  king’s  officers  they  grew  in  population  and  wealth. 

These  towns  did  not  share,  towards  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  in  the  decay  of  the  once  warlike  and  victorious  communes. 

The  majority  amongst  the  officers  of  the  king  were  burghers,  and  Burgher- 
their  number  and  their  power  were  turned  to  the  advantage  of 
burgherdom,  and  led  day  by  day  to  its  further  extension  and 
importance.  Of  all  the  original  sources  of  the  third  estate  this  it 
is,  perhaps,  which  has  contributed  most  to  bring  about  the  social 
preponderance  of  that  order.  Just  when  burgherdom,  but  lately 
formed,  was  losing  in  many  of  the  communes  a portion  of  its  local 
liberties,  at  that  same  moment  it  was  seizing  by  the  hand  of 
parliaments,  provosts,  judges,  and  administrators  of  all  kinds,  a 
large  share  of  central  power.  It  was  through  burghers  admitted 
into  the  king’s  service  and  acting  as  administrators  or  judges  in  his 
name,  that  communal  independence  and  charters  were  often  attacked 
and  abolished ; but  at  the  same  time  they  fortified  and  elevated 
burgherdom,  they  caused  it  to  acquire  from  day  to  day  more  wealth, 
more  credit,  more  importance  and  power  in  the  internal  and  external 
affairs  of  the  State. 

Philip  the  Handsome  was  under  no  delusion  when  in  1302, 

1308  and  1314,  on  convoking  the  first  states-general  of  France,  he 
summoned  thither  utlie  deputies  of  the  good  towns.”  His  son, 

Philip  the  Long,  was  under  no  delusion  when  in  1317  and  1321 
he  summoned  to  the  states-general  “the  commonalties  and  good 
towns  of  the  kingdom  ” to  decide  upon  the  interpretation  of  the 
Salic  law  as  to  the  succession  to  the  throne,  “ or  to  advise  as  to  the 
means  of  establishing  a uniformity  of  coins,  weights,  and  measures 
and  the  three  estates  played  the  prelude  to  the  formation,  painful 
and  slow  as  it  was,  of  constitutional  monarchy  when,  in  1338, 
under  Philip  of  Valois,  they  declared,  “in  presence  of  the  said 


History  of  France . 


The  Third 
Estate  in 
France  a 
unique 
fact, 


proved  by 
a survey  of 
ancient 
history. 


138 

king,  Philip  of  Valois,  who  assented  thereto,  that  there  should  be 
no  power  to  impose  or  levy  talliage  in  France  if  urgent  necessity  or 
evident  utility  did  not  require  it,  and  then  only  by  grant  of  the 
people  of  the  estates.” 

Taking  the  history  of  France  in  its  entirety  and  under  all  its 
phases,  the  third  estate  has  been  the  most  active  and  determining 
element  in  the  process  of  French  civilization.  If  we  follow  it  in 
its  relation  with  the  general  government  of  the  country,  we  see  it 
at  first  allied  for  six  centuries  to  the  kingship,  struggling  without 
cessation  against  the  feudal  aristocracy,  and  giving  predominance  in 
place  thereof  to  a single  central  power,  pure  monarchy,  closely 
bordering,  though  with  some  frequently  repeated  but  rather  useless 
reservations,  on  absolute  monarchy.  But,  so  soon  as  it  had  gained 
this  victory  and  brought  about  this  revolution,  the  third  estate 
went  in  pursuit  of  a new  one,  attacking  that  single  power  to  the 
foundation  of  which  it  had  contributed  so  much,  and  entering  upon 
the  task  of  changing  pure  monarchy  into  constitutional  monarchy. 

This  fact  is  unique  in  the  history  of  the  world.  We  recognize 
in  the  career  of  the  chief  nations  of  Asia  and  ancient  Europe  nearly 
all  the  great  facts  which  have  agitated  France;  but  nowhere  is 
there  any  appearance  of  a class  which,  starting  from  the  very  lowest, 
from  being  feeble,  despised,  and  almost  imperceptible  at  its  origin, 
rises  by  perpetual  motion  and  by  labour  without  respite,  strengthens 
itself  from  period  to  period,  acquires  in  succession  whatever  it 
lacked,  wealth,  enlighterment,  influence,  changes  the  face  of  society 
and  the  nature  of  government,  and  arrives  at  last  ,at  such  a pitch  of 
predominance  that  it  may  be  said  to  be  absolutely  the  country. 

Let  us  pass  to  the  Europe  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  At  the 
first  blush  we  seem  to  discover  some  analogy  between  the  pro- 
gress of  these  brilliant  societies  and  that  of  French  society ; but 
the  analogy  is  only  apparent ; there  is,  once  more,  nothing 
resembling  the  fact  and  the  history  of  the  French  third  estate. 
One  thing  only  has  struck  sound  judgments  as  being  somewhat 
like  the  struggle  of  burgherdom  in  the  middle  ages  against  the 
feudal  aristocracy,  and  that  is  the  struggle  between  the  plebeians 
and  patricians  at  Rome.  They  have  often  been  compared ; but  it 
is  a baseless  comparison.  The  struggle  between  the  plebeians  and 
patricians  commenced  from  the  very  cradle  of  the  Roman  republic  ; 
it  was  not,  as  happened  in  the  France  of  middle  ages,  the  result 
of  a slow,  difficult,  incomplete  development  on  the  part  of  a class 
which,  through  a long  course  of  great  inferiority  in  strength,  wealth, 
and  credit,  little  by  little,  extended  itself  and  raised  itself,  and 
ended  by  engaging  in  a real  contest  with  the  superior  class. 


National  character  of  the  Third  Estate . 


139 


Not  only  is  the  fact  new,  but  it  is  a fact  eminently  French,  and  shown 
essentially  national.  Nowhere  has  burgherdom  had  so  wide  and  S^J 
so  productive  a career  as  that  which  fell  to  its  lot  in  France.  There  tional. 
have  been  communes  in  the  whole  of  Europe,  in  Italy,  Spain, 

Germany,  and  England,  as  well  as  in  France.  Not  only  have  there 
been  communes  every  where,  but  the  communes  of  France  are  not 
those  which,  as  communes,  under  that  name  and  in  the  middle  ages, 
have  played  the  chiefest  part  and  taken  the  highest  place  in  his- 
tory. The  Italian  communes  were  the  parents  of  glorious  republics. 

The  German  communes  became  free  and  sovereign  towns,  which 
had  their  own  special  history,  and  exercised  a great  deal  of  influence 
upon  the  general  history  of  Germany.  The  communes  of  England 
made  alliance  with  a portion  of  the  English  feudal  aristocracy, 
formed  with  it  the  preponderating  house  in  the  British  government, 
and  thus  played,  full  early,  a mighty  part  in  the  history  of  their 
country.  Far  were  the  French  communes,  under  that  name  and  in 
their  day  of  special  activity,  from  rising  to  such  political  im- 
portance and  to  such  historical  rank.  And  yet  it  is  in  France 
that  the  people  of  the  communes,  the  burgherdom,  reached  the 
most  complete  and  most  powerful  development,  and  ended  by 
acquiring  the  most  decided  preponderance  in  the  general  social 
structure.  There  have  been  communes,  we  say,  throughout 
Europe  ; but  there  has  not  really  been  a victorious  third  estate  any 
where,  save  in  France. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  HUNDRED  YEARS*  WAR. 

A.D.  1328.  In  the  fourteenth  century  a new  and  a vital  question  arose : will 
of^VafoiJ1*  ■^renc^1  dominion  preserve  its  nationality  ? Will  the  kingship 
king-  of  ’ remain  French  or  pass  to  the  foreigner  ? This  question  brought 
France.  ravages  upon  France  and  kept  her  fortunes  in  suspense  for  a 
hundred  years  of  war  with  England,  from  the  reign  of  Philip  of 
Yalois  to  that  of  Charles  VII.  ; and  a young  girl  of  Lorraine, 
called  Joan  of  Arc,  had  the  glory  of  communicating  to  France 
that  decisive  impulse  which  brought  to  a triumphant  issue  the 
independence  of  the  French  nation  and  kingship. 

Some  weeks  after  his  accession,  on  the  29th  of  May,  132$, 
Philip  was  crowned  at  Kheims,  in  presence  of  a brilliant  assemblage 
of  princes  and  lords,  French  and  foreign  ; next  year,  on  the  6th  of 
June,  Edward  III.,  king  of  England,  being  summoned  to  fulfil  a 
vassal’s  duties  by  doing  homage  to  the  king  of  France  for  the 
duchy  of  Aquitaine,  which  he  held,  appeared  in  the  cathedral  of 
Amiens,  with  his  crown  on  his  head,  his  sword  at  his  side,  and  his 
gilded  spurs  on  his  heels  ; and  on  the  30th  of  March,  1331,  he 
recognized,  by  letters  express,  “ that  the  said  homage  which  we  did 
at  Amiens  to  the  king  of  France  in  general  terms,  is,  and  must  be 
understood  as  liege  : and  that  we  are  bound,  as  duke  of  Aquitaine, 
and  peer  of  France,  to  show  him  faith  and  loyalty.” 

The  relations  between  the  two  kings  were  not  destined  to  be  for 
long  so  courteous  and  so  pacific. 


141 


Relations  between  France  and  England. 


Philip  VI.  had  embroiled  himself  with  a prince  of  his  line, 

Robert  of  Artois,  great-grandson  of  Robert  the  first  count  of 
Artois,  who  was  a brother  of  St.  Louis,  and  was  killed  during  the 
crusade  in  Egypt,  at  the  battle  of  Mansourah.  As  early  as  the 
reign  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  Robert  claimed  the  countship  of 
Artois  as  his  heritage ; but  having  had  his  pretensions  rejected  by 
a decision  of  the  peers  of  the  kingdom,  he  had  hoped  for  more 
success  under  Philip  of  Yalois,  whose  sister  he  had  married. 

Philip  tried  to  satisfy  him  with  another  domain  raised  to  a peerage  ; 
but  Robert,  more  and  more  discontented,  got  involved  in  a series  of  A.D.  1332. 
intrigues,  plots,  falsehoods,  forgeries,  and  even,  according  to  public 
report,  imprisonments  and  crimes  which,  in  1332,  led  to  his  being  Artois, 

condemned  by  the  court  of  peers  to  banishment  and  the  confiscation  sentenc  d 

i bamsl' " 

of  his  property.  He  fled  for  refuge  first  to  Brabant,  and  then  to  ment. 

England,  to  the  court  of  Edward  III.,  who  received  him  graciously, 

and  whom  he  forthwith  commenced  inciting  to  claim  the  crown  of 


France,  “his  inheritance,”  as  he  said,  “which  King  Philip  holds 
most  wrongfully.”  In  the  soul  of  Edward  temptation  overcame 
indecision.  As  early  as  the  month  of  June,  1336,  in  a parliament 
assembled  at  Northampton,  he  had  complained  of  the  assistance 
given  by  the  king  of  France  to  the  Scots,  and  he  had  expressed  a 
hope  that  “ if  the  French  and  the  Scots  were  to  join,  they  would 
at  last  offer  him  battle,  which  the  latter  had  always  carefully 
avoided.”  In  September  of  the  same  year  he  employed  similar 
language  in  a parliament  held  at  Nottingham,  and  he  obtained 
therefrom  subsidies  for  the  war  going  on,  not  only  in  Scotland,  but 
also  in  Aquitaine  against  the  French  king’s  lieutenants.  In  April 
and  May  of  the  following  year,  1337,  he  granted  to  Robert  of 
Artois,  his  tempter  for  three  years  past,  court  favours  which  proved 
his  resolution  to  have  been  already  taken.  On  the  21st  of  August 
following  he  formally  declared  war  against  the  king  of  France,  and  dec'ares 
addressed  to  all  the  sheriffs,  archbishops,  and  bishops  of  his 
kingdom  a circular  in  which  he  attributed  the  initiative  to  Philip  ; France, 
on  the  26th  of  August  he  gave  his  ally,  the  emperor  of  Germany, 
notice  of  what  he  had  just  done,  whilst,  for  the  first  time,  insult- 
ingly describing  Philip  as  “ setting  himself  up  for  king  of  France.” 

At  last,  on  the  7th  of  October,  1337,  he  proclaimed  himself  king  of 
France,  as  his  lawful  inheritance,  designating  as  representatives 
and  supporters  of  his  right  the  duke  of  Brabant,  the  marquis 
of  Juliers,  the  count  of  Hainault,  and  William  de  Bohun,  earl  of 
Northampton. 

The  enterprise  had  no  foundation  in  right,  and  seemed  to  have 
few  chances  of  success.  No  national  interest,  no  public  ground 


History  of  France. 


His  policy. 

AD.  1340. 
Assumes 
tlie  title 
of  king  of 
France. 


Victory  of 
Sluys 
(June  24). 


142 

was  provocative  of  war  between  the  two  peoples ; it  was  a war  of 
personal  ambition  like  that  which  in  the  eleventh  century  William 
the  Conqueror  had  carried  into  England.  The  memory  of  that 
great  event  was  still  in  the  fourteenth  century  so  fresh  in  France, 
that  when  the  pretensions  of  Edward  were  declared,  and  the 
struggle  was  begun,  an  assemblage  of  Normans,  barons  and  knights, 
or,  according  to  others,  the  Estates  of  Normandy  themselves  came 
and  proposed  to  Philip  to  undertake  once  more  and  at  their  own 
expense  the  conquest  of  England,  if  he  would  put  at  their  head  his 
eldest  son  John,  their  own  duke.  The  king  received  their  depu- 
tation at  Vincennes,  on  the  23rd  of  March,  1339,  and  accepted 
their  offer.  They  bound  themselves  to  supply  for  the  expedition 
4000  men-at-arms  and  20,000  foot,  whom  they  promised  to  main- 
tain for  ten  weeks  and  even  a fortnight  beyond,  if,  when  the  duke 
of  Normandy  had  crossed  to  England,  his  council  should  consider 
the  prolongation  necessary. 

Edward  III.,  though  he  had  proclaimed  himself  king  of  France, 
did  not  at  the  outset  of  his  claim  adopt  the  policy  of  a man  firmly 
resolved  and  burning  to  succeed.  From  1337  to  1340  he  behaved 
as  if  he  were  at  strife  with  the  count  of  Flanders  rather  than  with 
the  king  of  France. 

He  obtained  the  support  of  the  famous  brewer  Van  Artevelde, 
head  of  the  populace  of  Ghent,  and  so  a French  prince  and  a 
Flemish  burgher  prevailed  upon  the  king  of  England  to  pursue,  as 
in  assertion  of  his  avowed  rights,  the  conquest  of  the  kingdom  of 
France.  King,  prince,  and  burgher  fixed  Ghent  as  their  place  of 
meeting  for  the  official  conclusion  of  the  alliance ; and  there,  in 
January,  1340,  the  mutual  engagement  was  signed  and  sealed.  The 
king  of  England  “ assumed  the  arms  of  France  quartered  with 
those  of  England,”  and  thenceforth  took  the  title  of  king  of  France. 

Then  burst  forth  in  reality  that  war  which  was  to  last  a hundred 
years ; which  was  to  bring  upon  the  two  nations  the  most  violent 
struggles  as  well  as  the  most  cruel  sufferings,  and  which,  at  the 
end  of  a hundred  years,  was  to  end  in  the  salvation  of  France  from 
her  tremendous  peril,  and  the  defeat  of  England  in  her  unrighteous 
attempt.  In  January,  1340,  Edward  thought  he  had  won  the 
most  useful  of  allies ; Artevelde  thought  the  independence  of  the 
Flemish  communes  and  his  own  supremacy  in  his  own  country 
secured  ; and  Robert  d'Artois  thought  with  complacency  how  he 
had  gratified  his  hatred  for  Philip  of  Valois.  And  all  three  were 
deceiving  themselves  in  their  joy  and  their  confidence.  A brilliant 
victory  which  Edward  gained  at  Sluys  (1340)  struck  a serious 
blow  at  the  French  navy ; a truce  followed,  which  was  concluded 


Succession  to  the  Duchy  of  Brittany. 


143 


on  the  25th  of  September,  1340,  at  first  for  nine  months,  and  was  Treaty 
afterwards  renewed  on  several  occasions  up  to  the  month  of  June, 

1342.  Neither  sovereign,  and  none  of  their  allies  gave  up  any  thing 
or  bound  themselves  to  any  thing  more  than  not  to  fight  during 
that  interval ; but  they  were,  on  both  sides,  without  the  power  of 
carrying  011  without  pause  a struggle  which  they  would  not  entirely 
abandon. 

An  unexpected  incident  led  to  its  recommencement  in  spite  of 
the  truce ; not,  however,  throughout  France,  or  directly  between 
the  two  kings,  but  with  fiery  fierceness,  though  it  was  limited  to  a 
single  province,  and  arose  not  in  the  name  of  the  kingship  of 
France  but  out  of  a purely  provincial  question.  John  III.,  duke  of 
Brittany  and  a faithful  vassal  of  Philip  of  Yalois,  died  suddenly  at 
Caen,  on  the  30th  of  April,  1341,  on  returning  to  his  domain. 

Though  he  had  been  thrice  married  he  left  no  child.  The  duchy  of  Succession 
Brittany  then  reverted  to  his  brothers  or  their  posterity  ; but  his  ^ 

very  next  brother,  Guy,  count  of  Penthievre,  had  been  dead  six  Brittany, 
years  and  had  left  only  a daughter,  Joan  called  the  Cripple,  mar- 
ried to  Charles  of  Blois,  nephew  of  the  king  of  France.  The  third 
brother  was  still  alive  ; he,  too,  was  named  John,  had  from  his 
mother  the  title  of  count  of  Montfort,  and  claimed  to  be  heir  to 
the  duchy  of  Brittany  in  preference  to  his  niece  Joan.  The  niece, 
on  the  contrary,  believed  in  her  own  right  to  the  exclusion  of  her 
uncle.  At  the  death  of  John  III.,  his  brother,  the  count  of  Mont- 
fort, immediately  put  himself  in  possession  of  the  inheritance, 
seized  the  principal  Breton  towns,  Nantes,  Brest,  Bennes,  and 
Vannes,  and  crossed  over  to  England,  to  secure  the  support  of 
Edward  III.  His  rival,  Charles  of  Blois,  appealed  to  the  decision 
of  the  king  of  France,  his  uncle  and  natural  protector.  Philip  of 
Yalois  thus  found  himself  the  champion  of  succession  in  the  female 
line  in  Brittany,  whilst  he  was  himself  reigning  in  France  by  virtue 
of  the  Salic  law,  and  Edward  III.  took  up  in  Brittany  the  defence 
of  succession  in  the  male  line,  which  he  was  disputing  and  fighting 

against  in  France.  Philip  and  his  court  of  peers  declared  on  the  A D: 

0 A Decision 

7th  of  September,  1341,  that  Brittany  belonged  to  Charles  of  of  the 
Blois,  who  at  once  did  homage  for  it  to  the  king  of  France,  whilst  court  of 
John  of  Montfort  demanded  and  obtained  the  support  of  the  king  peers* 
of  England.  War  broke  out  between  the  two  claimants,  effectually 
supported  by  the  two  kings,  who  nevertheless  were  not  supposed  to 
make  war  upon  one  another  and  in  their  own  dominions.  twe^nJean 

If  the  two  parties  had  been  reduced  for  leaders  to  the  two  de  Mont- 


claimants  only,  the  war  would  not,  perhaps,  have  lasted  long.  In 
the  first  campaign  the  count  of  Montfort  was  made  prisoner  at  the  Blois. 


fort  and 
Charles  de 


14+ 


History  of  France. 


Death  of 
the  count 
of  Mont- 
fort. 


A.D.  1361 
Battle  of 
Auray 
(Sept.  29). 


siege  of  Kantes,  carried  off  to  Paris  and  shut  up  in  the  tower  of  the 
Louvre,  whence  he  did  not  escape  until  three  years  were  over.  The 
countess  his  wife  all  the  while  strove  for  his  cause  with  the  same 
indefatigable  energy.  He  escaped  in  1345,  crossed  over  to  England, 
swore  fealty  and  homage  to  Edward  III.  for  the  duchy  of  Brittany, 
and  immediately  returned  to  take  in  hand,  himself,  his  own 
cause.  But  in  that  very  year,  on  the  26th  of  September,  1345, 
he  died  at  the  Castle  of  Hennebon,  leaving  once  more  his  wife, 
with  a young  child,  alone  at  the  head  of  his  party  and  having  in 
charge  the  future  of  his  house.  The  Countess  Joan  maintained 
the  rights  and  interests  of  her  son  as  she  had  maintained  those  of 
her  husband.  For  nineteen  years,  she,  with  the  help  of  England, 
struggled  against  Charles  of  Blois,  the  head  of  a party  growing  more 
and  more  powerful,  and  protected  by  France.  Fortune  shifted  her 
favours  and  her  asperities  from  one  camp  to  the  other.  Charles  of 
Blois  had  at  first  pretty  considerable  success  ; but,  on  the  18th  of 
June,  1347,  in  a battle  in  which  he  personally  displayed  a brilliant 
courage,  he  was  in  his  turn  made  prisoner,  carried  to  England,  and 
immured  in  the  Tower  of  London.  There  he  remained  nine  years. 
But  he  too  had  a valiant  and  indomitable  wife,  Joan  of  Penthievre, 
the  Cripple.  She  did  for  her  husband  what  Joan  of  Montfort 
■was  doing  for  hers.  All  the  time  that  he  was  a prisoner  in  the 
Tower  of  London,  she  was  the  soul  and  the  head  of  his  party,  in 
the  open  country  as  well  as  in  the  towns,  turning  to  profitable 
account  the  inclinations  of  the  Breton  population,  whom  the 
presence  and  the  ravages  of  the  English  had  excited  against  John  of 
Montfort  and  his  cause.  During  nine  years,  from  1347  to  1356, 
the  two  Joans  were  the  two  heads  of  their  parties  in  politics  and  in 
war.  Charles  of  Blois  at  last  obtained  his  liberty  from  Edward 
III.  on  hard  conditions,  and  returned  to  Brittany  to  take  up  the 
conduct  of  his  own  affairs.  The  struggle  between  the  two 
claimants  still  lasted  eight  years  with  vicissitudes  ending  in 
nothing  definite,  and  on  the  29th  of  September,  1364,  the  battle  of 
Auray  cost  Charles  of  Blois  his  life  and  the  countship  of  Brittany. 
From  that  day  forth  John  of  Montfort  remained  in  point  of  fact 
duke  of  Brittany,  and  Joan  of  Penthievre,  the  Cripple,  the  proud 
princess  who  had  so  obstinately  defended  her  rights  against  him, 
survived  for  full  twenty  years  the  death  of  her  husband  and  the 
loss  of  her  duchy. 

Whilst  the  two  Joans  were  exhibiting  in  Brittany,  for  the 
preservation  or  the  recovery  of  their  little  dominion,  so  much  energy 
and  persistency,  another  Joan,  no  princess,  but  not  the  less  a 
heroine,  was,  in  no  other  interest  than  the  satisfaction  of  her  love 


Joan  de  Belleville.  1 45 

and  her  vengeance,  making  war,  all  by  herself,  on  the  same  terri- 
tory. Several  Norman  and  Breton  lords,  and  amongst  others 
Oliver  de  Clisson  and  Godfrey  d’Harcourt  were  suspected,  nomi- 
nally attached  as  they  were  to  the  king  of  France,  of  having  mado 
secret  overtures  to  the  king  of  England.  Philip  of  Yalois  had  them 
arrested  at  a tournament,  and  had  them  beheaded  without  any 
form  of  trial,  in  the  middle  of  the  market-place  at  Paris,  to  the 
number  of  fourteen.  The  head  of  Clisson  was-  sent  to  Nantes,  and 
exposed  on  one  of  the  gates  of  the  city.  At  the  news  thereof,  his 
widow,  Joan  of  Belleville,  attended  by  several  men  of  family,  her 
neighbours  and  friends,  set  out  for  a castle  occupied  by  the  troops 
of  Philip’s  candidate,  Charles  of  Blois.  The  fate  of  Clisson  was 
not  yet  known  there  ; it  was  supposed  that  his  wife  was  on  a 
hunting  excursion ; and  she  was  admitted  without  distrust.  As 
soon  as  she  was  inside,  the  blast  of  a horn  gave  notice  to  her 
followers,  whom  she  had  left  concealed  in  the  neighbouring  woods. 
They  rushed  up  and  took  possession  of  the  castle ; and  J oan  de 
Clisson  had  all  the  inhabitants — but  one — put  to  the  sword.  But 
this  was  too  little  for  her  grief  and  her  zeal.  At  the  head  of  her 
troops,  augmented,  she  scoured  the  country  and  seized  several 
places,  every  wThere  driving  out  or  putting  to  death  the  servants  of 
the  king  of  France.  Philip  confiscated  the  property  of  the  house 
of  Clisson.  Joan  moved  from  land  to  sea.  She  manned  several 
vessels,  attacked  the  French  ships  she  fell  in  with,  ravaged  the 
coasts,  and  ended  by  going  and  placing  at  the  service  of  the 
countess  of  Montfort  her  hatred  and  her  son,  a boy  of  seven  years 
of  age  whom  she  had  taken  with  her  in  all  her  expeditions,  and 
who  was  afterwards  the  great  constable  Oliver  de  Clisson.  Ac- 
cordingly the  war  for  the  duchy  of  Brittany  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury has  been  called  in  history  the  war  of  the  three  Joans. 

Although  Edward  III.  by  supporting  with  troops  and  officers, 
and  sometimes  even  in  person,  the  cause  of  the  countess  of  Mont- 
fort— and  Philip  of  Yalois,  by  assisting  in  the  same  way  Charles  of 
Blois  and  Joan  of  Penthievre,  took  a very  active,  if  indirect,  share 
in  the  war  in  Brittany,  the  two  kings  persisted  in  not  calling 
themselves  at  war ; and  when  either  of  them  proceeded  to  acts  of 
unquestionable  hostility,  they  eluded  the  consequences  of  them  by 
hastily  concluding  truces  incessantly  violated  and  as  incessantly 
renewed.  They  had  made  use  of  this  expedient  in  1340  ; and  they 
had  recourse  to  it  again  in  1342,  1343,  and  1344.  The  last  of  these 
truces  was  to  have  lasted  up  to  1346  ; but,  in  the  spring  of  1345, 
Edward  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  this  equivocal  position,  and  to 
openly  recommence  wTar.  He  announced  his  intention  to  Pope 

L 


The  war  of 
the  “ three 
Joans.”’ 


A.D.  1340 
—1346. 
Truces  be- 
tween the 
Fi  each  and 
the  Eng- 
lish. 


146 


History  of  France. 


Clement  IV.,  to  liis  own  lieutenants  in  Brittany,  and  to  all  tlie 
cities  and  corporations  of  his  kingdom.  The  tragic  death  of  Van 
Artevelde,  however,  (1345)  proved  a great  loss  to  the  king  of 
England.  He  was  so  much  affected  by  it  that  he  required  a whole 
year  before  he  could  resume  with  any  confidence  his  projects  of 
A.D.  1346.  war ; and  it  was  not  until  the  2nd  of  July,  1346,  that  he  embarked 
of  France  Southampton,  taking  with  him,  besides  his  son  the  prince  of 
by  the  Wales,  hardly  sixteen  years  of  age,  an  army  which  comprised, 
English,  according  to  Froissart,  seven  earls,  more  than  thirty-five  barons,  a 
great  number  of  knights,  four  thousand  men-at-arms,  ten  thousand 
English  archers,  six  thousand  Irish  and  twelve  thousand  Welsh 
infantry,  in  all  something  more  than  thirty-two  thousand  men.  By 
the  advice  of  Godfrey  d’Harcourt,  he  marched  his  army  over  Nor- 
mandy ; he  took  and  plundered  on  his  way  Barfleur,  Cherbourg, 
Valognes,  Carentan,  St.  Lo,  and  Caen ; then,  continuing  his  march, 
he  occupied  Louviers,  Vernon,  Verneuil,  Mantes,  Meulan,  and 
Poissy,  where  he  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  old  residence  of  King 
Robert ; and  thence  his  troops  advanced  and  spread  themselves  as 
far  as  Buel,  Neuilly,  Boulogne,  St.  Cloud,  Bourg-la-Beine  and 
almost  to  the  gates  of  Paris,  whence  could  be  seen  “ the  fire  and 
smoke  from  burning  villages.”  Philip  recalled  in  all  haste  his 
troops  from  Aquitaine,  commanded  the  burgher-forces  to  assemble, 
and  gave  them,  as  he  had  given  all  his  allies,  St.  Denis  for  the 
rallying-point.  At  sight  of  so  many  great  lords  and  all  sorts  of 
men  of  war  flocking  together  from  all  points,  the  Parisians  took 
fresh  courage.  “For  many  a long  day  there  had  not  been  at  St. 
Denis  a king  of  France  in  arms  and  fully  prepared  for  battle.” 
Edward  began  to  be  afraid  of  having  pushed  too  far  forward,  and 
of  finding  himself  endangered  in  the  heart  of  France,  confronted 
by  an  army  which  would  soon  be  stronger  than  his  own.  He,  ac- 
cordingly, marched  northward,  where  he  flattered  himself  he  would 
find  partisans,  counting  especially  on  the  help  of  the  Flemings, 
who,  in  fulfilment  of  their  promise,  had  already  advanced  as  far  as 
Bethune  to  support  him.  Philip  moved  with  all  his  army  into 
Picardy  in  pursuit  of  the  English  army,  which  was  in  a hurry  to 
reach  and  cross  the  Somme,  and  so  continue  its  march  northward. 
Battle  of ^ When  Edward,  after  passing  the  Somme,  had  arrived  near  Crecy, 

Crecy  five  leagues  from  Abbeville,  in  the  countship  of  Ponthieu,  which 
(Aug.  25).  had  formed  part  of  his  mother  Isabel’s  dowry,  “Halt  we  here,” 
said  he  to  his  marshals ; “ I will  go  no  farther  till  I have  seen  the 
enemy  ; I am  on  my  mother’s  rightful  inheritance,  which  was  given 
her  on  her  marriage ; I will  defend  it  against  mine  adversary, 
Philip  of  Valois and  he  rested  in  the  open  fields,  he  and  all  his 


Battle  of  Crecy. 


H7 


men,  and  made  his  marshals  mark  well  the  ground  where  they 
would  set  their  battle  in  array.  Philip,  on  his  side,  had  moved 
to  Abbeville,  where  all  his  men  came  and  joined  him,  and  whence 
he  sent  out  scouts  to  learn  the  truth  about  the  English.  When  he 
knew  that  they  were  resting  in  the  open  fields  near  Crecy  and 
showed  that  they  were  awaiting  their  enemies,  the  king  of  France 
was  very  joyful,  and  said  that,  please  God,  they  should  fight  him 
on  the  morrow  [the  day  after  Friday,  Aug.  25,  1346]. 

On  Saturday,  the  26th  of  August,  after  having  heard 
mass,  Philip  started  from  Abbeville  with  all  his  barons.  The 
battle  began  with  an  attack  by  15,000  Genoese  bowmen,  who 
marched  forward,  and  leaped  thrice  with  a great  cry  : their  arrows 
did  little  execution,  as  the  strings  of  their  bows  had  been 
relaxed  by  the  damp  ; the  English  archers  now  taking  their  Genoese 
bows  from  their  cases,  poured  forth  a shower  of  arrows  upon  this 
multitude,  and  soon  threw  them  into  confusion : the  Genoese  falling 
back  upon  the  French  cavalry,  were  by  them  cut  to  pieces,  and 
being  allowed  no  passage,  were  thus  prevented  from  again  forming 
in  the  rear : this  absurd  inhumanity  lost  the  battle,  as  the  young 
Prince  of  Wales,  taking  advantage  of  the  irretrievable  disorder, 
led  on  his  line  at  once  to  the  charge.  “No  one  can  describe  or 
imagine,”  says  Froissart,  “the  bad  management  and  disorder  of  the 
French  army,  though  their  troops  were  out  of  number.”  Philip 
was  led  from  the  field  by  John  of  Hainault,  and  he  rode  till  he 
came  to  the  walls  of  the  castle  of  Broye,  where  he  found  the  gates 
shut : ordering  the  governor  to  be  summoned,  when  the  latter  en- 
quired, it  being  dark,  who  it  was  that  called  at  so  late  an  hour,  he 
answered:  “Open,  open,  governor;  it  is  the  fortune  of  France 
and  accompanied  by  five  barons  only  he  entered  the  castle. 

Whilst  Philip,  with  all  speed,  was  on  the  road  back  to  Paris  with  sieg?  of 
his  army,  as  disheartened  as  its  king,  and  more  disorderly  in  retreat  (Septem 
than  it  had  been  in  battle,  Edward  was  hastening,  with  ardour  and  ber  3). 
intelligence,  to  reap  the  fruits  of  his  victory.  In  the  difficult  war 
of  conquest  he  had  undertaken,  what  was  clearly  of  most  importance 
to  him  was  to  possess  on  the  coast  of  France,  as  near  as  possible  to 
England,  a place  which  he  might  make,  in  his  operations  by  land 
and  sea,  a point  of  arrival  and  departure,  of  occupancy,  of  pro- 
visioning and  of  secure  refuge.  Calais  exactly  fulfilled  these  con- 
ditions. On  arriving  before  the  place,  September  3rd,  1346, 

Edward  “ immediately  had  built  all  round  it,”  says  Froissart, 

“houses  and  dwelling-places  of  solid  carpentry  and  arranged  in 
streets  as  if  he  were  to  remain  there  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  for  his 
intention  was  not  to  leave  it  winter  or  summer,  whatever  time  and 

L 2 


143 


History  of  France. 

whatever  trouble  he  must  spend  and  take.  He  called  this  new 
town  Viileneuve  la  Hardie  ; and  he  had  therein  all  things  necessary 
for  an  army,  and  more  too,  as  a place  appointed  for  the  holding  of 
a market  on  W ednesday  and  Saturday ; and  therein  were  mercers’ 
shops  and  butchers’  shops,  and  stores  for  the  sale  of  cloth  and 
bread  and  all  other  necessaries.  King  Edward  did  not  have  the 
city  of  Calais  assaulted  by  his  men,  well  knowing  that  he  would 
lose  his  pains,  but  said  he  would  starve  it  out,  however  long  a time 
it  might  cost  him,  if  King  Philip  of  Erance  did  not  come  to  fight 
him  again,  and  raise  the  siege.” 

Calais  had  for  its  governor  John  de  Yienne,  a valiant  and  faithful 
Burgundian  knight,  “ the  which  seeing,”  says  Froissart,  “ that  the 
king  of  England  was  making  every  sacrifice  to  keep  up  the  siege, 
ordered  that  all  sorts  of  small  folk,  who  had  no  provisions,  should 
quit  the  city  without  further  notice.  The  Calaisians  endured  for 
eleven  months  all  the  sufferings  arising  from  isolation  and  famine. 
The  king  of  France  made  two  attempts  to  relieve  them.  On  the 
20th  of  May,  1347,  he  assembled  his  troops  at  Amiens;  but  they 
were  not  ready  to  march  till  about  the  middle  of  July,  and  as  long 
before  as  the  23rd  of  June  a French  fleet  of  ten  galleys  and  thirty- 
five  transports  had  been  driven  off  by  the  English. 

Surrend  r When  the  people  of  Calais  saw  that  all  hope  of  a rescue  had 
Calaisiars  s^*PPe(i  from  them,  they  held  a council,  resigned  themselves  to  offer 
submission  to  the  king  of  England  rather  than  die  of  hunger,  and 
begged  their  governor,  John  de  Yienne,  to  enter  into  negotiations 
for  that  purpose  with  the  besiegers.  Walter  de  Manny,  instructed 
by  Edward  to  reply  to  these  overtures,  said  to  John  de  Yienne, 
“The  king’s  intent  is  that  ye  put  yourselves  at  his  free  will  to  ransom 
or  put  to  death  such  as  it  shall  please  him ; the  people  of  Calais 
have  caused  him  so  great  displeasure,  cost  him  so  much  money  and 
lost  him  so  many  men,  that  it  is  not  astonishing  if  that  weighs 
heavily  upon  him.”  In  his  final  answer  to  the  petition  of  the 
unfortunate-  inhabitants,  Edward  said,  “ Go,  Walter,  to  them  of 
Calais,  and  tell  the  governor  that  the  greatest  grace  they  can  find 
in  my  sight  is  that  six  of  the  most  notable  burghers  come  forth 
from  their  town  bare-headed,  bare-footed,  with  ropes  round  their 
necks  and  with  the  keys  of  the  town  and  castle  in  their  hands. 
With  them  I will  do  according  to  my  will,  and  the  rest  I will  receive 
Eustace  de  to  mercy.”  It  is  well  known  how  the  king  would  have  put  to 
St.  Pierre,  Eustace  de  St.  Pierre  and  his  companions,  and  how  their 

lives  were  spared  at  the  intercession  of  Queen  Philippa. 

Eustace,  more  concerned  for  the  interests  of  his  own  town  than 
for  those  of  France,  and  being  more  of  a Calaisian  burgher  than  a 


The  Plague. — Death  of  Philip  VI. 


149 


national  patriot,  showed  no  hesitation,  for  all  that  appears,  in 
serving,  as  a subject  of  the  king  of  England,  his  native  city  for 
which  he  had  shown  himself  so  ready  to  die.  At  his  death,  which 
happened  in  1351,  his  heirs  declared  themselves  faithful  subjects 
of  the  king  of  France,  and  Edward  confiscated  away  from  them  the 
possessions  he  had  restored  to  their  predecessor.  Eustace  de  St. 

Pierre’s  cousin  and  comrade  in  devotion  to  their  native  town,  John 
d’Aire,  would  not  enter  Calais  again ; his  property  was  confiscated, 
and  his  house,  the  finest,  it  is  said,  in  the  town,  was  given  by  King 
Edward  to  Queen  Philippa,  who  showed  no  more  hesitation  in 
accepting  it  than  Eustace  in  serving  his  new  king.  Long-lived 
delicacy  of  sentiment  and  conduct  was  rarer  in  those  rough  and 
rude  times  than  heroic  bursts  of  courage  and  devotion. 

The  battle  of  Crecy  and  the  loss  of  Calais  were  reverses  from 
which  Philip  of  Yalois  never  even  made  a serious  attempt  to 
recover ; he  hastily  concluded  with  Edward  a truce,  twice  renewed, 
which  served  only  to  consolidate  the  victor’s  successes.  A calamity 
of  European  extent  came  as  an  addition  to  the  distresses  of  France. 

From  1347  to  1349  a frightful  disease,  brought  from  Egypt  and  A.D.  1347 
Syria  through  the  ports  of  Italy,  and  called  the  black  plague  or  the  plague 
plague  of  Florence , ravaged  Western  Europe,  especially  Provence 
and  Languedoc,  where  it  carried  off,  they  say,  two-thirds  of  the 
inhabitants.  When  the  epidemic  had  well  nigh  disappeared,  the 
survivors,  men  and  women,  princes  and  subjects,  returned  passion- 
ately to  their  pleasures  and  their  galas;  to  mortality,  says  a contempo- 
rary chronicler,  succeeded  a rage  for  marriage ; and  Philip  of  Yalois 
himself,  now  fifty-eight  years  of  age,  took  for  his  second  wife 
Blanche  of  Navarre,  who  was  only  eighteen.  She  was  a sister  of 
that  young  king  of  Navarre,  Charles  II.,  who  was  soon  to  get  the 
name  of  Charles  the  Bad , and  to  become  so  dangerous  an  enemy  of 
Philip’s  successors.  Seven  months  after  his  marriage,  and  on  the 
22nd  of  August,  1350,  Philip  died  at  Nogent-le-Koi  in  the  Haute-  A.D.  1350. 
Marne,  strictly  enjoining  his  son  John  to  maintain  with  vigour  his  °* 
well  ascertained  right  to  the  crown  he  wore,  and  leaving  his  people  (AugP22). 
bowed  down  beneath  a weight  “ of  extortions  so  heavy  that  the 
like  had  never  been  seen  in  the  kingdom  of  France.” 

Only  one  happy  event  distinguished  the  close  of  this  reign.  A3 
early  as  1343  Philip  had  treated,  on  a monetary  basis,  with  Hum- 
bert II.,  count  and  Dauphin  of  Yienness,  for  the  cession  of  that 
beautiful  province  to  the  crown  of  France  after  the  death  of  the 
then  possessor.  Humbert,  an  adventurous  and  fantastic  prince, 
plunged,  in  1346,  into  a crusade  against  the  Turks,  from  which  he 
returned  in  the  following  year  without  having  obtained  any  sue- 


History  of  France. 


AD.  1349. 

Cession  of 
Vienness 
to  France 
(July  16), 


and  of 
Montpel- 
lier (April 
18). 


John  II., 
“the  good” 
king  of 
France. 

His  go- 
vernment. 


150 

cess.  Tired  of  seeking  adventures  as  well  as  of  reigning,  he,  on 
the  16th  of  July,  1349,  before  a solemn  assembly  held  at  Lyons, 
abdicated  his  principality  in  favour  of  Prince  Charles  of  France, 
grandson  of  Philip  of  Yalois  and  afterwards  Charles  Y.  The  new 
dauphin  took  the  oath,  between  the  hands  of  the  bishop  of 
Grenoble,  to  maintain  the  liberties,  franchises  and  privileges 
of  the  Dauphiny  ; and  the  ex-dauphin,  after  having  taken 
holy  orders  and  passed  successively  through  the  archbishopric 
of  Rheims  and  the  bishopric  of  Paris,  both  of  which  he  found 
equally  unpalatable,  went  to  die  at  Clermont  in  Auvergne,  in  a 
convent  belonging  to  the  order  of  Dominicans,  whose  habit  he 
had  donned. 

In  the  same  year,  on  the  18th  of  April,  1349,  Philip  of  Yalois 
bought  of  Jay  me  of  Arragon,  the  last  king  of  Majorca,  for  120,000 
golden  crowns,  the  lordship  and  town  of  Montpellier,  thus  trying 
to  repair  to  some  extent,  for  the  kingdom  of  France,  the  losses  he 
had  caused  it. 

His  successor,  John  II.,  called  the  Good , on  no  other  ground 
than  that  he  was  gay,  prodigal,  credulous  and  devoted  to  his 
favourites,  did  nothing  but  reproduce,  with  aggravations,  the  faults 
and  reverses  of  his  father. 

He  compromised  more  and  more  seriously  every  day  his  own 
safety  and  that  of  his  successor  by  vexing  more  and  more,  without 
destroying,  his  most  dangerous  enemy.  He  showed  no  greater 
prudence  or  ability  in  the  government  of  his  kingdom.  Always  in 
want  of  money,  because  he  spent  it  foolishly  on  galas  or  presents  to 
his  favourites,  he  had  recourse,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  it,  at 
one  time  to  the  very  worst  of  all  financial  expedients,  debasement 
of  the  coinage  ; at  another,  to  disreputable  imposts,  such  as  the  tax 
upon  salt  and  upon  the  sale  of  all  kinds  of  merchandise.  In  the  single 
year  of  1352  the  value  of  a silver  mark  varied  sixteen  times,  from 
4 livres  10  sous  to  18  livres.  To  meet  the  requirements  of  his 
government  and  the  greediness  of  his  courtiers,  John  twice,  in  1355 
and  1356,  convoked  the  states-general,  which  did  not  refuse  him  their 
support ; but  John  had  not  the  wit  either  to  make  good  use  of  the 
powers  with  which  he  was  furnished  or  to  inspire  the  states-general 
with  that  confidence  which  alone  could  decide  them  upon  con- 
tinuing their  gifts.  And,  nevertheless,  King  John’s  necessities 
were  more  evident  and  more  urgent  than  ever  : war  with  England 
had  begun  again. 

The  truth  is  that,  in  spite  of  the  truce  still  existing,  the  English, 
since  the  accession  of  King  John,  had  at  several  points  resumed 
hostilities.  The  disorders  and  dissensions  to  which  France  was  a 


Charles  of  Navarre. — Invasion  of  France 


151 


H s 

t eachery. 


prey,  the  presumptuous  and  hare-brained  incapacity  of  her  new 
king  were  for  so  ambitious  and  able  a prince  as  Edward  III.  very 
strong  temptations.  Nor  did  opportunities  for  attack  and  chances 
of  success  fail  him  any  more  than  temptations.  He  found  in  France, 
amongst  the  grandees  of  the  kingdom  and  even  at  the  king’s  court, 
men  disposed  to  desert  the  cause  of  the  king  and  of  France,  to  serve 
a prince  who  had  more  capacity,  and  who  pretended  to  claim  the 
crown  of  France  as  his  lawful  right.  As  early  as  1351,  amidst  all  Charles 
his  embroilments  and  all  his  reconciliations  with  his  father-in-law,  * 

Charles  the  Bad,  king  of  Navarre,  had  concluded  with  Edward  III.  of  Navarre, 
a secret  treaty,  whereby,  in  exchange  for  promises  he  received,  he 
recognized  his  title  as  king  of  France.  In  1355  his  treason  burst 
forth.  The  king  of  Navarre,  who  had  gone  for  refuge  to  Avignon, 
under  the  protection  of  Pope  Clement  VI.,  crossed  France  by 
English  Aquitaine,  and  went  and  landed  at  Cherbourg,  which  he 
had  an  idea  of  throwing  open  to  the  king  of  England.  He  once  more 
entered  into  communications  with  King  John,  once  more  obtained 
forgiveness  from  him,  and  for  a while  appeared  detached  from  his 
English  alliance.  But  Edward  III.  had  openly  resumed  his  hostile 
attitude ; and  he  demanded  that  Aquitaine  and  the  countship  of 
Ponthieu,  detached  from  the  kingdom  of  France,  should  be  ceded 
to  him  in  full  sovereignty,  and  that  Brittany  should  become  all 
but  independent.  John  haughtily  rejected  these  pretensions,  which 
were  merely  a pretext  for  recommencing  war.  And  it  recommenced 
accordingly,  and  the  king  of  Navarre  resumed  his  course  of  perfidy. 

He  had  lands  and  castles  in  Normandy,  which  John  put  under 
sequestration,  and  ordered  the  officers  commanding  in  them  to 
deliver  up  to  him.  Six  of  them,  the  commandants  of  the  castles  of 
Cherbourg  and  Evreux  amongst  others,  refused,  believing,  no 
doubt,  that  in  betraying  France  and  her  king,  they  were  remaining 
faithful  to  their  own  lord. 

At  several  points  in  the  kingdom,  especially  in  the  northern  Success  of 
provinces,  the  first-fruits  of  the  war  were  not  favourable  for  the  Yaders" 
English.  King  Edward,  who  had  landed  at  Calais  with  a body  of 
troops,  made  an  unsuccessful  campaign  in  Artois  and  Picardy  and 
was  obliged  to  re-embark  for  England,  falling  back  before  King 
John,  whom  he  had  at  one  time  offered  and  at  another  refused  to 
meet  and  fight  at  a spot  agreed  upon.  But  in  the  south-west  and 
south  of  France,  in  1355  and  1356,  the  prince  of  Wales  at  the 
head  of  a small  picked  army  and  with  John  Chandos  for  comrade, 
victoriously  overran  Limousin,  Perigord,  Languedoc,  Auvergne, 

Berry,  and  Poitou,  ravaging  the  country  and  plundering  the  towns 
into  which  he  could  force  an  entrance  and  the  environs  of  those 


152 


History  of  France. 


that  defended  themselves  behind  their  walls.  He  met  with 
scarcely  any  resistance,  and  he  was  returning  by  way  of  Berry  and 
Poitou  hack  again  to  Bordeaux  when  he  heard  that  King  John, 
starting  from  Normandy  with  a large  army,  was  advancing  to  give 
him  battle.  John,  in  fact,  with  easy  self-complacency  and  some- 
The  Prince  what  proud  of  his  petty  successes  against  King  Edward  in  Picardy, 
Southern^  ^a(l  ^een  a ^urry  1°  move  against  the  prince  of  Wales,  in  hopes 
Francs.  of  forcing  him  also  to  re-embark  for  England.  He  was  at  the 
head  of  forty  or  fifty  thousand  men,  with  his  four  sons,  twenty-six 
dukes  or  counts,  and  nearly  all  the  baronage  of  France;  and  such 
was  his  confidence  in  this  noble  army,  that  on  crossing  the  Loire 
he  dismissed  the  burgher  forces,  “ which  was  madness  in  him  and 
in  those  who  advised  him,”  said  even  his  contemporaries.  John, 
even  more  than  his  father  Philip,  was  a king  of  courts,  ever 
surrounded  by  his  nobility  and  caring  little  for  his  people.  When 
the  two  armies  were  close  to  one  another  on  the  platform  of 
Maupertuis,  two  leagues  to  the  north  of  Poitiers,  two  legates  from 
the  pope  came  hurrying  up  from  that  town  with  instructions  to 
negotiate  peace  between  the  kings  of  France,  England,  and 
Navarre.  John  consented  to  an  armistice  of  twenty-four  hours. 
The  prince  of  Wales,  seeing  himself  cut  off  from  Bordeaux  by 
forces  very  much  superior  to  his  own,  for  he  had  hut  eight  or  ten 
thousand  men,  offered  to  restore  to  the  king  of  France  “all  that  he 
had  conquered  this  bout,  both  towns  and  castles,  and  all  the 
prisoners  that  he  and  his  had  taken,  and  to  swear  that,  for  seven 
whole  years,  he  would  hear  arms  no  more  against  the  king  of 
Prance;”  hut  King  John  and  his  council  would  not  accept  any 
thing  of  the  sort,  saying  that  “the  prince  and  a hundred  of  his 
knights  must  come  and  put  themselves  as  prisoners  in  the  hands 
of  the  king  of  France.”  Neither  the  prince  of  Wales  nor  Chandos 
had  any  hesitation  in  rejecting  such  a demand  : “ God  forbid,”  said 
Chandos,  “ that  we  should  go  without  a fight ! If  we  he  taken  or 
discomfited  by  so  many  fine  men-at-arms  and  in  so  great  a host  we 
shall  incur  no  blame ; and  if  the  day  he  for  us  and  fortune  he 
pleased  to  consent  thereto  we  shall  he  the  most  honoured  folk  in 
A.D.  1356.  the  world.”  The  battle  took  place  on  the  19th  of  September, 
Poiriers*  1356,  in  the  morning ; here  as  at  Crecy  it  was  a case  of  undisciplined 
(Sept.  19).  forces,  without  co-operation  or  order,  and  ill-directed  by  their 
commanders,  advancing,  bravely  and  one  after  another,  to  get 
broken  against  a compact  force  under  strict  command,  and  as  docile 
as  heroic.  Two  divisions  of  the  French,  in  which  were  the 
dauphin  and  two  of  his  brothers,  being  repulsed,  precipitately  fled  ; 
but  the  king  himself,  with  his  youngest  son  by  his  side,  a youth  of 


States  General . 


153 

fourteen,  fought  valiantly,  and  endeavoured  to  retrieve  the  disaster 
by  strenuously  continuing  the  contest,  hut  in  vain.  Left  almost 
alone  in  the  field,  John  might  easily  have  been  slain,  had  not 
every  one  been  desirous  of  taking  alive  the  royal  prisoner.  The 
king,  unwilling  to  surrender  himself  to  a person  of  inferior  con- 
dition, still  cried  out,  “Where  is  my  cousin,  the  Prince  of  Wales?” 

At  length,  giving  his  right  hand  gauntled  to  Denis  de  Morbecque, 
a knight  of  Arras,  who  had  been  expelled  from  Prance  for  a 
homicide,  committed  in  an  affray,  he  said,  “Sir  Knight,  I surren- 
der.” He  was  taken  first  to  Bordeaux,  and  then  to  England,  where 
he  remained  a captive,  yet  most  honourably  and  considerately 
treated  by  his  victors. 

The  Dauphin  Charles,  aged  nineteen,  in  spite  of  his  youth  and  his  The  Dau- 
any  thing  but  glorious  retreat  from  Poitiers,  took  the  title  of  lieutenant  gumes  the 
of  the  king,  and  had  hardly  re-entered  Paris,  on  the  29  th  of  September,  govern- 
when  he  summoned,  for  the  15th  of  October,  the  states-general  0f  ment* 
Languedoc,  who  met,  in  point  of  fact,  on  the  17th,  in  the  great 
chamber  of  parliament.  Presh  subsidies  were  granted,  but  only  on 
very  hard  conditions.  The  deputies  demanded  of  Charles  “that  he 
should  deprive  of  their  offices  such  of  the  king’s  councillors  as  they 
should  point  out,  have  them  arrested,  and  confiscate  all  their 
property.  Twenty-two  men  of  note,  the  chancellor,  the  premier 
president  of  the  parliament,  the  king’s  stewards,  and  several 
officers  in  the  household  of  the  dauphin  himself  were  thus  pointed 
out.  They  were  accused  of  having  taken  part  to  their  own  profit 
in  all  the  abuses  for  which  the  Government  w'as  reproached,  and 
of  having  concealed  from  the  king  the  true  state  of  things  and  the 
misery  of  the  people.  The  commissioners  elected  by  the  estates 
were  to  take  proceedings  against  them  : if  they  were  found  guilty, 
they  were  to  be  punished  ; and  if  they  were  innocent,  they  were  at 
the  very  least  to  forfeit  their  office  and  their  property,  on  account 
of  their  bad  counsels  and  their  bad  administration.” 

They  further  insisted  that  the  deputies,  under  the  title  of  re-  Preten- 
formers,  should  traverse  the  provinces  as  a check  upon  the  mal-  deputies1*16 
versations  of  the  royal  officials,  and  that  twenty-eight  delegates, 
chosen  from  amongst  the  three  orders,  four  prelates,  twelve  knights, 
and  twelve  burgesses,  should  be  constantly  placed  near  the  king’s 
person  “ with  power  to  do  and  order  every  thing  in  the  kingdom, 
just  like  the  king  himself,  as  well  for  the  purpose  of  appointing 
and  removing  public  officers  as  for  other  matters.”  It  was  taking 
away  the  entire  government  from  the  crown,  and  putting  it  into 
the  hands  of  the  estates.  Finally,  they  spoke  about  setting  at 
liberty  the  king  of  Navarre,  who  had  been  imprisoned  by  King  John, 


154 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  1358. 

States- 

general. 

Stephen 

Marcel. 


Murc’e ' of 
the  Mar- 
shals. 


and  said  to  the  dauphin  that  “ since  this  deed  of  violence  no  good 
had  come  to  the  king  or  the  kingdom  because  of  the  sin  of  having 
imprisoned  the  said  king  of  Navarre.”  And  yet  Charles  the  Bad 
was  already  as  infamous  as  he  has  remained  in  history ; he  had 
laboured  to  embroil  the  dauphin  with  his  royal  father;  and  there 
was  no  plot  or  intrigue,  whether  with  the  malcontents  in  France 
or  with  the  king  of  England,  in  which  he  was  not,  with  good 
reason,  suspected  of  having  been  mixed  up  and  of  being  ever 
ready  to  be  mixed  up.  He  was  clearly  a dangerous  enemy  for  the 
public  peace  as  well  as  for  the  crown,  and,  for  the  states-general 
who  were  demanding  his  release,  a bad  associate. 

In  the  face  of  such  demands  and  such  forebodings  the  dauphin 
did  all  he  could  to  gain  time.  The  next  year,  however,  the  states 
under  the  direction  of  Stephen  Marcel,  provost  of  the  merchants, 
and  Robert  Lecoq,  bishop  of  Laon,  showed  themselves  still  more 
severe.  Not  content  with  checking  the  authority  of  the  dauphin 
by  setting  Charles  the  Bad  at  liberty,  impeaching  the  ministers, 
and  creating  a commission  of  thirty-six  members,  chosen  from 
amongst  themselves,  and  enjoying  all  the  prerogatives  of  the 
sovereign,  these  revolutionists  of  the  fourteenth  century  entered 
the  Louvre  by  force  Marcel  ascended,  followed  by  a band  of  armed 
men,  to  the  apartments  of  the  dauphin,  “ whom  he  requested  very 
sharply,”  says  Froissart,  “ to  restrain  so  many  companies  from 
roving  about  on  all  sides,  damaging  and  plundering  the  country.” 
The  duke  replied  that  he  would  do  so  willingly  if  he  had  the  where- 
withal to  do  it,  but  that  it  was  for  him  who  received  the  dues 
belonging  to  the  kingdom  to  discharge  that  duty.  “ I know  not 
why  or  how,”  adds  Froissart,  “ but  words  were  multiplied  on  the 
part  of  all,  and  became  very  high.”  “ My  lord  duke,”  suddenly 
said  the  provost,  “do  not  alarm  yourself;  but  we  have  somewhat  to  do 
here ; ” and  turned  towards  his  fellows  in  the  caps,  saying,  “ Dearly 
beloved,  do  that  for  the  which  ye  are  come ; ” the  mob  immediately  mas- 
sacred the  lord  de  Conflans,  marshal  of  Champagne,  and  Robert  de 
.Clermont,  marshal  of  Normandy,  both  at  the  time  unarmed,  so  close 
to  the  dauphin  that  his  robe  was  covered  with  their  blood.  The 
dauphin  shuddered ; and  the  rest  of  his  officers  fled.  “ Take  no  heed, 
lord  duke,”  said  Marcel;  “you  have  naught  to  fear.”  He  handed  to  the 
dauphin  his  own  red  and  blue  cap,  and  himself  put  on  the  dauphin’s, 
which  was  of  black  stuff  with  golden  fringe.  The  corpses  of  the 
two  marshals  were  dragged  into  the  courtyard  of  the  palace,  where 
they  remained  until  evening  without  any  one’s  daring  to  remove 
them ; and  Marcel  with  his  fellows  repaired  to  the  mansion-house, 
and  harangued  from  an  open  window  the  mob  collected  on  the 


The  Jacquery. 


155 


Place  de  Greve.  “ What  has  been  done  is  for  the  good  and  the 
profit  of  the  kingdom/'  said  he  ; “the  dead  were  false  and  wicked 
traitors."  “We  do  own  it  and  will  maintain  it ! " cried  the  people 
who  were  about  him. 

The  house  from  which  Marcel  thus  addressed  the  people  was  his 
own  property,  and  was  called  the  Pillar-house.  There  he  accom- 
modated the  town-council,  which  had  formerly  held  its  sitting  in 
divers  parlours. 

For  a month  after  this  triple  murder,  committed  with  such  Dictator- 
official  parade,  Marcel  reigned  dictator  in  Paris.  He  removed  from  ship  of 
the  council  of  thirty-six  deputies  such  members  as  he  could  not  a 
rely  upon,  and  introduced  his  own  confidants.  He  cited  the 
council,  thus  modified,  to  express  approval  of  the  blow  just  struck ; 
and  the  deputies,  “ some  from  conviction  and  others  from  doubt 
(that  is,  fear),  answered  that  they  believed  that  for  what  had  been 
done  there  had  been  good  and  just  cause."  The  king  of  Navarre 
was  recalled  from  Nantes  to  Paris,  and  the  dauphin  was  obliged  to 
assign  to  him,  in  the  king’s  name,  “ as  a make-up  for  his  losses," 

10,000  livres  a year  on  landed  property  in  Languedoc.  On  the 
25th  of  March,  the  young  Prince  succeeded  in  leaving  Paris,  and 
repaired  first  of  all  to  Senlis,  and  then  to  Provins,  where  he  found 
the  estates  of  Champagne  eager  to  welcome  him.  In  the  mean- 
while, an  event  occurred  outside  which  seemed  to  open  to  Marcel 
a prospect  of  powerful  aid,  perhaps  of  decisive  victory.  Throughout  A D 1358 
several  provinces  the  peasants,  whose  condition,  sad  and  hard  as  The  Jac- 
it  already  was  under  the  feudal  system,  had  been  still  further  (fuery 
aggravated  by  the  outrages  and  irregularities  of  war,  not  finding  ‘ 
any  protection  in  their  lords,  and  often  being  even  oppressed  by 
them  as  if  they  had  been  foes,  had  recourse  to  insurrection  in 
order  to  escape  from  the  evils  which  came  down  upon  them  every 
day  and  from  every  quarter.  They  bore  and  would  bear  any  thing, 
it  was  said,  and  they  got  the  name  of  Jacques  Bonhomme  {Jack 
Goodfellow) ; but  this  taunt  they  belied  in  a terrible  manner.  We 
will  quote  from  the  last  continuer  of  William  of  Nangis,  the  least 
declamatory  and  least  confused  of  all  the  chroniclers  of  that 
period:  “In  this  same  year  1358,  says  he,  “in  the  summer  [the 
first  rising  took  place  on  the  28th  of  May],  the  peasants  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  St.  Loup  de  Cerent  and  Clermont  in  the  diocese 
of  Beauvais  took  up  arms  against  the  nobles  of  France.  They 
assembled  in  great  numbers,  set  at  their  head  a certain  peasant 
named  William  Karle  [or  Cale,  or  Callet],  of  more  intelligence  than 
the  rest,  and  marching  by  companies  under  their  own  flag,  roamed 
over  the  country,  slaying  and  massacring  all  the  nobles  they  met, 


History  of  France. 


Their 

excesses. 


Put  down 
at  Mont- 

didier 

(July). 


15  0 

even  their  own  lords.  Not  content  with  that,  they  demolished  the 
houses  and  castles  of  the  nobles  : and,  what  is  still  more  deplorable, 
they  villainously  put  to  death  the  noble  dames  and  little  children 
who  fell  into  their  hands  ; and  afterwards  they  strutted  about,  they 
and  their  wives,  bedizened  with  the  garments  they  had  stripped 
from  their  victims.  The  number  of  men  who  had  thus  risen 
amounted  to  five  thousand,  and  the  rising  extended  to  the  outskirts 
of  Paris.  They  had  begun  it  from  sheer  necessity  and  love  of 
justice,  for  their  lords  oppressed  instead  of  defending  them;  but 
before  long  they  proceeded  to  the  most  hateful  and  criminal  deeds. 
They  took  and  destroyed  from  top  to  bottom  the  strong  castle  of 
Ermenonville,  where  they  put  to  death  a multitude  of  men  and 
dames  of  noble  family  who  had  taken  refuge  there.  Eor  some 
time  the  nobles  no  longer  went  about  as  before;  none  of  them 
durst  set  a foot  outside  the  fortified  places.”  Jacqaery  had  taken 
the  form  of  a fit  of  demagogic  fury,  and  the  Jacks  [or  Goodfellows ] 
swarming  out  of  their  hovels  were  the  terror  of  the  castles. 

The  insurrection  having  once  broken  out,  Marcel  hastened  to 
profit  by  it,  and  encouraged  and  even  supported  it  at  several  points. 
Amongst  other  things  he  sent  from  Paris  a body  of  three  hundred 
men  to  the  assistance  of  the  peasants  who  were  besieging  the  castle 
of  Ermenonville. 

The  reaction  against  Jacqaery  was  speedy  and  shockingly 
bloody.  The  nobles,  the  dauphin,  and  the  king  of  Navarre,  a 
prince  and  a noble  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  a scoundrel,  made 
common  cause  against  the  Goodfellows , who  were  the  more  dis- 
orderly in  proportion  as  they  had  become  more  numerous,  and  be- 
lieved themselves  more  invincible.  The  ascendancy  of  the  masters 
over  the  rebels  was  soon  too  strong  for  resistance.  At  Meaux,  of 
which  the  Goodfellows  had  obtained  possession,  they  were  sur- 
prised and  massacred  to  the  number,  it  is  said,  of  seven  thousand, 
with  the  town  burning  about  their  ears.  In  Beauvaisis,  the  king 
of  Navarre,  after  having  made  a show  of  treating  with  their 
chieftain,  William  Karle  or  Callet,  got  possession  of  him,  and  had 
him  beheaded,  wearing  a trivet  of  red-hot  iron,  says  one  of  the 
chroniclers,  by  way  of  crown.  He  then  moved  upon  a camp  of 
Goodfellows  assembled  near  Montdidier,  slew  three  thousand  of 
them  and  dispersed  the  remainder.  These  figures  are  probably 
very  much  exaggerated,  as  nearly  always  happens  in  such  accounts  ; 
but  the  continuer  of  William  of  Nangis,  so  justly  severe  on  the 
outrages  and  barbarities  of  the  insurgent  peasants,  is  not  less  so  on 
those  of  their  conquerors. 

Marcel  from  that  moment  perceived  that  his  case  was  lost,  and 


End  of  the  Rebellion . 


*57 


no  longer  dreamed  of  any  tiling  but  saving  himself  and  his,  at  any  Stephen 
price  ; “ for  he  thought,”  says  Froissart,  “ that  it  paid  better  to  ^^dered 
slay  than  to  be  slain.”  Being  reduced  to  depend  entirely  during  ; July  31). 
this  struggle  upon  such  strength  as  could  be  supplied  by  a muni- 
cipal democracy,  incoherent,  inexperienced,  and  full  of  divisions  in 
its  own  ranks,  and  by  a mad  insurrection  in  the  country  districts, 
he  rapidly  fell  into  the  selfish  and  criminal  condition  of  the  man 
whose  special  concern  is  his  own  personal  safety.  This  he  sought 
to  secure  by  an  unworthy  alliance  with  the  most  scoundrelly 
amongst  his  ambitious  contemporaries,  and  he  would  have  given 
up  his  own  city  as  well  as  France  to  the  king  of  Navarre  and  the 
English,  had  not  another  burgher  of  Paris,  John  Maillart,  stopped 
him,  and  put  him  to  death  at  the  very  moment  when  the  patriot 
of  the  states-general  of  1355  was  about  to  become  a traitor  to  his 
country.  Hardly  thirteen  years  before,  when  Stephen  Marcel  was 
already  a full-grown  man,  the  great  Flemish  burgher,  James  van 
Artevelde,  had,  in  the  cause  of  his  country's  liberties,  attempted  a 
similar  enterprise  and,  after  a series  of  great  deeds  at  the  outset 
and  then  of  faults  also  similar  to  those  of  Marcel,  had  fallen  into 
the  same  abyss,  and  had  perished  by  the  hand  of  his  fellow- citizens, 
at  the  very  moment  when  he  was  labouring  to  put  Flanders,  his 
native  country,  into  the  hands  of  a foreign  master,  the  prince  of 
Wales,  son  of  Edward  III.,  king  of  England. 

One  single  result  of  importance  was  won  for  France  by  the  Result  of 
states-general  of  the  fourteenth  century,  namely,  the  principle  of  tae  state3‘ 
the  nation’s  right  to  intervene  in  their  own  affairs,  and  to  set  generai* 
their  government  straight  when  it  had  gone  wrong  or  was  in- 
capable of  performing  that  duty  itself.  Up  to  that  time,  in  the 
thirteenth  century  and  at  the  opening  of  the  fourteenth,  the 
states-general  had  been  hardly  any  thing  more  than  a temporary 
expedient  employed  by  the  kingship  itself  to  solve  some  special 
question  or  to  escape  from  some  grave  embarrassment.  Starting 
from  King  John,  the  states-general  became  one  of  the  principles  of 
national  right : a principle  which  did  not  disappear  even  when  it 
remained  without  application,  and  the  prestige  of  which  survived 
even  its  reverses.  Faith  and  hope  fill  a prominent  place  in  the 
lives  of  peoples  as  well  as  of  individuals  ; having  sprung  into  real 
existence  in  1355,  the  states-general  of  France  found  themselves 
alive  again  in  1789  ; and  we  may  hope  that,  after  so  long  a trial, 
their  rebuffs  and  their  mistakes  will  not  be  more  fatal  to  them  in 
our  day. 

On  the  2nd  of  August,  1358,  in  the  evening,  the  dauphin 
Charles  re-entered  Paris,  and  was  accompanied  by  John  Maillart, 


History  of  France . 


153 


who  “ was  mightily  in  his  grace  and  love.”  On  being  re-settled  in 
the  capital,  he  showed  neither  clemency  nor  cruelty.  He  let  the 
reaction  against  Stephen  Marcel  run  its  course,  and  turned  it  to 
account  without  further  exciting  it  or  prolonging  it  beyond 
measure.  The  property  of  some  of  the  condemned  was  confiscated ; 
some  attempts  at  a conspiracy  for  the  purpose  of  avenging  the 
provost  of  tradesmen  were  repressed  with  severity;  and  John 
Maillart  and  his  family  were  loaded  with  gifts  and  favours.  On 
becoming  king,  Charles  determined  himself  to  hold  his  son  at  the 


Eecon- 
ciliation 
between 
the  Dau- 
phin and 
Charles 
the  Bad. 


King  John 
“the  good” 
in  Eng- 
land. 


baptismal  font;  but  Bobert  Lecocq,  bishop  of  Laon,  the  most 
intimate  of  Marcel’s  accomplices,  returned  quietly  to  his  diocese ; 
two  of  Marcel’s  brothers,  William  and  John,  owing  their  protec- 
tion, it  is  said,  to  certain  youthful  reminiscences  on  the  prince’s 
part,  were  exempted  from  all  prosecution  ; Marcel’s  widow  even 
recovered  a portion  of  his  property ; and  as  early  as  the  10th  of 
August,  1358,  Charles  published  an  amnesty,  from  which  he 
excepted  only  “ those  who  had  been  in  the  secret  council  of  the 
provost  of  tradesmen  in  respect  of  the  great  treason ; ” and  on  the 
same  day  another  amnesty  quashed  all  proceeding  for  deeds  done 
during  the  Jacquery , “ whether  by  nobles  or  ignobles.”  Charles 
knew  that  in  acts  of  rigour  or  of  grace  impartiality  conduces  to 
the  strength  and  the  reputation  of  authority, 

A reconciliation  then  took  place  between  him  and  the  king  of 
Navarre,  whose  wife,  Joan  of  France,  was  the  dauphin’s  sister; 
“ the  town  of  Melun,”  says  the  chronicler,  “ was  restored  to  the 
lord  duke ; the  navigation  of  the  river  once  more  became  free  up 
stream  and  down  ; great  wu,s  the  satisfaction  in  Paris  and  through- 
out the  whole  country ; and,  peace  being  thus  made,  the  two 
princes  returned  both  of  them  home.” 

The  king  of  Navarre  knew  how  to  give  an  appearance  of  free 
will  and  sincerity  to  changes  of  posture  and  behaviour  which 
seemed  to  be  pressed  upon  him  by  necessity ; and  we  may  suppose 
that  the  dauphin,  all  the  while  that  he  was  interchanging  graceful 
acts,  was  too  well  acquainted  by  this  time  with  the  other  to  become 
his  dupe,  but,  by  their  apparent  reconciliation,  they  put  an  end, 
for  a few  brief  moments,  to  a position  which  was  burthensome 
to  both. 

While  these  events,  from  the  battle  of  Poitiers  to  the  death  of 
Stephen  Marcel  (from  the  19th  of  September,  1356,  to  the  1st  of 
August,  1358),  were  going  on  in  France,  King  John  was  living  as 
a prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  English,  first  at  Bordeaux,  afterwards 
in  London,  and  then  at  Windsor,  much  more  concerned  about  the 
reception  he  met  with  and  the  galas  he  was  present  at  than  about 


Invasion  of  France. 


159 


tlie  affairs  of  his  kingdom.  Towards  the  end  of  April,  1359,  the  A.D.  1359. 
dauphin-regent  received  at  Paris  the  text  of  a treaty  which  the  of 

king  his  father  had  concluded  in  London  with  the  king  of  England. 

“The  cession  of  the  western  half  of  France,  from  Calais  to  Bayonne, 
and  the  immediate  payment  of  four  million  golden  crowns,”  such 
was,  according  to  the  terms  of  this  treaty,  the  price  of  King  John’s 
ransom,  and  the  regent  resolved  to  leave  to  the  judgment  of 
France  the  acceptance  or  refusal  of  such  exorbitant  demands.  Tho 
indignation  of  the  people  was  roused  to  the  highest  pitch ; the 
estates  replied  that  the  treaty  was  not  “ tolerable  or  feasible,”  and 
in  their  patriotic  enthusiasm  “ decreed  to  make  fair  war  on  the 
English.”  But  it  was  not  enough  to  spare  the  kingdom  the  shame 
of  such  a treaty ; it  was  necessary  to  give  the  regent  the  means  of 
concluding  a better.  On  the  2nd  of  June,  the  nobles  announced  Rejected 

0 DV  til  6 

to  the  dauphin  that  they  would  serve  for  a month  at  their  own  statss- 
expense,  and  that  they  would  pay  besides  such  imposts  as  should  general, 
be  decreed  by  the  good  towns.  The  churchmen  also  offered  to  pay 
them.  The  city  of  Paris  undertook  to  maintain  “ six  hundred 
swords,  three  hundred  archers,  and  a thousand  brigands .”  The 
good  towns  offered  twelve  thousand  men ; but  they  could  not  keep 
their  promise,  the  country  being  utterly  ruined. 

Edward  III.,  on  his  side,  at  once  took  measures  for  recommencing  EdwardlXI 
the  war;  but,  before  engaging  in  it,  he  had  King  John  removed  in  Picardy, 
from  Windsor  to  Hertford  Castle,  and  thence  to  Somerton,  where 
he  set  a strong  guard.  Having  thus  made  certain  that  his  prisoner 
would  not  escape  from  him,  he  put  to  sea  and,  on  the  28th  of 
October,  1359,  landed  at  Calais  with  a numerous  and  well  supplied 
army.  Then,  rapidly  traversing  northern  France,  he  did  not  halt 
till  he  arrived  before  Rheims,  which  he  was  in  hopes  of  surprising, 
and  where,  it  is  said,  he  purposed  to  have  himself,  without  delay, 
crowned  king  of  France.  But  he  found  the  place  so  well  provided 
and  the  population  so  determined  to  make  a good  defence,  that  he 
raised  the  siege  and  moved  on  Chalons,  where  the  same  disappoint- 
ment awaited  him.  Passing  from  Champagne  to  Burgundy  he 
then  commenced  the  same  course  of  scouring  and  ravaging;  but  the 
Burgundians  entered  into  negotiations  with  him,  and  by  a treaty 
concluded  on  the  10th  of  March,  1360,  and  signed  by  Joan  of 
Auvergne,  queen  of  France,  second  wife  of  King  John  and  guardian 
of  the  young  duke  of  Burgundy,  Philip  de  Rouvre,  they  obtained 
at  the  cost  of  two  hundred  thousand  golden  sheep  ( moutons ) an 
agreement  that  for  three  years  Edward  and  his  army  “ would  not 
go  scouring  and  burning  ” in  Burgundy  as  they  were  doing  in  the 
other  parts  of  France.  At  this  same  time,  another  province,  Picardy, 


I C o History  of  France. 

aided  by  many  Bormans  and  Flemings  its  neighbours,  “ nobles, 
burgesses,  and  common-folk,”  was  sending  to  sea  an  expedition 
which  was  going  to  try,  with  God’s  help,  to  deliver  King  John 
from  his  prison  in  England,  and  bring  him  back  in  triumph  to  his 
kingdom.  The  expedition  landed  in  England  on  the  14th  of  March, 
1360 ; it  did  not  deliver  King  John,  but  it  took  and  gave  over  to 
flames  and  pillage  for  two  days  the  town  of  Winchelsea,  after  which 
it  put  to  sea  again  and  returned  to  its  hearths. 

Edward  Edward  III.,  weary  of  thus  roaming  with  his  army  over  France 
pPrisaClieS  obtaining  any  decisive  result,  and  without  even  managing 

to  get  into  his  hands  any  one  “of  the  good  towns  which  he  had 
promised  himself,”  says  Froissart,  “ that  he  would  tan  and  hide  in 
such  sort  that  they  would  be  glad  to  come  to  some  accord  with 
him,”  resolved  to  direct  his  efforts  against  the  capital  of  the 
kingdom,  where  the  dauphin  kept  himself  close.  On  the  7th  of 
April,  1360,  he  arrived  hard  by  Montrouge,  and  his  troops  spread 
themselves  over  the  outskirts  of  Paris  in  the  form  of  an  investing 
or  besieging  force.  But  he  had  to  do  with  a city  protected  by 
good  ramparts  and  well  supplied  with  provisions,  and  with  a prince 
cool,  patient,  determined,  free  from  any  illusion  as  to  his  danger  or 
his  strength,  and  resolved  not  to  risk  any  of  those  great  battles  of 
which  he  had  experienced  the  sad  issue.  Foreseeing  the  advance 
of  the  English,  he  had  burnt  the  villages  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Paris,  where  they  might  have  fixed  their  quarters  ; he  did  the  same 
with  the  suburbs  of  St.  Germain,  St.  Marcel,  and  NotreJDame-des- 
Champs ; he  turned  a deaf  ear  to  all  King  Edward’s  warlike  chal- 
lenges ; and  some  attempts  at  an  assault  on  the  part  of  the  English 
knights  and  some  sorties  on  the  part  of  the  French  knights,  im- 
patient of  their  inactivity,  came  to  nothing.  At  the  end  of  a week 
Edward,  whose  “ army  no  longer  found  aught  to  eat,”  withdrew 
from  Paris,  overtures  for  peace  were  then  made  by  the  Eegent  of 
A.D.  1360.  France,  and  on  the  8th  of  May,  1360,  was  concluded  the  treaty  of 
Brfetiwny*  Bretigny,  a peace  disastrous  indeed,  but  become  necessary.  Aqui- 
(May  8).  taine  ceased  to  be  a French  fief,  and  was  exalted,  in  the  king  of 
England’s  interest,  to  an  independent  sovereignty,  together  with 
the  provinces  attached  to  Poitou,  Saintonge,  Aunis,  Agenois,  Peri- 
gord,  Limousin,  Quercy,  Bigorre,  Angoumois,  and  Rouergue.  The 
king  of  England,  on  his  side,  gave  up  completely  to  the  king  of 
France  Normandy,  Maine,  and  the  portion  of  Touraine  and  Anjou 
situated  to  the  north  of  the  Loire.  He  engaged,  further,  to  solemnly 
renounce  all  pretentions  to  the  crown  of  France  so  soon  as  King 
John  had  renounced  all  rights  of  suzerainty  over  Aquitaine.  King 
John’s  ransom  was  fixed  at  three  millions  of  golden  crowns  payable 


Annexations  of  Burgundy . 


\Cl 


in  six  years,  and  John  Galeas  Visconti,  duke  of  Milan,  paid  tho 
lirst  instalment  of  it  (600,000  florins)  as  the  price  of  his  marriage 
with  Isabel  of  France,  daughter  of  King  John.  Hard  as  these 
conditions  were,  the  peace  was  joyfully  welcomed  in  Paris  and 
throughout  northern  France;  and,  on  the  8th  of  July  following, 

King  John,  having  been  set  at  liberty,  was  brought  over  by  the 
prince  of  Wales  to  Calais,  where  Edward  III.  came  to  meet  him. 

The  two  kings  treated  one  another  there  with  great  courtesy.  Mean- 
while the  prince-regent  of  France  was  arriving  at  Amiens,  and  there 
receiving  from  his  brother-in-law,  Galeas  Visconti,  duke  of  Milan, 
the  sum  necessary  to  pay  the  first  instalment  of  his  royal  father’s 
ransom.  Payment  having  been  made,  the  two  kings  solemnly 
ratified  at  Calais  the  treaty  of  Bretigny.  Two  sons  of  King  John, 
the  duke  of  Anjou  and  the  duke  of  Berry,  with  several  other  per- 
sonages of  consideration,  princes  of  the  blood,  barons,  and  burgesses 
of  the  principal  good  towns,  were  given  as  hostages  to  the  king  of 
England  for  the  due  execution  of  the  treaty ; and  Edward  III. 
negotiated  between  the  king  of  France  and  Charles  the  Bad,  king 
of  Havarre,  a reconciliation  as  precarious  as  ever.  In  1362,  John  Burgundy 
committed  the  gravest  fault  of  his  reign,  a fault  which  was  destined  annextd  to 
to  bring  upon  France  and  the  French  kingship  even  more  evils  and 
disasters  than  those  which  had  made  the  treaty  of  Bretigny  a 
necessity.  The  young  duke  of  Burgundy,  Philip  de  Rouvre,  the 
last  of  the  first  house  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  descendants  of 
King  Robert,  had  died  without  issue,  leaving  several  pretenders  to 
his  rich  inheritance.  King  John  was  the  nearest  of  blood  and  at 
the  same  time  the  most  powerful ; he  immediately  took  possession 
of  the  duchy  and  disposed  of  it  in  favour  of  his  fourth  son  Philip, 
who  “ freely  exposed  himself  to  death  with  us  and,  all  wounded 
as  he  was,  remained  unwavering  and  fearless  at  the  battle  of  Poi- 
tiers.” Thus  was  founded  that  second  house  of  the  dukes  of  Bur- 
gundy, which  was  destined  to  play  for  more  than  a century  so  great 
and  often  so  fatal  a part  in  the  fortunes  of  France. 

Whilst  he  was  thus  preparing  a gloomy  future  for  his  country 
and  his  line,  King  John  heard  that  his  second  son,  the  duke  of 
Anjou,  one  of  the  hostages  left  in  the  hands  of  the  king  of  England 
as  security  for  the  execution  of  the  treaty  of  Bretigny,  had  broken 
his  word  of  honour  and  escaped  from  England,  in  order  to  go  and 
join  his  wife  at  Guise  Castle.  Knightly  faith  was  the  virtue  of  ^ D-  ^64. 
King  John ; and  it  was,  they  say,  on  this  occasion  that  he  cried,  returns  to 
as  he  was  severely  upbraiding  bis  son,  that  “ if  good  faith  were  England, 
banished  from  the  world,  it  ought  to  find  an  asylum  in  the  hearts 
of  kings.”  He  announced  to  his  councillors,  assembled  at  Amiens, 

v 


History  of  France, 


His  death 
( ■'pril  8). 


State  of 
France  at 
the  acces- 
sion of 
Charles  V. 


Difficulty 
of  the 
king’s 


162 

his  intention  of  going  in  person  to  England.  Shortly  after  his 
arrival  in  London,  he  fell  seriously  ill,  and  died  on  the  8th  of  April, 
1364,  at  the  Savoy;  France  was  at  last  about  to  have  in  Charles  Y. 
a practical  and  an  effective  king. 

In  spite  of  the  discretion  he  had  displayed  during  his  four  years 
of  regency  (from  1356  to  1360)  his  reign  opened  under  the  saddest 
auspices.  In  1363,  one  of  those  contagious  diseases,  all  at  that 
time  called  the  plague,  committed  cruel  ravages  in  France.  “Hone,” 
says  the  contemporary  chronicler,  “ could  count  the  number  of  the 
dead  in  Paris,  young  or  old,  rich  or  poor ; when  death  entered  a 
house,  the  little  children  died  first,  then  the  menials,  then  the 
parents.  In  the  smallest  villages  as  well  as  in  Paris  the  mortality 
was  such  that  at  Argenteuil,  for  example,  where  there  were  wont 
to  he  numbered  seven  hundred  hearths,  there  remained  no  more 
than  forty  or  fifty.”  The  ravages  of  the  armed  thieves  or  bandits 
who  scoured  the  country  added  to  those  of  the  plague. 

King  Charles  Y.  had  a very  difficult  work  before  him.  Between 
himself  and  his  great  rival,  Edward  III.,  king  of  England,  there 
was  only  such  a peace  as  was  fatal  and  hateful  to  France.  To 
escape  some  day  from  the  treaty  of  Bretigny  and  recover  some  of 
the  provinces  which  had  been  lost  by  it — this  was  what  king  and 
country  secretly  desired  and  laboured  for.  Pending  a favourable 
opportunity  for  promoting  this  higher  interest,  war  went  on  in 
Brittany  between  John  of  Montfort  and  Charles  of  Blois,  who 
continued  to  be  encouraged  and  patronized,  covertly,  one  by  the 
king  of  England,  the  other  by  the  king  of  France  Almost  im- 
mediately after  the  accession  of  Charles  Y.  it  broke  out  again 
between  him  and  his  brother-in-law,  Charles  the  Bad,  king  of 
Navarre,  the  former  being  profoundly  mistrustful  and  the  latter 
bra zen-facedly  perfidious,  and  both  detesting  one  another  and  watch- 
ing to  seize  the  moment  for  taking  advantage  one  of  the  other.  The 
states  bordering  on  France,  amongst  others  Spain  and  Italy,  were 
a prey  to  discord  and  even  civil  wars,  which  could  not  fail  to  be  a 
source  of  trouble  or  serious  embarrassment  to  France.  In  Spain  two 
brothers,  Peter  the  Cruel  and  Henry  of  Transtamare,  were  disputing 
the  throne  of  Castile.  Shortly  after  the  accession  of  Charles  Y., 
and  in  spite  of  his  lively  remonstrances,  in  1367,  Pope  Urban  Y. 
quitted  Avignon  for  Pome,  whence  he  was  not  to  return  to  Avignon 
till  three  years  afterwards,  and  then  only  to  die.  The  emperor  of 
Germany  was,  at  this  period,  almost  the  only  one  of  the  great  sove- 
reigns of  Europe  who  showed  for  France  and  her  kings  a sincere 
good  will. 

Jn  order  to  maintain  the  struggle  against  these  difficulties,  within 


CHARLES  V. 


LIBRAhV 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Charles  V ’.,  his  family  and  his  ministers.  1 63 

and  without,  the  means  which  Charles  Y.  had  at  his  disposal  were  The  king’s 
of  but  moderate  worth.  He  had  three  brothers  and  three  sisters  ^j^bis 
calculated  rather  to  embarrass  and  sometimes  even  injure  him  than  family, 
to  he  of  any  service  to  him.  Of  his  brothers  the  eldest,  Louis, 
duke  of  Anjou,  was  restless,  harsh,  and  bellicose.  He  upheld 
authority  with  no  little  energy  in  Languedoc,  of  which  Charles 
had  made  him  governor,  but  at  the  same  time  made  it  detested ; 
and  he  was  more  taken  up  with  his  own  ambitious  views  upon  the 
kingdom  of  Naples,  which  Queen  Joan  of  Hungary  had  transmitted 
to  him  by  adoption,  than  with  the  interests  of  France  and  her 
king.  The  second,  John,  duke  of  Berry,  was  an  insignificant  prince 
who  has  left  no  strong  mark  on  history.  The  third,  Philip  the 
Bold,  duke  of  Burgundy,  after  having  been  the  favourite  of  his 
father,  King  John,  was  likewise  of  his  brother,  Charles  V.,  who  did 
not  hesitate  to  still  further  aggrandize  this  vassal  already  so  great, 
by  obtaining  for  him  in  marriage  the  hand  of  Princess  Marguerite, 
heiress  to  the  countship  of  Flanders  5 and  this  marriage,  which  was 
destined  at  a later  period  to  render  , the  dukes  of  Burgundy  such 
formidable  neighbours  for  the  kings  of  France,  was  even  in  the  life- 
time of  Charles  V.  a cause  of  unpleasant  complications  both  for 
France  and  Burgundy.  Of  King  Charles’  three  sisters,  the  eldest, 

Joan,  was  married  to  the  king  of  Navarre,  Charles  the  Bad,  and 
much  more  devoted  to  her  husband  than  to  her  brother ; the 
second,  Mary,  espoused  Robert,  duke  of  Bar,  who  caused  more 
annoyance  than  he  rendered  service  to  his  brother-in-law  the  king 
of  France  ; and  the  tnird,  Isabel,  wife  of  Galeas  Yisconti,  duke  of 
Milan,  was  of  no  use  to  her  brother  beyond  the  fact  of  contributing, 
as  we  have  seen,  by  her  marriage  to  pay  a part  of  King  J ohn’s  ran- 
som. Charles  Y.,  by  kindly  and  judicious  behaviour  in  the  bosom 
of  his  family,  was  able  to  keep  serious  quarrels  or  embarrassments 
from  arising  thence ; but  he  found  therein  neither  real  strength  nor 
sure  support. 

His  civil  councillors,  his  chancellor,  William  de  Dormans,  car-  and  his 
dinal-bishop  of  Beauvais  ; his  minister  of  finance,  John  de  la  Grange,  ministers 
cardinal-bishop  of  Amiens ; his  treasurer,  Philip  de  Savoisy  ; and 
his  chamberlain . and  private  secretary,  Bureau  de  la  Riviere,  were, 
undoubtedly,  men  full  of  ability  and  zeal  for  his  service,  for  he  had 
picked  them  out  and  maintained  them  unchangeably  in  their  offices. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  conducted  themselves  discreetly, 
for  we  do  not  observe  that  after  their  master’s  death  there  was  any 
outburst  against  them,  on  the  part  either  of  court  or  people,  of  that 
violent  and  deadly  hatred  which  has  so  often  caused  bloodshed  in 
the  history  of  France.  Bureau  de  la  Riviere  was  attacked  and 

m 2 


History  of  France . 


Character 
of  lis 
go  7 rn- 
mant. 


A.D.  1364, 
Du  Gues- 
clin. 

Battle  of 
Cockerel 
(May  16). 


A.D.  1364. 
Du  Gues- 
clin m 
Brittany. 
Battle  of 
Auray 
(Septem- 
ber 29). 


I64 

prosecuted,  without,  however,  becoming  one  of  the  victims  of  judi- 
cial authority  at  the  command  of  political  passions.  None  of 
Charles  Yds  councillors  exercised  over  his  master  that  preponderat- 
ing and  confirmed  influence  which  makes  a man  a premier  minister. 

The  government  of  Charles  Y.  was  the  personal  government  of  an 
intelligent,  prudent,  and  honourable  king,  anxious  for  the  interests 
of  the  State,  at  home  and  abroad,  as  well  as  for  his  own,  with  little 
inclination  for,  and  little  confidence  in,  the  free  co-operation  of  the 
country  in  its  own  affairs,  but  with  wit  enough  to  cheerfully  call 
upon  it  when  there  was  any  pressing  necessity,  and  accepting  it  then 
•without  any  chicanery  or  cheating,  hut  safe  to  go  back  as  soon  as 
possible  to  that  sole  dominion,  a medley  of  patriotism  and  selfish- 
ness, which  is  the  very  insufficient  and  very  precarious  resource  of 
peoples  as  yet  incapable  of  applying  their  liberty  to  the  art  of  their 
own  government.  Charles  Y.  had  recourse  three  times,  in  July, 
1367,  and  in  May  and  December,  1369,  to  a convocation  of  the 
states-general,  in  order  to  he  put  in  a position  to  meet  the  political 
and  financial  difficulties  of  France.  It  was  his  good  fortune,  besides, 
to  find  amongst  his  servants  a man  to  be  the  thunderbolt  of  war  and 
the  glory  of  knighthood  of  his  reign  ; we  mean  Bertrand  du  Gues- 
clin,  a Breton  gentleman,  who  had  already  distinguished  himself  on 
the  field  of  battle.  Having  received  the  command  of  the  royal 
troops,  he  inaugurated  the  new  reign  by  the  victory  of  Cocherel, 
when  he  defeated  John  de  Grailly,  Captal  of  Buch,  the  best  of  the 
generals  of  the  king  of  Navarre.  Charles  the  Bad  lost  by  this  affair 
nearly  all  his  possessions  in  Normandy. 

Charles  Y.,  encouraged  by  his  success,  determined  to  take  part  like- 
wise in  the  war  which  was  still  going  on  between  the  two  claimants 
to  the  duchy  of  Brittany,  Charles  of  Blois  and  John  of  Montfort. 
Du  Guesclin  was  sent  to  support  Charles  of  Blois  ; he  entered  at 
once  on  the  campaign,  and  marched  upon  Auray  which  was  being 
besieged  by  the  count  of  Montfort.  But  there  he  was  destined 
to  encounter  the  most  formidable  of  his  adversaries.  John  of  Mont- 
fort had  claimed  the  support  of  his  patron  the  king  of  England, 
and  John  Chandos,  the  most  famous  of  the  English  commanders, 
had  applied  to  the  prince  of  Wales  to  know  what  he  was  to  do. 
“ You  may  go  full  well,”  the  prince  had  answered,  “ since  the  French 
are  going  for  the  count  of  Blois ; I give  you  good  leave.”  The 
battle  took  place  on  the  29th  of  September,  1364,  before  Auray  ; 
Charles  of  Blois  was  killed  and  Du  Guesclin  was  made  prisoner. 
The  cause  of  John  of  Montfort  was  clearly  won  ; and  he,  on  taking 
possession  of  the  duchy  of  Brittany,  asked  nothing  better  than  to 
acknowledge  himself  vassal  of  the  king  of  France  and  swear  fidelity 


The  French  in  Spain 


165 


to  him.  Accordingly  he  made  peace  at  Guerande,  on  the  lith  of 
April,  1365,  after  having  disputed  the  conditions  inch  by  inch  ; 
and  some  weeks  previously,  on  the  6th  of  March,  at  the  indirect 
instance  of  the  king  of  Navarre,  who,  since  the  battle  of  Cocherel, 
had  felt  himself  in  peril,  Charles  Y.  had  likewise  put  an  end  to  his 
open  struggle  against  his  perfidious  neighbour,  of  whom  he  certainly 
did  not  cease  to  be  mistrustful.  Being  thus  delivered  from  every 
external  war  and  declared  enemy,  the  wise  king  of  France  was  at 
liberty  to  devote  himself  to  the  re-establishment  of  internal  peace 
and  of  order  throughout  his  kingdom,  which  was  in  the  most  press- 
ing need  thereof. 

Charles  Y.  was  not,  as  Louis  XII.  and  Henry  IY.  were,  of  a The 
disposition  full  of  affection  and  sympathetically  inclined  towards  COmpad 
his  people  ; but  he  was  a practical  man,  who  in  his  closet  and  in  nies.’’ 
the  library  growing  up  about  him,  took  thought  for  the  interests 
of  his  kingdom  as  well  as  for  his  own  ; he  had  at  heart  the  public 
good,  and  lawlessness  was  an  abomination  to  him.  Having  pur- 
chased, at  a ransom  of  a hundred  thousand  francs,  the  liberty  of 
Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  who  had  remained  a prisoner  in  the  hands 
of  John  Chandos,  after  the  battle  of  Auray,  an  idea  occurred  to 
him  that  the  valiant  Breton  might  be  of  use  to  him  in  extricating 
France  from  the  deplorable  condition  to  which  she  had  been 
reduced  by  the  bands  of  plunderers  who,  under  the  name  of  Grand 
Companies , were  roaming  over  the  land. 

There  was,  at  that  time,  a civil  war  raging  in  Spain  between  Civil  war 
Don  Pedro  the  Cruel,  king  of  Castile,  and  his  natural  brother,  *n  sPain- 
Henry  of  Transtamare,  and  that  was  the  theatre  on  which  Du 
Guesclin  proposed  to  launch  the  vagabond  army  which  he  desired 
to  get  out  of  France. 


Wjth  a strength,  it  is  said,  of  30,000  men,  he  took  the  decided 
resolution  of  supporting  Prince  Henry’s  cause,  and  on  the  1st  of 
January,  1366,  entered  Barcelona,  whither  Henry  of  Transtamare 
came  to  join  him.  There  is  no  occasion  to  give  a detailed  account 
here  of  that  expedition,  which  appertains  much  more  to  the  history 
of  Spain  than  to  that  of  France.  Edward  III.  in  London,  and  the  The  French 
prince  of  Wales  at  Bordeaux,  could  not  see  without  serious  dis- 
quietude,  the  most  famous  warrior  amongst  the  French  crossing  the  Spain. 
Pyrenees  with  a following  for  the  most  part  French,  and  setting 
upon  the  throne  of  Castile  a prince  necessarily  allied  to  the  king 
of  France.  The  question  of  rivalry  between  the  two  kings  and  the 
two  peoples  was  thus  transferred  into  Spain ; after  several  months 
preparation  the  prince  of  Wales,  purchasing  the  complicity  of  the 
king  of  Navarre,  marched  into  Spain  in  February,  1367,  with  an 


1 66 


History  of  France. 


A.D  1367. 
Battle  of 
Navarette 
(April  3). 


Du  Gues- 
clin  made 
prisoner, 


and  re- 
leased. 


army  of  27,000  men,  and  John  Chandos,  the  most  able  of  the 
English  warriors.  Henry  of  Transtamare  had  troops  more  numerous 
hut  less  disciplined  and  experienced.  The  two  armies  joined 
battle  on  the  3rd  of  April,  1367,  at  Najara  or  Navarette,  not  far 
from  the  Ebro.  Disorder  and  even  sheer  rout  soon  took  place 
amongst  that  of  Henry,  who  flung  himself  before  the  fugitives, 
shouting,  “ Why  would  ye  thus  desert  and  betray  me,  ye  who  have 
made  me  king  of  Castile  % Turn  back  and  stand  by  me ; and  by 
the  grace  of  God  the  day  shall  be  ours.”  Du  Guesclin  and  his 
men-at-arms  maintained  the  fight  with  stubborn  courage,  but  at  last 
they  were  beaten  and  either  slain  or  taken.  To  the  last  moment 
Du  Guesclin,  with  his  back  against  a wall,  defended  himself 
heroically  against  a host  of  assailants.  The  prince  of  Wales  coming 
up,  cried  out,  “ Gentle  marshals  of  France,  and  you  too,  Bertrand, 
yield  yourselves  to  me.”  “ Why,  yonder  men  are  my  foes,”  cried 
the  king  Don  Pedro;  “it  is  they  who  took  from  me  my  kingdom, 
and  on  them  I mean  to  take  vengeance.”  Du  Guesclin  darting- 
forward  struck  so  rough  a blow  with  his  sword  at  Don  Pedro  that 
he  brought  him  fainting  to  the  ground,  and  then  turning  to  the 
prince  of  Wales  said,  “ Nathless  I give  up  my  sword  to  the  most 
valiant  prince  on  earth.”  The  prince  of  Wales  took  the  sword, 
and  charged  the  Captal  of  Buch  with  the  prisoner’s  keeping. 
“ Aha  ! sir  Bertrand,”  said  the  Captal  to  Du  Guesclin,  you  took  me 
at  the  battle  of  Cocherel,  and  to-day  I’ve  got  you.”  “ Yes,”  replied 
Du  Guesclin ; “ but  at  Cocherel  I took  you  myself,  and  here  you 
are  only  my  keeper.” 

The  captivity  of  the  Breton  commander  was  not  of  long  duration  ; 
Du  Guesclin  proudly  fixed  his  ransom  at  a hundred  thousand 
francs,  which  seemed  a large  sum,  even  to  the  prince  of  Wales. 
“Sir,”  cried  Du  Guesclin  to  him,  “the  king  in  whose  keeping  is 
France  will  lend  me  what  I lack,  and  there  is  not  a spinning 
wench  in  France  who  would  not  spin  to  gain  for  me  what  is 
necessary  to  put  me  out  of  your  clutches.”  The  advisers  of  the 
prince  of  Wales  would  have  had  him  think  better  of  it,  and 
break  his  promise  ; but  “ that  which  we  have  agreed  to  with  him 
we  will  hold  to,”  said  the  prince ; “ it  would  be  shame  and 
confusion  of  face  to  us  if  we  could  be  reproached  with  not  setting 
him  to  ransom  when  he  is  ready  to  set  himself  down  at  so  much 
as  to  pay  a hundred  thousand  francs.”  Prince  and  knight  were 
both  as  good  as  their  word.  Du  Guesclin  found  amongst  his 
Breton  friends  a portion  of  the  sum  he  wanted  ; King  Charles  Y. 
lent  him  thirty  thousand  Spanish  doubloons,  which,  by  a deed  of 
December  27th,  1367,  Du  Guesclin  undertook  to  repay:  and  at 


Irritation  against  the  Prince  of  Wales.  1 67 

the  beginning  of  1368  the  prince  of  Wales  set  the  French  warrior 
at  liberty. 

The  consequences  of  this  unfortunate  campaign  were  soon  felt.  The  Piince 
The  expenses  incurred  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  it  on  having  jrritatss 
involved  the  prince  of  Wales  in  great  embarrassment,  he  was  the  Gas- 
compelled  to  levy  heavy  taxes  on  his  newly  acquired  provinces. 

The  Gascons  and  Aquitanians  became  irritated.  The  prince’s  mans, 
more  temperate  advisers,  even  those  of  English  birth,  tried  in  vain 
to  move  him  from  his  stubborn  course.  John  Chandos  himself, 
the  most  notable  as  well  as  the  wisest  of  them,  failed,  and  withdrew 
to  his  domain  of  St.  Sauveur,  in  Normandy,  that  he  might  have 
nothing  to  do  with  measures  of  which  he  disapproved.  Being- 
driven  to  extremity,  the  principal  lords  of  Aquitaine,  the  counts  of 
Comminges,  of  Armagnac,  of  Perigord,  and  many  barons  besides, 
set  out  for  France,  and  made  complaint,  on  the  30th  of  June, 

1368,  before  Charles  Y.  and  his  peers,  “on  account  of  the 
grievances  which  the  prince  of  Wales  was  purposed  to  put  upon 
them.”  They  had  recourse,  they  said,  to  the  king  of  France  as 
their  sovereign  lord,  who  had  no  power  to  renounce  his  suzerainty 
or  the  jurisdiction  of  his  court  of  peers  and  of  his  parliament. 

Nothing  could  have  corresponded  better  with  the  wishes  of 
Charles  Y.  For  eight  years  past  he  had  taken  to  heart  the  treaty 
of  Bretigny,  and  he  was  as  determined  not  to  miss  as  he  was 
patient  in  waiting  for  an  opportunity  for  a breach  of  it.  Having 
ascertained  the  legal  means  of  maintaining  that  the  stipulations 
of  the  treaty  of  Bretigny  had  not  all  of  them  been  performed  by 
the  king  of  England,  and  that,  consequently,  the  king  of  France 
had  not  lost  all  his  rights  of  suzerainty  over  the  ceded  provinces, 
he  summoned  the  prince  of  Wales  to  appear  before  a court  of  his 
peers  at  Paris,  to  be  judged  as  a rebellious  vassal.  “When  the 
prince  of  Wales  had  read  this  letter,  ’’says  Froissart,  “ he  shook 
his  head  and  looked  askant  at  the  aforesaid  Frenchman ; and  when 
he  had  thought  a while,  he  answered,  ‘ We  will  go  willingly,  at  our 
own  time,  since  the  king  of  France  doth  bid  us,  but  it  shall  be 
with  our  casque  on  our  head,  and  with  sixty  thousand  men  at 
our  back.’  ” 

This  was  a declaration  of  war;  and  deeds  followed  at  once  a. D 1369. 

upon  words.  Edward  III.,  after  a short  and  fruitless  attempt  at  Cna  hsV. 

* o declares 

an  accommodation,  assumed  on  the  3rd  of  June,  1369,  the  title  of  war 

king  of  France,  and  ordered  a levy  of  all  his  subjects  between  against 

sixteen  and  sixty,  laic  or  ecclesiastical,  for  the  defence  of  England,  En£*a-  d* 

threatened  by  a French  fleet  which  was  cruising  in  the  Channel. 

Profiting  by  the  lessons  of  experience,  Charles  Y.  abstained  from 


1 68 


History  of  France . 


Success 
of  the 
French. 


A.D.  1376. 
Death  of 
the  “Bla<  k 
Prince” 
(June  8). 


A.D.  1377. 

and  of 
ElwardTII 
(June  21). 


general  engagements,  confining  himself  to  fortifying  his  cities,  laying 
waste  the  country,  and  destroying  in  detail  the  forces  of  the 
enemy.  Thus  it  was  that  an  English  army,  which  had  landed  at 
Calais  (1369),  and  advanced  as  far  as  Paris,  melted  away  before  it 
had  time  to  reach  Bordeaux.  Another  one,  partly  ruined  by  want 
of  provisions,  was  crushed  at  Pontvalain  by  Du  Guesclin,  lately 
named  constable  of  France  (1370).  At  the  same  time,  the  French 
navy,  renewed  by  the  wise  foresight  of  the  king,  and  reinforced  by 
Spanish  ships,  gained  a signal  victory  at  La  Rochelle.  These  suc- 
cesses and  others  besides  allowed  Charles  Y.  to  recover  from  the 
English  the  greater  part  of  the  provinces  which  they  had  on  the 
continent.  The  leading  actors  in  this  historical  drama  did  not 
know  how  near  were  the  days  when  they  would  be  called  away 
from  this  arena  still  so  crowded  with  their  exploits  or  their  re- 
verses. A few  weeks  after  the  destruction  of  Limoges,  the  prince 
of  Wales  lost,  at  Bordeaux,  his  eldest  son,  six  years  old,  whom  he 
loved  with  all  the  tenderness  of  a veteran  warrior,  so  much  the 
more  affected  by  gentle  impressions  as  they  were  a rarity  to  him ; 
and  he  was  himself  so  ill  that  “ his  doctors  advised  him  to  return 
to  England,  Ids  own  land,  saying  that  he  ’would  probably  get  better 
health  there.  Accordingly  he  left  France,  which  he  wrnuld  never 
see  again,  and  he  died  on  the  8th  of  June,  1376,  in  possession  of  a 
popularity  that  never  shifted  and  was  deserved  by  such  qualities 
as  showed  a nature  great  indeed  and  generous,  though  often  sullied 
by  the  fits  of  passion  of  a character  harsh  even  to  ferocity.  “ The 
good  fortune  of  England,”  says  his  contemporary  Walsingham, 
“seemed  bound  up  with  his  person,  for  it  flourished  when  he 
was  well,  fell  off  when  he  was  ill,  and  vanished  at  his  death. 
As  long  as  he  was  on  the  spot  the  English  feared  neither  the 
foe’s  invasion  nor  the  meeting  on  the  battle-field ; but  with  him 
died  all  their  hopes.”  A year  after  him,  on  the  21st  of  June,  1377, 
died  his  father,  Edward  III.,  a king  who  had  been  able,  glorious, 
and  fortunate  for  nearly  half  a century,  but  had  fallen  towards 
the  end  of  his  life  into  contempt  wdth  his  people  and  into  forget- 
fulness on  the  continent  of  Europe,  where  nothing  was  heard  about 
him  beyond  whispers  of  an  indolent  old  man’s  indulgent  weaknesses 
to  please  a covetous  mistress. 

Whilst  England  thus  lost  her  two  great  chiefs,  France  still  kept 
hers.  For  three  years  longer  Charles  Y.  and  Du  Guesclin  re- 
mained at  the  head  of  her  government  and  her  armies.  A truce 
between  the  two  kingdoms  had  been  twice  concluded,  between 
1375  and  1377  : it  was  still  in  force  when  the  prince  of  Wales 
died,  and  Charles,  ever  careful  to  practise  knightly  courtesy,  had  a 


BERTRAND  DU  GUESCLIN. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Constable  Du  Guesclin . 


169 

solemn  funeral  service  performed  for  him  in  the  Sainte-Chapelle ; 
hut  the  following  year,  at  the  death  of  Edward  III.,  the  truce  had 
expired.  The  war  prosecuted  by  Charles  V.  between  Edward 
IIL's  death  and  his  own  had  no  result  of  importance ; the 
attempt,  by  law  and  arms,  which  he  made  in  1378,  to  make  A.D.  1378. 
Brittany  his  own  and  reunite  it  to  the  crown  completely  failed,  V‘ 

thanks  to  the  passion  with  which  the  Bretons,  nobles,  burgesses  Guesclin. 
and  peasants  were  attached  to  their  country’s  independence. 

Charles  V.  actually  ran  a risk  of  embroiling  himself  with  the 
hero  of  his  reign  ; he  had  ordered  Du  Guesclin  to  reduce  to  sub- 
mission to  the  countship  of  Rennes,  his  native  land,  and  he  showed 
some  temper  because  the  constable  not  only  did  not  succeed,  but 
advised  him  to  make  peace  with  the  duke  of  Brittany  and  his 
party.  Du  Guesclin,  grievously  hurt,  sent  to  the  king  his  sword 
of  constable,  adding  that  he  was  about  to  withdraw  to  the  court  of 
Castile,  to  Henry  of  Transtamare,  who  would  show  more  apprecia- 
tion of  his  services.  All  CMrles  Y.’s  wisdom  did  not  preserve  him 
from  one  of  those  deeds  of  haughty  levity  which  the  handling  of 
sovereign  power  sometimes. causes  .even  the. wisest' kings  to  commit, 
but  reflection  made  him  promptly  acknowledge  and  retrieve  his 
fault.  He  charged  the  dukes  of  Anjou  and  Bourbon  to  go  and, 
for  his  sake,  conjure  Du  Guesclin  to  remain  his  constable  ; and, 
though  some  chroniclers  declare  that  Du  Guesclin  refused,  his  will, 
dated  the  9th  of  July,  1380,  leads  to  a contrary  belief,  for  in  it  he 
assumes  the  title  of  constable  of  France,  and  this  will  preceded  the 
hero’s  death  only  by  four  days.  Having  fallen  sick  before  Chateau- 
neuf-Randon,  a place  he  was  besieging  in  the  Gevaudan,  Du  Gues- 
clin expired  on  the  13th  of  July,  1380,  at  sixty-six  years  of  age,  A.D.  1380. 
and  his  last  words  were  an  exhortation  to  the  veteran  captains  of 
around  him  “ never  to  forget  that,  in  whatsoever  country  they  might  clin 
be  making  war,  churchmen,  women,  children,  and  the  poor  people  Guly 
were  not  their  enemies.”  According  to  certain  contemporary  chro- 
nicles, or,  one  might  almost  say,  legends,  Chateauneuf-Randon  was 
to  be  given  up  the  day  after  Du  Guesclin  died.  The  marshal  de 
Sancerre,  who  commanded  the  king’s  army,  summoned  the  governor 
to  surrender  the  place  to  him ; but  the  governor  replied  that  he 
had  given  his  word  to  Du  Guesclin,  and  would  surrender  to  no 
other.  He  was  told  of  the  constable’s  death : “ Very  well,”  he 
rejoined,  “I  will  carry  the  keys  of  the  town  to  his  tomb.”  To  this 
the  marshal  agreed ; the  governor  marched  out  of  the  place  at  the 
head  of  his  garrison,  passed  through  the  besieging  army,  went  and 
knelt  down  before  Du  Guesclin’s  corpse,  and  actually  laid  the  ke}Ts 
of  Chateauneuf  on  his  bier.  The  body'  of  the  constable  was  carried 


Death  of 
Charles  V. 
(Septem- 
ber 16). 


His  cha- 
racter. 


1 70  History  of  France. 

to  Paris  to  be  interred  at  St.  Denis,  hard  by  the  tomb  which 
Charles  V.  had  ordered  to  be  made  for  himself;  and  nine  years 
afterwards,  in  1389,  Charles  V.’s  successor,  his  son  Charles  VI., 
caused  to  be  celebrated  in  the  Breton  warrior’s  honour  a fresh 
funeral,  at  which  the  princes  and  grandees  of  the  kingdom,  and  the 
young  king  himself,  were  present  in  state.  The  life,  character,  and 
name  of  Bertrand  du  Guesclin  were  and  remained  one  of  the  most 
popular,  patriotic,  and  legitimate  boasts  of  the  middle  ages,  then  at 
their  decline. 

Two  months  after  the  constable’s  death,  on  the  1 6th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1380,  Charles  Y.  died  at  the  castle  of  Beaute-sur-Marne,  near 
Vincennes,  at  forty- three  years  of  age,  quite  young  still  after  so 
stormy  and  hard-working  a life.  His  contemporaries  were  con- 
vinced, and  he  was  himself  convinced,  that  he  had  been  poisoned 
by  his  perfidious  enemy,  King  Charles  of  Havarre. 

Charles  V.,  taking  upon  his  shoulders  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  first 
as  king’s  lieutenant  and  as  dauphin  arid  afterwards  as  regent,  the 
government  of  Prance,  employed  all  his  soul  and  his  life  in  repair- 
ing the  disasters  arising  from  the  wars  of  his  predecessors  and  pre- 
venting any  repetition.  Ho  sovereign  was  ever  more  resolutely 
pacific ; he  carried  prudence  even  into  the  very  practice  of  war,  as 
wTas  proved  by  his  forbidding  his  generals  to  venture  any  general 
engagement  with  the  English,  so  great  a lesson  and  so  deep  an 
impression  had  he  derived  from  the  defeats  of  Crecy  and  Poitiers 
and  the  causes  which  led  to  them.  But  'without  being  a warrior, 
and  without  running  any  hazardous  risks,  he  made  himself  respected 
and  feared  by  his  enemies.  At  his  death  he  left  in  the  royal  trea- 
sury a surplus  of  seventeen  million  francs,  a large  sum  for  those 
days.  Hor  the  labours  of  government,  nor  the  expenses  of  war,  nor 
farsighted  economy  had  prevented  him  from  showing  a serious 
interest  in  learned  works  and  studies,  and  from  giving  effectual  pro- 
tection to  the  men  who  devoted  themselves  thereto.  The  university 
of  Paris,  notwithstanding  the  embarrassments  it  sometimes  caused 
him,  was  always  the  object  of  his  good-wilL  “ He  was  a great  lover 
of  wisdom,”  says  Christine  de  Pisan,  “ and  when  certain  folks  mur- 
mured for  that  he  honoured  clerks  so  highly,  he  answered,  ‘ So  long 
as  wisdom  is  honoured  in  this  realm,  it  will  continue  in  prosperity  ; 
but  when  wisdom  is  thrust  aside,  it  will  go  down.’”  He  collected 
nine  hundred  and  fifty  volumes  (the  first  foundation  of  the  Royal 
Library),  which  were  deposited  in  a tower  of  the  Louvre,  called  the 
library  tower , and  of  which  he,  in  1373,  had  an  inventory  drawn  up 
by  his  personal  attendant,  Gilles  de  Presle.  His  taste  for  literature 
and  science  was  not  confined  to  collecting  manuscripts.  He  had  a 


Charles  VI.  and  his  Uncles . 


*7* 

French  translation  made,  for  the  sake  of  spreading  a knowledge 
thereof,  of  the  Bible  in  the  first  place,  and  then  of  several  works  of 
Aristotle,  of  Livy,  of  Valerius  Maximus,  of  Vegetius,  and  of  St.  Au- 
gustine. He  was  fond  of  industry  and  the  arts  as  well  as  of  litera- 
ture. Henry  de  Vic,  a German  clockmaker,  constructed  for  him  the 
first  public  clock  ever  seen  in  France,  and  it  was  placed  in  what 
was  called  the  Clock  Tower  in  the  Palace  of  Justice ; and  the  king 
even  had  a clockmaker  by  appointment,  named  Peter  de  St.  Beathe. 

Several  of  the  Paris  monuments,  churches,  or  buildings  for  public 
use  were  undertaken  or  completed  under  his  care.  He  began  the 
building  of  the  Bastille,  that  fortress  which  was  then  so  necessary 
for  the  safety  of  Paris,  where  it  was  to  be,  four  centuries  later,  the 
object  of  the  wrath  and  earliest  excesses  on  the  part  of  the  populace. 

Charles  the  Wise,  from  whatever  point  of  view  he  may  be  regarded, 
is,  after  Louis  the  Fat,  Philip  Augustus,  St.  Louis,  and  Philip  the 
Handsome,  the  fifth  of  those  kings  who  powerfully  contributed  to 
the  settlement  of  France  in  Europe,  and  of  the  kingship  in  France. 

He  was  not  the  greatest  nor  the  best,  but,  perhaps,  the  most  honestly 
able. 

Scarcely  was  Charles  V.  laid  on  his  bier  when  it  was  seen  what  a 
loss  he  was  and  would  be  to  his  kingdom.  Discord  arose  in  the  Charles  VI 
king’s  own  family.  In  order  to  shorten  the  ever  critical  period  of  His  UIlcles 
minority,  Charles  V.  had  fixed  the  king’s  majority  at  the  age  of 
fourteen.  His  son,  Charles  VI.,  was  not  yet  twelve,  and  so  had 
two  years  to  remain  under  the  guardianship  of  his  four  uncles,  the 
dukes  of  Anjou,  Berry,  Burgundy,  and  Bourbon ; but  the  last  being 
only  a maternal  uncle  and  a less  puissant  prince  than  his  paternal 
uncles,  it  was  between  thn  other  three  that  strife  began  for  tem- 
porary possession  of  the  kingly  power.  Though  very  unequal  in 
talent  and  in  force  of  character,  they  were  all  three  ambitious  and 
jealous.  The  eldest,  the  duke  of  Anjou,  who  was  energetic,  despo- 
tic, and  stubborn,  aspired  to  dominion  in  France  for  the  sake  of 
making  French  influence  subserve  the  conquest  of  the  kingdom  of 
Kaples,  the  object  of  his  ambition.  The  duke  of  Berry  was  a 
mediocre,  restless,  prodigal,  and  grasping  prince.  The  duke  of 
Burgundy,  Philip  the  Bold,  the  most  able  and  the  most  powerful  of 
the  three,  had  been  the  favourite,  first  of  his  father,  King  John,  and 
then  of  his  brother,  Charles  V.,  who  had  confidence  in  him  and 
readily  adopted  his  counsels ; his  father-in-law,  Count  Louis  of 
Flanders,  was  in  almost  continual  strife  with  the  great  Flemish  com- 
munes, ever  on  the  point  of  rising  against  the  taxes  he  heaped  upon 
them  and  the  blows  he  struck  at  their  privileges.  The  city  of  Ghent 
in  particular  joined  complaint  with  menace,  and  in  1381  the  quarrel 


172 


History  of  France . 


A.D  138?, 
.Battle  of 

Bos3- 

becqua 

(Novem- 

ber 


The  “ Mal- 
le :eers.” 


became  war;  and  in  November,  of  the  following  year,  the  king  of 
France  and  his  army  marched  into  Flanders  in  support  of  the  count. 
Several  towns,  Cassel,  Bergues,  Gravelines,  and  Turnhout,  hastily 
submitted  to  him  ; and  on  the  28th  of  November  the  two  armies 
found  themselves  close  together  at  Rosebecque,  between  Ypres  and 
Courtrai.  T wenty-five  thousand  Flemings  fell  on  the  field,  together 
with  their  leader,  Van  Artevelde,  the  concoctor  of  this  rebellion, 
whose  corpse,  discovered  with  great  trouble  amongst  a heap  of  slain, 
was,  by  order  of  Charles  VI , hung  upon  a tree  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. The  French  also  lost  in  this  struggle  some  noble  knights, 
not  less  illustrious  by  birth  than  valour ; amongst  others  forty-four 
valiant  men,  who,  being  the  first  to  hurl  themselves  upon  the  ranks 
of  the  enemy  to  break  them,  thus  won  for  themselves  great  glory. 

The  victory  of  Rosebecque  was  a great  cause  for  satisfaction  and 
pride  to  Charles  VI.  and  his  uncle,  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  They 
had  conquered  on  the  field  in  Flanders  the  commonalty  of  Paris  as 
well  as  that  of  Ghent ; and  in  France  there  was  great  need  of  such  a 
success,  for,  since  the  accession  of  the  young  king,  the  Parisians  had 
risen  with  a demand  for  actual  abolition  of  the  taxes  of  which 
Charles  V.,  on  his  death-bed,  had  deplored  the  necessity,  and  all 
but  decreed  the  cessation.  Armed  with  all  sorts  of  weapons,  with 
strong  mallets  amongst  the  rest,  they  spread  in  all  directions,  killing 
the  collectors,  and  storming  and  plundering  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
They  were  called  the  Malleteers.  They  were  put  down  with  as 
much  timidity  as  cruelty.  Returning  victorious  from  Flanders  to 
France,  Charles  VI.  re-entered  Paris,  he  alone  being  mounted,  in 
the  midst  of  his  army.  The  burgesses  went  out  of  the  city  to  meet 
him  and  offer  him  their  wonted  homage,  but  they  were  curtly 
ordered  to  retrace  their  steps ; the  king  and  his  uncles,  they  were 
informed,  could  not  forget  offences  so  recent.  Fundamental  order 
having  been  thus  upheld,  reprisals  began  to  be  taken  for  the  out- 
breaks of  the  Parisians,  municipal  magistrates  or  populace,  burgesses 
or  artisans,  rich  or  poor,  in  the  course  of  the  two  preceding  years  ; 
arrests,  imprisonments,  fines,  confiscations,  executions,  severities  of 
all  kinds  fell  upon  the  most  conspicuous  and  the  most  formidable 
of  those  who  had  headed  or  favoured  popular  movements.  The 
most  solemn  and  most  iniquitous  of  these  punishments  was  that 
which  befell  the  advocate-general,  John  Desmarets.  “ For  nearly 
a whole  year,”  says  the  monk  of  St.  Denis,  “ he  had  served  as 
mediator  between  the  king  and  the  Parisians ; but,  yielding  to  the 
prayers  of  this  rebellious  and  turbulent  mob,  he,  instead  of  leaving 
Paris  as  the  rest  of  his  profession  had  done,  had  remained  there, 
and  throwing  himself  boldly  amidst  the  storms  of  civil  discord, 


Clisson  murdered. 


1 73 

lie  hail  advised  the  assumption  of  arms  and  the  defence  of  the  city, 
which  he  knew  was  very  displeasing  to  the  king  and  the  grandees.’* 
Public  respect  accompanied  the  old  and  courageous  magistrate 
beyond  the  scaffold ; his  corpse  was  taken  up  by  his  friends,  and  at 
a later  period  honourably  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Catherine. 

Free  at  last  from  the  surveillance  of  his  uncles,  Charles  YI.  mar- 
ried Isabel  of  Bavaria,  whose  wantonness  was  destined  to  bring  the 
kingdom  to  the  verge  of  destruction.  Now,  yielding  to  the  impetuous 
suggestions  of  his  character,  he  prepared  against  England  a gigantic 
armament,  which  the  delays  of  the  Duke  of  Berry  rendered  useless. 
Matters  were  getting  worse  in  France,  when  a serious  misfortune 
came  to  destroy  the  already  exhausted  constitution  of  the  king,  and 
to  give  up  the  country  to  the  unprincipled  ambition  of  his  uncles.  On 
the  13th  of  June,  1392,  the  constable,  Oliver  de  Clisson,  was  waylaid 
as  he  was  returning  home  after  a banquet  given  by  the  king  at  the 
hostel  of  St.  Paul.  The  assassin  was  Peter  de  Craon,  cousin  of 
John  IV.,  duke  of  Brittany.  He  believed  De  Clisson  to  be  dead, 
and  left  him  bathed  in  blood  at  a baker’s  door  in  the  street  called 
Culture- Sainte- Catherine.  The  king  was  just  going  to  bed,  when 
one  of  his  people  came  and  said  to  him,  “ Ah  ! sir,  a great  misfor- 
tune has  happened  in  Paris.”  “What,  and  to  whom  ?”  said  the 
king.  “ To  your  constable,  sir,  who  has  just  been  slain.”  “ Slain  !’* 
cried  Charles;  “and  by  whom?”  “ Nobody  knows ; but  it  was 
close  by  here,  in  St.  Catherine  Street.”  “Lights!  quick!”  said 
the  king  : “ I will  go  and  see  him  ;”  and  he  set  off  without  waiting 
for  his  following.  When  he  entered  the  baker’s  shop,  De  Clisson, 
grievously  wounded,  was  just  beginning  to  recover  his  senses. 
“Ah  ! constable,”  said  the  king,  “and  how  do  you  feel?”  “Very 
poorly,  dear  sir.”  “And  who  brought  you  to  this  pass?”  “Peter 
de  Craon  and  his  accomplices  ; traitorously  and  without  warning.” 
“ Constable,”  said  the  king,  “ never  was  any  thing  so  punished  or 
dearly  paid  for  as  this  shall  be ; take  thought  for  yourself,  and 
have  no  further  care;  it  is  my  affair.”  Orders  were  immediately 
given  to  seek  out  Peter  de  Craon  and  hurry  on  his  trial.  He  had 
taken  refuge,  first  in  his  own  castle  of  Sable,  and  afterwards  with 
the  duke  of  Brittany,  who  kept  him  concealed,  and  replied  to  the 
king’s  envoys  that;  he  did  not  know  where  he  was.  The  king  pro- 
claimed his  intention  of  making  war  on  the  duke  of  Brittany  until 
Peter  de  Craon  should  be  discovered  and  justice  done  to  the  con- 
stable. Preparations  for  war  were  begun  ; and  the  dukes  of  Berry 
and  Burgundy  received  orders  to  get  ready  for  it,  themselves  and 
their  vassals. 

The  king  had  got  together  his  uncles  and  his  troops  at  Le  Mans ; 


Chrrl  sVI. 
marries 
Isabel  of 
Bavari  . 


A.D  1392. 
Oliver  de 
Clisson 
murdered 
(June  13). 


174 


History  of  France . 


Tis  k'ng 
struck 
with,  mad- 
ness. 


A.D.  1392 
—1402. 
The  dukes 
of  Bur- 
gundy and 
of  Berry  at 
the  head 
of  the 
Slate. 


and,  after  passing  three  weeks  there,  he  gave  the  word  to  march  for 
Brittany.  They  had  just  entered  the  great  forest  of  Le  Mans,  when 
all  at  once  there  started  from  behind  a tree  by  the  roadside  a tall 
man,  with  bare  head  and  feet,  clad  in  a common  white  smock,  who, 
dashing  forward  and  seizing  the  king’s  horse  by  the  bridle,  cried, 
“Go  no  farther;  thou  art  betrayed  !”  So  unusual  an  appearance 
brought  on  a fit  of  frenzy  from  which  Charles  never  recovered,  and 
which  indeed  was  augmented  by  a strange  accident  which  occurred 
at  a masquerade,  some  time  after.  Five  young  noblemen  with  the 
king  appeared  as  savages  linked  together,  in  a dress  of  linen,  to 
which  fur  was  cemented  by  the  means  of  rosin  : the  secret  was  so 
well  kept,  that  they  remained  undiscovered.  The  Duke  of  Orleans, 
either  from  levity  or  accident,  ran  a lighted  torch  against  one  of 
the  party,  which  immediately  set  his  combustible  costume  on  fire ; 
the  flame  was  quickly  communicated  to  the  rest;  but  the  masks,  in  the 
midst  of  their  torments,  crying  out  “ Save  the  king,  save  the  king  !” 
his  aunt,  the  duchess  of  Berry,  recollecting  his  person,  threw  her 
robes  over  him,  and  by  wrapping  them  close,  extinguished  the  fire. 
One  of  the  mummers  saved  his  life  by  leaping  into  a cistern  of 
water;  but  the  remaining  four  were  so  dreadfully  scorched  that 
they  died.  On  the  king’s  good  days  he  was  sometimes  brought  in 
to  sit  at  certain  councils  at  w^hich  there  was  a discussion  about  the 
diminution  of  taxes  and  relief  of  the  people,  and  he  showed 
symptoms,  at  intervals,  of  taking  an  interest  in  them.  A fair 
young  Burgundian,  Odette  de  Champdivers,  was  the  only  one 
amongst  his  many  favourites  who  was  at  all  successful  in  soothing 
him  during  his  violent  fits.  It  was  Duke  John  the  Fearless,  who 
had  placed  her  near  the  king  that  she  might  promote  his  own 
influence,  and  she  took  advantage  of  it  to  further  her  own  fortunes, 
which,  however,  did  not  hinder  her  from  passing  into  the  service 
of  Charles  VII.  against  the  House  of  Burgundy.  For  thirty  years, 
from  1392  to  1422,  the  crown  remained  on  the  head  of  this  poor 
madman,  whilst  France  was  a victim  to  the  bloody  quarrels  of  the 
royal  house,  to  national  dismemberment,  to  licentiousness  in  morals, 
to  civil  anarchy,  and  to  foreign  conquest. 

The  dukes  of  Burgundy  and  Berry  being  thus  in  possession  of 
power,  exercised  it  for  ten  years,  from  1392  to  1402,  without 
any  great  dispute  between  themselves,  the  duke  of  Burgundy’s 
influence  being  predominant,  or  with  the  king,  who,  save  certain 
lucid  intervals,  took  merely  a nominal  part  in  the  government. 
During  this  period  no  event  of  importance  disturbed  France 
internally.  In  1393  the  king  of  England,  Richard  II.,  son  of  the 
Black  Prince,  sought  in  marriage  the  daughter  of  Charles  VI., 


JOHN  THE  FEARLESS. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


The  Queen  of  France  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans . 175 

Isabel  of  France,  only  eight  years  old.  In  both  courts  and  in  both 
countries  there  was  a desire  for  peace ; the  contract  was  signed  on 
the  9th  of  March,  1396,  with  a promise  that,  when  the  princess 
had  accomplished  her  twelfth  year,  she  should  be  free  to  assent  to 
or  refuse  the  union ; and  ten  days  after  the  marriage,  the  king’s 
uncles  and  the  English  ambassadors  mutually  signed  a truce,  which 
promised — but  quite  in  vain — to  last  for  eight  and  twenty  years. 

Rivalries,  intrigues,  and  scandals  of  every  kind  were,  in  the  Intrigue 
meanwhile,  disgracing  the  entourage  of  the  mad  king,  and  bringing 
about  the  curse  and  the  shame  of  France.  There  had  grown  up  Bavaria 
between  Queen  Isabel  of  Bavaria  and  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans, 
brother  of  the  king,  an  intimacy  which,  throughout  the  city  and  Orleans, 
amongst  all  honourable  people,  shocked  even  the  least  strait-laced. 

It  was  undoubtedly  through  the  queen’s  influence  that  Charles  VI., 
in  1402,  suddenly  decided  upon  putting  into  the  hands  of  the  duke 
of  Orleans  the  entire  government  of  the  "realm  and  the  right  of 
representing  him  in  every  thing  during  the  attacks  of  his  malady. 

The  duke  of  Burgundy  wrote  at  once'  about  it  to  the  parliament  of 
Paris,  saying,  “Take  counsel  and  pains  that  the  interests  of  the 
king  and  his  dominion  be  not  governed  as  they  now  are,  for,  in 
good  truth,  it  is  a pity  and  a grief  to  hear  what  is  told  me  about 
it.”  In  spite  of  his  malady  and  his  affection  for  his  brother, 

Charles  VI.  yielded  to  the  councils  of  certain  wise  men  who 
represented  to  him  “that  it  was  neither  a reasonable  nor  an 
honourable  thing  to  entrust  the  government  of  the  realm  to  a prince 
whose  youth  needed  rather  to  be  governed  than  to  govern.”  He 
withdrew  the  direction  of  affairs  from  the  duke  of  Orleans  and 
restored  it  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  who  took  it  again  and  held  it 
with  a strong  grasp,  and  did  not  suffer  his  nephew  Louis  to  meddle 
in  any  thing.  But  from  that  time  forward  open  distrust  and  hatred 
were  established  between  the  two  princes  and  their  families.  In 
the  very  midst  of  this  court-crisis  Duke  Philip  the  Bold  fell  ill  and 
died  within  a few  days,  on  the  27th  of  April,  1404.  John  the 
Fearless,  count  of  Nevers,  his  son  and  successor  in  the  dukedom  of  duke  of  * 
Burgundy,  was  not  slow  to  prove  that  there  was  reason  to  regret  Burgundy, 
his  father.  His  expedition  to  Hungary,  ending  as  it  did  by  the 
terrible  disaster  of  Nicopolis,  for  all  its  bad  leadership  and  bad 
fortune,  had  created  esteem  for  his  courage  and  for  his  firmness 
under  reverses,  but  little  confidence  in  his  direction  of  public 
affairs.  He  was  a man  of  violence,  unscrupulous  and  indiscreet, 
full  of  jealousy  and  hatred,  and  capable  of  any  deed  and  *any  risk 
for  the  gratification  of  his  passions  or  his  fancies.  At  his  accession 
he  made  some  popular  moves ; he  appeared  disposed  to  prosecute 


History  of  France. 


176 

vigorously  the  war  against  England  which  was  going  on  sluggishly  ; 
he  testified  a certain  spirit  of  conciliation  by  going  to  pay  a visit 
to  his  cousin,  the  duke  of  Orleans,  lying  ill  at  his  castle  of  Beaut  e, 
near  Vincennes ; when  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  well  again,  the  two 
princes  took  the  communion  together  and  dined  together  at  their 
uncle’s,  the  duke  of  Berry’s  ; and  the  duke  of  Orleans  invited  the 
new  duke  of  Burgundy  to  dine  with  him  the  next  Sunday.  The 
Parisians  took  pleasure  in  observing  these  little  matters,  and  in 
hoping  for  the  re-establishment  of  harmony  in  the  royal  family. 
They  were  soon  to  be  cruelly  undeceived. 

A.D. 1407.  On  the  23rd  of  November,  1407,  the  duke  of  Orleans  was 
the^hike°of  raur(^ere(i  in  the  streets  of  Paris  by  ruffians  hired  for  the  purpose 
Orlexns  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  who  openly  dared  to  justify  the  assas- 
(Nov.  23).  gination. 

Valentine  Visconti,  the  duke  of  Milan’s  daughter,  whose  dowry 
had  gone  to  pay  the  ransom  of  King  J ohn,  was  at  Chateau-Thierry 
when  she  heard  of,  the  duke  of  Orleans,  her  husband’s  murder. 
Hers  was  one  of  those  natures,  full  of  softness  and  at  the  same 
time  of  fire,  which  grief  does  not  overwhelm,  and  in  which  a passion 
for  vengeance  is  excited  and  fed  by  their  despair.  She  started  for 
Paris  in  the  early  part  of  December,  1407,  during  the  roughest 
winter,  it  was  said  ever  known  for  several  centuries,  taking  with 
her  all  her  children.  Dismounting  at  the  hostel  of  St.  Paul,  she 
threw  herself  on  her  knees  before  the  king  with  the  princes  and 
council  around  him,  and  demanded  of  him  justice  for  her  husband’s 
cruel  death.  Justice  was  promised  by  the  chancellor  in  the  name 
of  the  king,  and  Valentine  even  obtained  a kind  of  moral  reparation 
during  the  absence  of  her  deadly  foe ; but  she  died  on  the  4th  of 
Death  of  * December,  1408,  at  Blois,  far  from  satisfied,  and  clearly  foreseeing 
Valentine,  that  against  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  flushed  with  victory  and 
Orleans  Presen^  Pers0Ib  she  would  obtain  nothing  of  what  she  had  asked. 
(Dec.  4).  For  spirits  of  the  best  mettle,  and  especially  for  a woman’s  heart, 
impotent  passion  is  a heavy  burden  to  bear  ; and  Valentine  Visconti, 
beautiful,  amiable,  and  unhappy  even  in  her  best  days  through  the 
fault  of  the  husband  she  loved,  sank  under  this  trial.  At  the  dose 
of  her  life  she  had  taken  for  devise,  “ Naught  have  I more,  more 
hold  I naught  ” {Rien  ne  m’esi  plus  ; plus  ne  m’est  rien) ; and  so 
fully  was  that  her  habitual  feeling  that  she  had  the  words  inscribed 
upon  the  black  tapestry  of  her  chamber.  In  her  last  hours  she  had 
by  her  side  her  three  sons  and  her  daughter,  but  there  was  another 
still  whofri  she  remembered.  She  sent  for  a child,  six  years  of  age, 
John,  a natural  son  of  her  husband  by  Marietta  d’Enghien,  wife  of 
sire  de  Cany-Dunois.  “ This  one,”  said  she,  “ was  filched  from  me ; 


The  Burgundians  and  the  Armagnacs . 1 77 

yet  there  is  not  a child  so  well  cut  out  as  he  to  avenge  his  father’s 
death.”  Twenty-five  years  later  J ohn  was  the  famous  bastard  of 
Orleans,  Count  Dunois,  Charles  VII. ’s  lieutenant-general  and  Joan 
of  Arc’s  comrade  in  the  work  of  saving  the  French  kingship 
and  France. 

The  duke  of  Burgundy’s  negotiations  at  Tours  were  not  fruitless. 

The  result  was  that  on  the  9th  of  March,  1409,  a treaty  was  con- 
cluded and  an  interview  effected  at  Chartres  between  the  duke  on 
one  side  and  on  the  other  the  king,  the  queen,  the  dauphin,  all  the 
royal  family,  the  councillors  of  the  crown,  the  young  duke  of  Orleans, 
his  brother,  and  a hundred  knights  of  their  house,  all  met  together 
to  hear  the  king  declare  that  he  pardoned  the  duke  of  Burgundy. 

The  duke  prayed  “ my  lord  of  Orleans  and  my  lords  his  brothers 
to  banish  from  their  hearts  all  hatred  and  vengeance and  the 
princes  of  Orleans  “ assented  to  what  the  king  commanded  them, 
and  forgave  their  cousin  the  duke  of  Burgundy  every  thing 
entirely.”  But  falsehood  does  not  extinguish  the  facts  it  attempts 
to  disguise.  The  hostility  between  the  houses  of  Orleans  and 
Burgundy  could  not  fail  to  survive  the  treaty  of  Chartres  and 
cause  search  to  be  made  for  a man  to  head  the  struggle  so  soon  as  The  Bur- 
it  could  be  recommenced.  The  hour  and  the  man  were  not  long  gundians 
waited  for.  In  the  very  year  of  the  treaty,  Charles  of  Orleans,  Armag- 
eldest  son  of  the  murdered  duke  and  Valentine  of  Milan,  lost  his  uacs. 
wife,  Isabel  of  France,  daughter  of  Charles  VI. ; and  as  early  a3 
the  following  year  (1410)  the  princes,  his  uncles,  made  him  marry 
Bonne  d’Armagnac,  daughter  of  Count  Bernard  d’Armagnac,  one  of 
the  most  powerful,  the  most  able,  and  the  most  ambitious  lords  of 
southern  France.  Forthwith,  in  concert  with  the  duke  of  Berry, 
the  duke  of  Brittany,  and  several  other  lords,  Count  Bernard  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  Orleans  party,  and  prepared  to  proceed 
against  the  duke  of  Burgundy  in  the  cause  of  dominion  combined 
with  vengeance.  From  1410  to  1415  France  was  a prey  to  civil 
war  between  the  Armagnacs  and  Burgundians,  and  to  their  alternate 
successes  and  reverses  brought  about  by  the  unscrupulous  employ- 
ment of  the  most  odious  and  desperate  means.  The  Burgundians 
had  generally  the  advantage  in  the  struggle,  for  Paris  was  chiefly 
the  centre  of  it,  and  their  influence  was  predominant  there.  Their 
principal  allies  there,  says  the  chronicle,  were  the  butchers,  the 
boldest  and  most  ambitious  corporation  in  the  city;  and  they  numbered 
amongst  their  most  active  associates  one,  Caboche,  a flayer  of  beasts  in 
the  shambles  of  Hotel-Dieu,  and  master  John  de  Troyes,  a surgeon 
with  a talent  for  speaking.  Their  company  consisted  of  prentice- 
butchers,  medical  students,  skinners,  tailors,  and  every  kind  of  lewd 

N 


History  of  France. 


Vicissi- 
tudes of 
the  strug- 
gle. 


AD.  1415. 
Battle  of 
Agincourt 
(Oct.  25). 


j;S 

fellows.  When  any  body  caused  their  displeasure  they  said,  ‘ Here’s 
an  Armagnac,’  and  despatched  him  on  the  spot,  and  plundered  his 
house,  or  dragged  him  off  to  prison  to  pay  dear  for  his  release.  The 
rich  burgesses  lived  in  fear  and  peril.  More  than  three  hundred 
of  them  went  off  to  Melun  with  the  provost  of  tradesmen,  who 
could  no  longer  answer  for  the  tranquillity  of  the  city.  The 
Armagnacs,  in  spite  of  their  general  inferiority,  sometimes  got  the 
upper  hand,  and  did  not  then  behave  with  much  more  discretion 
than  the  others.  Eager  to  avenge  themselves  on  the  men  of  the 
north  for  all  the  misfortunes  their  own  ancestors  had  endured  during 
the  crusade  of  the  Albigenses,  the  Armagnacs,  distinguished  by  a 
white  scarf  fastened  on  the  right  shoulder,  marched  towards  Paris 
and  laid  waste  all  the  provinces  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine. 
Masters  of  the  metropolis,  the  Burgundians  were  enabled  to 
retaliate  severely  upon  the  Armagnacs,  and  even  to  drive  them 
southwards.  Both  parties  were  anxious  to  secure  the  support  of 
the  king  of  England.  The  Armagnacs  had  promised  the  half  of 
Prance  to  Henry,  and  thus  induced  him  to  espouse  their  quarrel. 
The  duke  of  Burgundy  however,  and  Charles  II.  whom  he  had  in 
his  power,  declared  them  enemies  of  the  State,  and  besieged  them  in 
the  city  of  Bourges  (1412).  There  a peace  was  concluded,  but 
proved  of  very  short  duration.  The  death  of  Henry  of  Lancaster, 
by  lessening  the  immediate  chances  of  a foreign  war,  rendered  the 
conflict  at  home  much  more  terrible. 

This  time,  and  after  the  useless  assembly  of  the  States-general  in 
1413,  the  Cabochians  committed  such  excesses  in  Paris,  that  the 
citizens  came  to  an  understanding  to  expel  them.  The  Armagnacs 
immediately  entered  the  metropolis,  and  not  only  maintained 
themselves  there,  but,  commanded  by  Charles  VI.,  pursued  their 
enemies  as  far  as  Arras.  There  they  consented  to  sign  a treaty  of 
peace  by  virtue  of  which  John  the  Fearless  pledged  himself  to 
break  off  his  recent  alliance  with  the  English  (1414).  The  next 
year  Henry  V.  started  upon  an  expedition  for  the  purpose  of 
claiming  the  execution  of  the  treaty  of  Bretigny.  The  two  armies 
met  in  the  plains  of  Agincourt  (25th  October,  1415),  where  a 
most  terrible  battle  took  place. 

It  was  a monotonous  and  lamentable  repetition  of  the  disasters 
of  Crecy  and  Poitiers ; disasters  almost  inevitable,  owing  to  the  in- 
capacity of  the  leaders,  and  ever  the  same  defects  on  the  part  of 
the  French  nobility,  defects  which  rendered  their  valorous  and 
generous  qualities  not  only  fruitless  but  fatal.  Never  had  that 
nobility  been  more  numerous  and  more  brilliant  than  in  this  pre- 
meditated struggle.  On  the  eve  of  the  battle,  marshal  de  Boueicaut 


Agincourt. — S tate  of  France.  1 79 

had  armed  five  hundred  new  knights  ; the  greater  part  passed  the 
night  on  horseback,  under  arms,  on  ground  soaked  with  rain  ; and 
men  and  horses  were  already  distressed  in  the  morning,  when  the 
battle  began.  It  were  tedious  to  describe  the  faulty  manoeuvres  of 
the  French  army  and  their  deplorable  consequences  on  that  day* 

Never  was  battle  more  stubborn  or  defeat  more  complete  and 
bloody.  Eight  thousand  men  of  family,  amongst  whom  were  a 
hundred  and  twenty  lords  bearing  their  own  banners,  were  left  on  Its  results, 
the  field  of  battle.  The  duke  of  Brabant,  the  count  of  Nevers, 
the  duke  of  Bar,  the  duke  of  Alem^on,  and  the  constable 
D’Albret  were  killed.  The  duke  of  Orleans  was  dragged  out 
wounded  from  under  the  dead.  When  Henry  V.,  after  having 
spent  several  hours  on  the  field  of  battle,  retired  to  his  quarters, 
he  was  told  that  the  duke  of  Orleans  would  neither  eat  nor  drink. 

He  went  to  see  him.  “ What  fare,  cousin  ? ” said  he.  “ Good,  my 
lord.”  Why  will  ye  not  eat  or  drink  1”  “I  wish  to  fast.” 

“ Cousin,”  said  the  king  gently,  “ make  good  cheer  : if  God  has  gtate  0£ 
granted  me  grace  to  gain  the  victory,  I know  it  is  not  owing  to  my  public  feel- 
deserts  ; I believe  that  God  wished  to  punish  the  French  ; and,  if  in 
all  I have  heard  is  true,  it  is  no  wonder,  for  they  say  that  never 
were  seen  disorder,  licentiousness,  sins,  and  vices  like  what  is  going 
on  in  France  just  now.  Surely  God  did  well  to  be  angry.”  It 
appears  that  the  king  of  England’s  feeling  was  that  also  of  many 
amongst  the  people  of  France.  “ On  reflecting  upon  this  cruel 
mishap,”  says  the  monk  of  St.  Denis,  “ all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
kingdom,  men  and  women,  said,  1 In  what  evil  days  are  we  come  into 
this  world  that  we  should  be  witnesses  of  such  confusion  and  shame ! ’” 

These  successes  of  the  king  of  England  were  so  many  reverses 
and  perils  for  the  count  of  Armagnac.  He  had  in  his  hands  Paris, 
the  king,  and  the  dauphin ; in  the  people’s  eyes  the  responsibility 
of  government  and  of  events  rested  on  his  shoulders  ; and  at  one 
time  he  was  doing  nothing,  at  another  he  was  unsuccessful  in  what  Succass  of 
he  did.  Whilst  Henry  V.  was  becoming  master  of  nearly  all  the  the  Ea- 
towns  of  Normandy,  the  constable,  with  the  king  in  his  army,  was 
besieging  Senlis  ; and  he  was  obliged  to  raise  the  siege.  The 
legates  of  Pope  Martin  Y.  had  set  about  establishing  peace  between 
the  Burgundians  and  Armagnacs  as  well  as  between  France  and 
England  ; they  had  prepared  on  the  basis  of  the  treaty  of  Arras  a 
new  treaty  with  which  a great  part  of  the  country  and  even  of  the 
burgesses  of  Paris  showed  themselves  well  pleased  ; but  the  con- 
stable had  it  rejected  on  the  ground  of  its  being  adverse  to  the 
interests  of  the  king  and  of  France  ; and  his  friend,  the  chancellor, 

Henry  de  Marie,  declared  that,  if  the  king  were  disposed  to  sign  it, 

n 2 


A.D. 1418 
The  Bur- 
gundians 
in  Paris. 
Perrinet 
Leelerc. 


Henry  ne- 
gotiates. 


180  History  of  France . 

he  would  have  to  seal  it  himself,  for  that  as  for  him,  the  chancellor, 
he  certainly  would  not  seal  it.  Bernard  of  Armagnac  and  his  con- 
fidential friend,  Tanneguy  Duchatel,  a Breton  nobleman,  provost  of 
Paris,  were  hard  and  haughty.  When  a complaint  was  made  to 
them  of  any  violent  procedure,  they  would  answer,  “ What  business 
had  you  there  1 If  it  were  the  Burgundians,  you  would  make  no 
complaint.”  The  Parisian  population  was  becoming  every  day  more 
Burgundian.  In  the  latter  days  of  May,  1418,  a plot  was  con- 
trived for  opening  to  the  Burgundians  one  of  the  gates  of  Paris. 
Perrinet  Leclerc,  son  of  a rich  iron-merchant  having  influence  in 
the  quarter  of  St.  Germain  des  Pres,  stole  the  keys  from  under  the 
bolster  of  his  father’s  bed ; a troop  of  Burgundian  men-at-arms 
came  in,  and  they  were  immediately  joined  by  a troop  of  Parisians. 
They  spread  over  the  city,  shouting,  “ Our  Lady  of  peace  ! Hurrah 
for  the  king  ! Hurrah  for  Burgundy  ! Let  all  who  wish  for  peace 
take  arms  and  follow  us  ! ” The  people  swarmed  from  the  houses 
and  followed  them  accordingly.  The  Armagnacs  were  surprised 
and  seized  with  alarm.  Tanneguy  Duchatel,  a man  of  prompt 
and  resolute  spirit,  ran  to  the  dauphin’s,  wrapped  him  in  his  bed- 
clothes, and  carried  him  off  to  the  Bastille,  where  he  shut  him  up 
with  several  of  his  partisans.  The  count  of  Armagnac,  towards 
whose  house  the  multitude  thronged,  left  by  a back-door  and  took 
refuge  at  a mason’s  where  he  believed  himself  secure.  In  a few 
hours  the  Burgundians  were  masters  of  Paris.  Their  chief,  the 
lord  of  Isle-Adam,  had  the  doors  of  the  hostel  of  St.  Paul  broken 
in,  and  presented  himself  before  the  king.  “ How  fares  my  cousin 
of  Burgundy  1”  said  Charles  VI.,  “ I have  not  seen  him  for  some 
time.”  That  was  all  he  said.  He  was  set  on  horseback  and 
marched  through  the  streets.  He  showed  no  astonishment  at  any- 
thing ; he  had  all  but  lost  memory  as  well  as  reason,  and  no  longer 
knew  the  difference  between  Armagnac  and  Burgundian.  A devoted 
Burgundian,  sire  Guy  de  Bar,  was  named  provost  of  Paris  in  the 
place  of  Tanneguy  Duchatel. 

Henry  of  England  negotiated  with  both  parties  ; but  though  Bur- 
gundy and  the  queen  having  possession  of  the  person  of  the  afflicted 
sovereign  carried  the  appearance  of  legal  authority,  every  Frenchman 
who  paid  any  regard  to  the  true  interests  of  his  country  adhered  to 
the  dauphin.  From  the  enmity  of  the  contending  factions,  a cir- 
cumstance occurred  which  facilitated  Henry’s  views  more  readily 
than  he  could  possibly  have  anticipated.  A simulated  reconcilia- 
tion having  taken  place  between  the  duke  of  Burgundy  and  the 
dauphin,  an  interview  was  appointed  on  the  bridge  of  the  town 
of  Montereau. 


The  Duke  of  Burgundy  murdered 


I Si 

In  the  duke’s  household  many  of  his  most  devoted  servants  were 
opposed  to  this  meeting;  the  place,  they  said,  had  been  chosen  by, 
and  would  be  under  the  ordering  of  the  dauphin’s  people,  of  the 
old  servants  of  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  the  count  of  Armagnac. 

At  the  same  time  four  successive  messages  came  from  Paris  urging 
the  duke  to  make  the  plunge  ; and  at  last  he  took  his  resolution. 

“ It  is  my  duty,”  said  he,  “ to  risk  my  person  in  order  to  get  at  ^ d 1419 
so  great  a blessing  as  peace.  Whatever  happens,  my  wish  is  Interview 
peace.  If  they  kill  me,  I shall  die  a martyr.  Peace  being  made,  I ^reaiT” 
will  take  the  men  of  my  lord  the  dauphin  to  go  and  fight  the 
English.  He  has  some  good  men  of  war  and  some  sagacious 
captains.  Tanneguy  and  Barbazan  are  valiant  knights.  Then  we 
shall  see  which  is  the  better  man,  Jack  (Hannotin)  of  Flanders  or 
Henry  of  Lancaster.”  He  set  out  for  Bray  on  the  10th.  of  Sep- 
tember, 1419,  and  arrived  about  two  o’clock  before  Montereau. 

Tanneguy  Duchatel  came  and  met  him  there.  “Well,”  said  the 
duke,  “ on  your  assurance  we  are  come  to  see  my  lord  the  dauphin, 
supposing  that  he  is  quite  willing  to  keep  the  peace  between  him- 
self and  us  as  we  also  will  keep  it,  all  ready  to  serve  him  according 
to  his  wishes.”  “ My  most  dread  lord,”  answered  Tanneguy, 

“ have  ye  no  fear ; my  lord  is  well  pleased  with  you,  and  desires 
henceforth  to  govern  himself  according  to  your  counsels.  You  have 
about  him  good  friends  who  serve  you  well.”  A conversation 
then  took  place  between  the  dauphin  and  the  duke,  the  former  re- 
proaching the  latter  with  his  inertness  against  the  English,  and 
with  his  alliances  amongst  the  promoters  of  civil  war.  The  con- 
versation was  becoming  more  and  more  acrid  and  biting.  “ In  so 
doing,”  added  the  dauphin,  “ you  were  wanting  to  your  duty.” 

“ My  lord,”  replied  the  duke,  “ I did  only  what  it  was  my  duty  to 
do.”  “ Yes,  you  were  wanting,”  repeated  Charles.  “ No  ” replied 
the  duke.  It  was*  probably  at  these  words  that,  the  lookers-on  also  ^^duke^f 
waxing  wroth,  Tanneguy  Duchatel  told  the  duke  that  the  time  Burgundy 
had  come  for  expiating  the  murder  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  which  ^Sept*  10)' 
none  of  them  had  forgotten,  and  raised  his  battle-axe  to  strike 
the  duke.  Sire  de  Eavailles,  who  happened  to  be  at  his  master’s 
side,  arrested  the  weapon ; but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  viscount  of 
Narbonne  raised  his  over  Navailles,  saying,  “ Whoever  stirs,  is  a 
dead  man.”  At  this  moment,  it  is  said,  the  mob  which  was  throng- 
ing before  the  barriers  at  the  end  of  the  bridge  heard  cries  of 
“ Alarm  ! slay,  slay.”  Tanneguy  had  struck  and  felled  the  duke  ; 
several  others  ran  their  swords  into  him  ; and  he  expired.  The 
dauphin  had  withdrawn  from  the  scene  and  gone  back  into  the  town. 

After  his  departure  his  partisans  forced  the  barrier,  charged  the 


History  of  France . 


1 82 

dumbfounded  Burgundians,  sent  them  flying  along  the  road  to  Bray, 
and  returning  on  to  the  bridge  would  have  cast  the  body  of  Duke 
John,  after  stripping  it,  into  the  river ; but  the  minister  of  Mon- 
tereau  withstood  them  and  had  it  carried  to  a mill  near  the  bridge. 
“ Next  day  he  was  put  in  a pauper’s  shell,  with  nothing  on  but  his 
shirt  and  drawers,  and  was  subsequently  interred  at  the  church  of 
Notre-Dame  de  Montereau,  without  winding-sheet  and  without  pall 
over  his  grave.” 

Prefimi  Henry  V.,  king  of  England,  as  soon  as  he  heard  about  the  murder 
naries  of  of  Duke  John,  set  himself  to  work  to  derive  from  it  all  the  advan- 
peaee.  tages  he  anticipated.  “ A great  loss,”  said  he,  “is  the  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy ; he  was  a good  and  true  knight  and  an  honourable  prince  ; 
but  through  his  death  we  are  by  Gods  help  at  the  summit  of  our 
wishes.  We  shall  thus,  in  spite  of  all  Frenchmen,  possess  dame 
Catherine , whom  we  have  so  much  desired.”  As  early  as  the  24th 
of  September,  1419,  Henry  V.  gave  full  powers  to  certain  of  his 
people  to  treat  “ with  the  illustrious  city  of  Paris  and  the  other 
towns  in  adherence  to  the  said  city.”  On  the  17th  of  October 
was  opened  at  Arras  a congress  between  the  plenipotentiaries  of 
England  and  those  of  Burgundy.  On  the  20th  of  November  a 
special  truce  was  granted  to  the  Parisians,  whilst  Henry  V.,  in 
concert  with  Duke  Philip  of  Burgundy,  was  prosecuting  the  war 
against  the  dauphin.  On  the  2nd  of  December  the  bases  were  laid 
of  an  agreement  between  the  English  and  the  Burgundians. 
The  preliminaries  of  the  treaty  which  was  drawn  up  in  accor- 
dance with  these  bases  were  signed  on  the  9th  of  April,  1420, 
by  King  Charles  VI.,  and  on  the  20th  communicated  at  Paris 
by  the  chancellor  of  France  to  the  parliament  and  to  all  the 
religious  and  civil,  royal  and  municipal  authorities  of  the  capital. 
A.D.  1420.  After  this  communication,  the  chancellor  and  the  premier  pre- 
Troyes^  sident  of  parliament  went  with  these  preliminaries  to  Henry  Y. 
(May  21).  at  Pontoise,  whence  he  set  out  with  a division  of  his  army  for 
Troyes,  where  the  treaty,  definitive  and  complete,  was  at  last 
signed  and  promulgated  in  the  cathedral  of  Troyes,  on  the  21st  of 
May,  1420. 

Of  the  twenty-eight  articles  in  this  treaty,  five  contained  its 
essential  points  and  fixed  its  character  : — 1st.  The  king  of  France, 
Charles  VI.,  gave  his  daughter  Catherine  in  marriage  to  Henry  V., 
king  of  England.  2nd.  “ Our  son,  King  Henry,  shall  place  no 
hindrance  or  trouble  in  the  way  of  our  holding  and  possessing  as 
long  as  we  live  and  as  at  the  present  time  the  crown,  the  kingly 
diguity  of  France  and  all  the  revenues,  proceeds,  and  profits  which 
arc  attached  thereto  for  the  maintenance  of  our  state  and  tL© 


i33 


Peace  of  Troyes. 


charges  of  the  kingdom.  3rd.  It  is  agreed  that  immediately  after 
our  death,  aud  from  that  time  forward,  the  crown  and  kingdom  of 
France,  with  all  their  rights  and  appurtenances,  shall  belong 
perpetually,  and  shall  he  continued  to  our  son  King  Henry  and  his 
heirs.  4th.  Whereas  we  are,  at  most  times,  prevented  from  advising 
by  ourselves  and  from  taking  part  in  the  disposal  of  the  affairs  of  our 
kingdom,  the  power  and  the  practice  of  governing  and  ordering 
the  commonweal  shall  belong  and  shall  be  continued,  during  our  Its  chief 
life,  to  our  son  King  Henry,  with  the  counsel  of  the  nobles 
and  sages  of  the  kingdom  who  shall  obey  us,  and  shall  desire 
the  honour  and  advantage  of  the  said  kingdom.  5th.  Our  son 
King  Henry  shall  strive  with  all  his  might,  and  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, to  bring  back  to  their  obedience  to  us,  all  and  each  of 
the  towns,  cities,  castles,  places,  districts,  and  persons  in  our 
kingdom  that  belong  to  the  party  commonly  called  of  the  dauphin 
or  Armagnac.” 


This  substitution,  in  the  near  future,  of  an  English  for  the  French 
kingship ; this  relinquishment,  in  the  present,  of  the  government 
of  France  to  the  hands  of  an  English  prince  nominated  to  become 
before  long  her  king ; this  authority  given  to  the  English  prince  to 
prosecute  in  France,  against  the  dauphin  of  France,  a civil  war ; this 
complete  abdication  of  all  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  kingship,  of 
paternity  and  of  national  independence ; and,  to  sum  up  all  in  one 
word,  this  anti-French  state-stroke  accomplished  by  a king  of 
France,  with  the  co-operation  of  him  who  was  the  greatest  amongst 
French  lords,  to  the  advantage  of  a foreign  sovereign — there  was 
surely  in  this  enough  to  excite  the  most  ardent  and  most  legitimate 
national  feelings.  The  revulsion  against  the  treaty  of  Troyes  ^ esuxts 
was  real  and  serious,  even  in  the  very  heart  of  the  party  attached 
to  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  A popular  poet  of  the  time,  Alan 
Chartier,  constituted  himself  censor  of  the  moral  corruption, 
and  interpreter  of  the  patriotic  paroxysms  caused  by  the  cold 
and  harsh  supremacy  of  this  unbending  foreigner,  who  set 
himself  up  for  the  king  of  France  and  had  not  one  feeling  in 
sympathy  with  the  French.  Alan  Chartier’s  Quadriloge  invectif  is  AlanChar- 
a lively  and  sometimes  eloquent  allegory  in  which  France  personi-  tier’s 
fied  implores  her  three  children,  the  clergy,  the  chivalry,  and  the 
people,  to  forget  their  own  quarrels  and  unite  to  save  their  mother 
whilst  saving  themselves;  and  this  political  pamphlet  getting 
spread  about  amongst  the  provinces  did  good  service  to  the 
national  cause  against  the  foreign  conqueror.  An  event  more 
powerful  than  any  human  eloquence  occurred  to  give  the  dauphin 
and  his  partisans  earlier  hopes.  Towards  the  end  of  August,  1422, 


History  of  France . 


184 

A D 1422.  Henry  V.  fell  ill ; and,  too  stout-hearted  to  delude  himself  as  to 
Death  of  his  condition,  he  thought  no  longer  of  any  thing  hut  preparing 
^England  f°r  death.  He  expired  at  Vincennes  on  the  31st  of  August, 

(Aug.  31).  1422,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four.  A great  soul  and  a great  king ; hut 
a great  example  also  of  the  boundless  errors  which  may  be  fallen 
into  by  the  greatest  men  when  they  pursue  with  arrogant  con- 
fidence their  own  views,  forgetting  the  laws  of  justice  and  the 
rights  of  other  men. 

Death  of  On  the  22nd  of  October,  1422,  less  than  two  months  after  the 
of  France1'  death  Henry  V.,  Charles  VI.,  king  of  France,  died  at  Paris  in  the 
(Oct.  22).  forty-third  year  of  his  reign.  As  soon  as  he  had  been  buried  at 
St.  Denis,  the  duke  of  Bedford,  regent  of  France  according  to  the 
will  of  Henry  V.,  caused  a herald  to  proclaim,  “ Long  live  Henry 
of  Lancaster,  king  of  England  and  of  France  ! ” The  people’s 
voice  made  very  different  proclamation.  It  had  always  been  said 
that  the  public  evils  proceeded  from  the  state  of  illness  into  which 
the  unhappy  King  Charles  had  fallen.  The  goodness  he  had 
given  glimpses  of  in  his  lucid  intervals  had  made  him  an  object  of 
tender  pity.  Some  weeks  yet  before  his  death,  when  he  had 
entered  Paris  again,  the  inhabitants,  in  the  midst  of  their  sufferings 
and  under  the  harsh  government  of  the  English,  had  seen  with  joy 
gretted  *by  ^eir  Poor  ma(l  king  coming  back  amongst  them,  and  had  greeted 
his  sub-  him  with  thousand-fold  shouts  of  “ Noel ! ” His  body  lay  in  state 
jects.  for  three  days,  with  the  face  uncovered,  in  a hall  of  the  hostel  of 
St.  Paul,  and  the  multitude  went  thither  to  pray  for  him,  saying, 
“ Ah  ! dear  prince,  never  shall  we  have  any  so  good  as  thou  wert ; 
never  shall  we  see  thee  more.  Accursed  be  thy  death  ! Since 
thou  dost  leave  us,  we  shall  never  have  aught  but  wars  and 
troubles.  As  for  thee,  thou  goest  to  thy  rest ; as  for  us,  we  remain 
in  tribulation  and  sorrow.  We  seem  made  to  fall  into  the  same 
distress  as  the  children  of  Israel  during  the  captivity  in  Babylon.” 
The  people’s  instinct  was  at  the  same  time  right  and  wrong. 
France  had  yet  many  evil  days  to  go  through  and  cruel  trials  to 
endure  ; she  was,  however,  to  be  saved  at  last ; Charles  VI.  was  to 
be  followed  by  Charles  VII.  and  Joan  of  Arc. 

It  was  only  when  he  knew  that,  on  the  27th  of  October,  the  par- 
liament of  Paris  had,  not  without  some  little  hesitation  and  am- 
biguity, recognized  “ as  king  of  England  and  of  France,  Henry  VI., 
son  of  Henry  V.  lately  deceased,”  that  the  dauphin  Charles  assumed 
on  the  30th  of  October,  in  his  castle  of  Mehun-sur-Yevre,  the 
title  of  king,  and  repaired  to  Bourges  to  inaugurate  in  the  cathedral 
of  that  city  his  reign  as  Charles  VTI. 

At  a time  when  not  only  the  crown  of  the  kingdom  but  the 


Charles  VII.,  King. 


iS5 

existence  and  independence  of  the  nation  were  at  stake,  the  new 
king  had  not  given  any  signs  of  being  strongly  moved  by  patriotic 
feelings.  “ He  was,  in  person,  a handsome  prince,  and  handsome  in  CharlesVII. 
speech  with  all  persons  and  compassionate  towards  poor  folks,”  says 
his  contemporary  Monstrelet ; “but  he  did  not  readily  put  on  his 
harness,  and  he  had  no  heart  for  war  if  he  could  do  without  it.” 

On  ascending  the  throne,  this  young  prince,  so  little  of  the  politi- 
cian and  so  little  of  the  knight,  encountered  at  the  head  of  his 
enemies  the  most  able  amongst  the  politicians  and  warriors  of  the 
day  in  the  duke  of  Bedford,  whom  his  brother  Henry  V.  had 
appointed  regent  of  France  and  had  charged  to  defend  on  behalf 
of  his  nephew,  Henry  VI.,  a child  in  the  cradle,  the  crown  of 
France  already  more  than  half  won.  Never  did  struggle  appear 
more  unequal,  or  native  king  more  inferior  to  foreign  pretender. 

Sagacious  observers,  however,  would  have  easily  discerned  in  the 
cause  which  appeared  the  stronger  and  the  better  supported  many 
seeds  of  weakness  and  danger.  When  Philip  the  Good,  duke  of 
Burgundy,  heard  at  Arras,  that  Charles  VI.  was  dead,  it  occurred  to 
him  immediately  that  if  he  attended  the  obsequies  of  the  English, 
king  of  France  he  would  be  obliged,  French  prince  as  he  was,  and 
cousin-german  of  Charles  VI.,  to  yield  precedence  to  John,  duke  of 
Bedford,  regent  of  France  and  uncle  of  the  new  king  Henry  VI. 

He  resolved  to  hold  aloof,  and  contented  himself  with  sending  to 
Paris  chamberlains  to  make  his  excuses  and  supply  his  place  with 
the  regent.  The  war,  though  still  carried  on  with  great  spirit,  The  war 
could  not  and  in  fact  did  not  bring  about  any  decisive  result  from 
1422  to  1429.  Towns  were  alternately  taken,  lost,  and  retaken,  at  Crevant 
one  time  by  the  French,  at  another  by  the  English  or  Burgundians  ; ^rnd  of.. 
petty  encounters  and  even  important  engagements  took  place  with 
vicissitudes  of  success  and  reverses  on  both  sides.  At  Crevant-sur- 
Yonne,  on  the  31st  of  July,  1423,  and  at  Verneuil,  in  Normandy, 
on  the  17th  of  August,  1424,  the  French  were  beaten,  and  their 
faithful  allies,  the  Scots,  suffered  considerable  loss.  In  the  latter 
affair,  however,  several  Norman  lords  deserted  the  English  flag, 
refusing  to  fight  against  the  king  of  France.  In  order  to  put  an 
end  to  this  doubtful  condition  of  events  and  of  minds,  the  duke  of 
Bedford  determined  to  aim  a grand  blow  at  the  national  party  in 
France  and  at  her  king.  After  Paris  and  Rouen,  Orleans  was  the 
most  important  city  in  the  kingdom  ; it  was  as  supreme  on  the 
banks  of  the  Loire  as  Paris  and  Rouen  were  on  those  of  the  Seine. 

After  having  obtained  from  England  considerable  reinforcements,  A ^ 1428. 
commanded  by  leaders  of  experience,  the  English  commenced,  in  Siega  of 
October,  1428,  the  siege  of  Orleans.  The  approaches  to  the  place  0rleans- 


A.D.  1478. 
“The  Her- 
ring af- 
fair.” 


Joan  of  Arc. 


Her  inter- 
view with 
the  king. 


1 86  History  of  France* 

were  occupied  in  force,  and  bastilles  closely  connected  one  with 
another  were  constructed  around  the  walls.  As  a set  off,  the  most, 
valiant  warriors  of  France,  La  Hire,  Dunois,  Xaintrailles,  and  the 
marshal  La  Fayette  threw  themselves  into  Orleans,  the  garrison  of 
which  amounted  to  scarcely  twelve  hundred  men.  Several  towns, 
Bourges,  Poitiers,  and  La  Bochelle  sent  thither  money,  munitions, 
and  militia ; the  states-general,  assembled  at  Chinon,  voted  an 
extraordinary  aid  ; and  Charles  VII.  called  out  the  regulars  and  the 
reserves.  Assaults  on  the  one  side  and  sorties  on  the  other  were 
begun  with  ardour.  Besiegers  and  besieged  quite  felt  that  they 
were  engaged  in  a decisive  struggle.  The  first  encounter  was  unfor- 
tunate for  the  Orleannese.  In  a light  called  the  herring  affair , they 
were  unsuccessful  in  an  attempt  to  carry  off  a supply  of  victuals  and 
salt  fish  which  Sir  John  Falstolf  was  bringing  to  the  besiegers. 

This  very  year,  on  the  6th  of  January,  1428,  at  Domremy,  a 
little  village  in  the  valley  of  the  Meuse,  between  Heufchateau  and 
Vaucouleurs,  on  the  edge  of  the  frontier  from  Champagne  to  Lor- 
raine, the  young  daughter  of  simple  tillers-of-the-soil  “ of  good  life 
and  repute,  herself  a good,  simple,  gentle  girl,  no  idler,  occupied 
hitherto  in  sewing  or  spinning  with  her  mother  or  driving  afield  her 
parent's  sheep  and  sometimes  even,  when  her  father’s  turn  came 
round,  keeping  for  him  the  whole  flock  of  the  commune,”  was  fulfil- 
ling her  sixteenth  year.  It  was  Joan  of  Arc,  whom  all  her  neigh- 
bours called  Joannette.  Her  early  childhood  was  passed  amidst  the 
pursuits  characteristic  of  a country  life ; her  behaviour  was  irre- 
proachable, and  she  was  robust,  active,  and  intrepid.  Her  imagina- 
tion becoming  inflamed  by  the  distressed  situation  of  France,  she 
dreamed  that  she  had  interviews  with  St.  Margaret,  St.  Catherine, 
and  St.  Michael,  who  commanded  her,  in  the  name  of  God,  to  go 
and  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans,  and  conduct  Charles  to  be  crowned 
at  Bheims.  Accordingly  she  applied  to  Bobert  de  Baudricourt, 
captain  of  the  neighbouring  town  of  Vaucouleurs,  revealing  to  him 
her  inspiration,  and  conjuring  him  not  to  neglect  the  voice  of  God, 
which  spoke  through  her.  This  officer  for  some  time  treated  her 
with  neglect ; but  at  length,  prevailed  on  by  repeated  importu- 
nities, he  sent  her  to  the  king  at  Chinon,  to  whom,  when 
introduced,  she  said  : “ Gentle  dauphin,  my  name  is  Joan  the  Maid, 
the  King  of  heaven  hath  sent  me  to  your  assistance  ; if  you  please 
to  give  me  troops,  by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  force  of  arms,  I will 
raise  the  siege  of  Orleans,  and  conduct  you  to  be  crowned  at  Bheims, 
in  spite  of  your  enemies.”  Her  requests  were  now  granted : she 
was  armed  cap-a-pie,  mounted  on  horseback,  and  provided  with  a 
suitable  retinue.  Previous  to  her  attempting  any  exploit,  she  wrote 


Joan  of  Arc  relieves  Orleans, 


13/ 


a long  letter  to  the  young  English  monarch,  commanding  him  to 
withdraw  his  forces  from  France,  and  threatening  his  destruction  in 
case  of  refusal.  She  concluded  with  “ hear  this  advice  from  God 
and  la  Fucelle .” 

But,  side  by  side  with  these  friends,  she  had  an  adversary  in  the  ene~ 
king’s  favourite,  George  de  la  Tremoille,  an  ambitious  courtier, 
jealous  of  any  one  who  seemed  within  the  range  of  the  king’s  good 
graces,  and  opposed  to  a vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war,  since  it  ham- 
pered him  in  the  policy  he  wished  to  keep  up  towards  the  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy. To  the  ill-will  of  La  Tremoille  was  added  that  of  the 
majority  of  courtiers  enlisted  in  the  following  of  the  powerful 
favourite,  and  that  of  warriors  irritated  at  the  importance  acquired 
at  their  expense  by  a rustic  and  fantastic  little  adventuress.  Here 
was  the  source  of  the  enmities  and  intrigues  which  stood  in  the 
way  of  all  Joan’s  demands,  rendered  her  successes  more  tardy, 
difficult,  and  incomplete,  and  were  one  day  to  cost  her  more  dearly 
still. 

At  the  end  of  about  five  weeks  the  expedition  was  in  readiness. 

It  was  a heavy  convoy  of  revictualment  protected  by  a body  of 
ten  or  twelve  thousand  men  commanded  by  marshal  de  Boussac,  and 
numbering  amongst  them  Xaintrailles  and  La  Hire.  The  march  A.D.  1429. 
began  on  the  27th  of  April,  1429.  Joan  had  caused  the  removal  to  relieve* 
of  all  women  of  bad  character,  and  had  recommended  her  comrades  Orleans, 
to  confess.  She  took  the  Communion  in  the  open  air,  before  their 
eyes  ; and  a company  of  priests,  headed  by  her  chaplain,  Pasquerel, 
led  the  way  whilst  chanting  sacred  hymns.  Great  was  the  surprise 
amongst  the  men-at-arms.  Many  had  words  of  mockery  on  their 
lips.  It  was  the  time  when  La  Hire  used  to  say,  “ If  God  were  a 
soldier,  He  would  turn  robber.”  Nevertheless,  respect  got  the  better 
of  habit  ; the  most  honourable  were  really  touched ; the  coarsest 
considered  themselves  bound  to  show  restraint.  On  the  29th  of 
April  they  arrived  before  Orleans.  But,  in  consequence  of  the  road 
they  had  followed,  the  Loire  was  between  the  army  and  the  town ; 
the  expeditionary  corps  had  to  be  split  in  two ; the  troops  were 
obliged  to  go  and  feel  for  the  bridge  of  Blois  in  order  to  cross  the 
river;  and  Joan  was  vexed  and  surprised.  Dunois,  arrived  from 
Orleans  in  a little  boat,  urged  her  to  enter  the  town  that  same  even- 
ing. “ Are  you  the  bastard  ol  Orleans  ? ” asked  she,  when  he  accosted 
her.  “Yes;  and  I am  rejoiced  at  your  coming.”  “Was  it  you 
who  gave  counsel  for  making  me  come  hither  by  this  side  of  the 
river  and  not  the  direct  way,  over  yonder  where  Talbot  and  the 
English  were?”  “Yes;  such  was  the  opinion  of  the  wisest  cap- 
tains.” 


I S3  History  of  France. 

Enters  Joan’s  first  undertaking  was  against  Orleans,  which  she  entered 
Orleans  without  opposition  on  the  29th  of  April,  1429,  on  horseback,  com- 
(April29).  pj^jy  armed,  preceded  by  her  own  banner,  and  having  beside  her 
Dunois,  and  behind  her  the  captains  of  the  garrison  and  several  of 
the  most  distinguished  burgesses  of  Orleans,  who  had  gone  out  to 
meet  her.  The  population,  one  and  all,  rushed  thronging  round  her, 
carrying  torches,  and  greeting  her  arrival  “ with  joy  as  great  as  if 
they  had  seen  God  come  down  amongst  them.”  With  admirable 
good  sense,  discovering  the  superior  merits  of  Dunois,  the  bastard 
of  Orleans,  a celebrated  captain,  she  wisely  adhered  to  his  instruc- 
tions : and  by  constantly  harassing  the  English,  and  beating  up 
their  intrenchments  in  various  desperate  attacks,  in  all  of  which  she 
displayed  the  most  heroic  courage,  Joan  in  a few  weeks  compelled 
the  earl  of  Suffolk  and  his  army  to  raise  the  siege,  having  sustained 
the  loss  of  six  thousand  men.  The  proposal  of  crowning  Charles  at 
Rheims  would  formerly  have  appeared  like  madness,  but  the  Maid 
towards  Orleans  now  insisted  on  its  fulfilment.  She  accordingly  recom- 
Eiieims.  menced  the  campaign  on  the  10th  of  June  ; to  complete  the  deliver- 
ance of  Orleans  an  attack  was  begun  upon  the  neighbouring  places, 
J argeau,  Meung,  and  Beaugency ; thousands  of  the  late  dispirited 
subjects  of  Charles  now  flocked  to  his  standard,  many  towns  imme- 
diately declared  for  him ; and  the  English,  who  had  suffered  in 
various  actions,  at  that  of  Jargeau,  when  the  earl  of  Suffolk  was 
taken  prisoner,  and  at  that  of  Patay,  when  Sir  John  Eastolfe  fled 
without  striking  a blow,  seemed  now  to  be  totally  dispirited.  On 
the  16th  of  July  King  Charles  entered  Rheims,  and  the  ceremony 
of  his  coronation  was  fixed  for  the  morrow. 

Coronation  it  was  solemn  and  emotional  as  are  all  old  national  traditions 
(July  16) f which  recur  after  a forced  suspension.  Joan  rode  between  Dunois 
and  the  archbishop  of  Rheims,  chancellor  of  France.  The  air 
resounded  with  the  Te  Deum  sung  with  all  their  hearts  by  clergy 
and  crowd.  “ In  God’s  name,”  said  Joan  to  Dunois,  “ here  is  a good 
people  and  a devout ; when  I die,  I should  much  like  it  to  be  in 
these  parts.”  “Joan,”  inquired  Dunois,  “know  you  when  you  will 
die  and  in  what  place  ? ” “I  know  not,”  said  she,  “ for  I am  at  the 
will  of  God.”  Then  she  added,  “I  have  accomplished  that  which 
my  Lord  commanded  me,  to  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans  and  have  the 
gentle  king  crowned.  I would  like  it  well  if  it  should  please  Him 
to  send  me  back  to  my  father  and  mother,  to  keep  their  sheep  and 
their  cattle  and  do  that  which  was  my  wont.”  “ When  the  said 
lords,”  says  the  chronicler,  an  eye-witness,  “ heard  these  words  of 
Joan,  who,  with  eyes  towards  heaven,  gave  thanks  to  God,  they  the 
more  believed  that  it  was  somewhat  sent  from  God  and  not  other- 


wise. 


Siege  of  Cotnptigne.  189 

Historians  and  even  contemporaries  have  given  much  discussion 
to  the  question  whether  Joan  of  Arc,  according  to  her  first  ideas, 
had  really  limited  her  design  to  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Orleans 
and  the  coronation  of  Charles  VIL  at  Rheims.  However  that  may 
he,  when  Orleans  was  relieved  and  Charles  VIL  crowned,  the  situa- 
tion, posture,  and  part  of  Joan  underwent  a change.  She  no  longer 
manifested  the  same  confidence  in  herself  and  her  designs.  She 
no  longer  exercised  over  those  in  whose  midst  she  lived  the 
same  authority.  She  continued  to  carry  on  war,  but  at  hap-hazard, 
sometimes  with  and  sometimes  without  success,  just  like  La  Hire 
and  Dunois ; never  discouraged,  never  satisfied,  and  never  looking 
upon  herself  as  triumphant.  After  the  coronation,  her  advice  was 
to  march  at  once  upon  Paris,  in  order  to  take  up  a fixed  position  in  it, 
as  being  the  political  centre  of  the  realm  of  which  Rheims  was  the 
religious.  Nothing  of  the  sort  was  done.  She  threw  herself  into 
Compiegne,  then  besieged  by  the  duke  of  Burgundy.  The  next  day 
(May  25th,  1430),  heading  a sally  upon  the  enemy,  she  was  repulsed  compiegne 
and  compelled  to  retreat  after  exerting  the  utmost  valour;  when,  Joan  of  Arc 
having  nearly  reached  the  gate  of  the  town,  an  English  archer  pur-  faken 
sued  her,  and  pulled  her  from  her  horse.  The  joy  of  the  English  at 
this  capture  was  as  great  as  if  they  had  obtained  a complete  victory. 

Joan  was  committed  to  the  care  of  John  of  Luxembourg,  count  of 

Ligny,  from  whom  the  duke  of  Bedford  purchased  the  captive  for 

ten  thousand  pounds,  and  a pension  of  three  hundred  pounds  a 

year  to  the  bastard  of  Vendome,  to  whom  she  surrendered.  Joan 

was  now  conducted  to  Rouen,  where,  loaded  with  irons,  she  ducted^o 

was  thrown  into  a dungeon,  preparatory  to  appear  before  a court  Rouen. 

assembled  to  judge  her. 

The  trial  lasted  from  the  21st  of  February  to  the  30th  of  May,  a.D.  1431. 
1431.  The  court  held  forty  sittings,  mostly  in  the  chapel  of  the  Her  trial, 
castle,  some  in  Joan’s  very  prison.  On  her  arrival  there,  she  had 
been  put  in  an  iron  cage ; afterwards  she  was  kept  “ no  longer  in 
the  cage,  but  in  a dark  room  in  a tower  of  the  castle,  wearing  irons 
upon  her  feet,  fastened  by  a chain  to  a large  piece  of  wood,  and 
guarded  night  and  day  by  four  or  five  soldiers  of  low  grade.”  She 
complained  of  being  thus  chained  ; but  the  bishop  told  her  that  her 
former  attempts  at  escape  demanded  this  precaution.  “ It  is  true,” 
said  Joan,  as  truthful  as  heroic,  “ I did  wish  and  I still  wish  to 
escape  from  prison,  as  is  the  right  of  every  prisoner.”  At  her  exami- 
nation, the  bishop  required  her  to  take  “ an  oath  to  tell  the  truth 
about  every  thing  as  to  which  she  should  be  questioned.”  “ I 
know  not  what  you  mean  to  question  me  about ; perchance  you 
may  ask  me  things  I would  not  tell  you ; touching  my  revelations, 


History  of  France . 


IQO 

for  instance,  you  might  ask  me  to  tell  something  I have  sworn  not 
to  tell ; thus  I should  he  perjured,  which  you  ought  not  to  desire.” 
The  bishop  insisted  upon  an  oath  absolute  and  without  condition. 
“ You  are  too  hard  on  me,”  said  Joan;  “I  do  not  like  to  take  an 

4-  oath  to  tell  the  truth  save  as  to  matters  which  concern  the  faith.” 

answers  to 

the  judges,  The  bishop  called  upon  her  to  swear  on  pain  of  being  held  guilty  of 
the  things  imputed  to  her.  “ Go  on  to  something  else,”  said 
she.  And  this  was  the  answer  she  made  to  all  questions  which 
seemed  to  her  to  be  a violation  of  her  right  to  be  silent.  Wearied 
and  hurt  at  these  imperious  demands,  she  one  day.  said,  “ I come  on 
God’s  business,  and  I have  naught  to  do  here ; send  me  back  to 
God  from  whom  I come.”  “Are  you  sure  you  are  in  God’s  grace?” 
asked  the  bishop.  “If  I be  not,”  answered  Joan,  “please  God  to 
bring  me  to  it;  and  if  I be,  please  God  to  keep  me  in  it !”  The 
bishop  himself  remained  dumbfounded. 

There  is  no  object  in  following  through  all  its  sittings  and  all  its 
twistings  this  odious  and  shameful  trial,  in  which  the  judges’ 
prejudiced  servility  and  scientific  subtlety  were  employed  for  three 
months  to  wear  out  the  courage  or  overreach  the  understanding  of 
a young  girl  of  nineteen,  who  refused  at  one  time  to  lie,  and  at 

and  death,  another  to  enter  into  discussion  with  them,  and  made  no  defence 
beyond  holding  her  tongue  or  appealing  to  God  who  had  spoken 
to  her  and  dictated  to  her  that  which  she  had  done.  In  the  end 
she  was  condemned  for  all  the  crimes  of  which  she  had  been 
accused,  aggravated  by  that  of  heresy,  and  sentenced  to  perpetual 
imprisonment,  to  be  fed  during  life  on  bread  and  water.  The 
English  were  enraged  that  she  was  not  condemned  to  death. 
“ Wait  but  a little,”  said  one  of  the  judges,  “ we  shall  soon  find  the 
means  to  ensnare  her.”  And  this  was  effected  by  a grievous 
accusation,  which,  though  somewhat  countenanced  by  the  Levitical 
law,  has  been  seldom  urged  in  modern  times,  the  wearing  of  man’s 
attire.  Joan  had  been  charged  with  this  offence,  but  she  promised 
not  to  repeat  it.  A suit  of  man’s  apparel  was  designedly  placed  in 
her  chamber,  and  her  own  garments,  as  some  authors  say,  being 
removed,  she  clothed  herself  in  the  forbidden  garb,  and  her 
keepers  surprising  her  in  that  dress,  she  was  adjudged  to  death  as 
a relapsed  heretic,  and  was  condemned  to  be  burnt  in  the  market- 
place at  Rouen.  (1431). 

Four  centuries  have  rolled  by  since  Joan  of  Arc,  that  modest  and 
heroic  servant  of  God,  made  a sacrifice  of  herself  for.  France.  For 
four  and  twenty  years  after  her  death,  France  and  the  king  appeared 
to  think  no  more  of  her.  However,  in  1455,  remorse  came  upon 
Charles  VII.  and  upon  France.  Nearly  all  the  provinces,  all  the 


Rehabilitation  of  Joan  of  A rc . 


191 

towns  were  freed  from  the  foreigner ; and  shame  was  felt  that 
nothing  was  said,  nothing  done  for  the  young  girl  who  had  saved 
every  thing.  At  Rouen,  especially,  where  the  sacrifice  was  ^ ^ ^ 
completed,  a cry  for  reparation  arose.  It  was  timidly  demanded  Her  r eh  a - 
from  the  spiritual  power  which  had  sentenced  and  delivered  over  bilitation 
Joan  as  a heretic  to  the  stake.  Pope  Calixtus  III.  entertained  the 
request  preferred  not  by  the  king  of  France  but  in  the  name  of 
Isabel  Romee,  Joan’s  mother,  and  her  whole  family.  Regular 
proceedings  were  commenced  and  followed  up  for  the  rehabilitation 
of  the  martyr ; and,  on  the  7th  of  July,  1456,  a decree  of  the  court 
assembled  at  Rouen  quashed  the  sentence  of  1431,  together  with 
all  its  consequences,  and  ordered  “ a general  procession  and  solemn 
sermon  at  St.  Ouen  Place  and  the  Vieux- Marche,  where  the  said 
maid  had  been  cruelly  and  horribly  burned ; besides  the  planting 
of  a cross  of  honour  (crucis  honestce)  on  the  Vieux-Marche,  the 
judges  reserving  the  official  notice  to  be  given  of  their  decision 
throughout  the  cities  and  notable  places  of  the  realm.” 

After  the  execution  of  Joan  the  war  resumed  its  course,  though 
without  any  great  events.  By  way  of  a step  towards  solution,  the 
duke  of  Bedford,  in  November,  1431,  escorted  to  Paris  King 
Henry  VI.,  scarcely  ten  years  old,  and  had  him  crowned  at  Notre- 
Dame.  The  ceremony  was  distinguished  for  pomp  but  not  for 
warmth.  The  duke  of  Burgundy  was  not  present ; it  was  an 
Englishman,  the  cardinal-bishop  of  Winchester,  who  anointed  the 
young  Englander  king  of  France. 

Peace,  however,  was  more  and  more  the  general  desire.  Scarcely  Attempts 
had  one  attempt  at  pacification  failed  when  another  was  begun.  ^Pacifica" 
The  constable  De  Richemont’s  return  to  power  led  to  fresh 
overtures.  He  w^as  a statesman  as  well  as  a warrior;  and  his 
inclinations  were  known  at  Dijon  and  London  as  well  as  at  Chinon. 

The  advisers  of  King  Henry  VI.  proposed  to  open  a conference,  on 
the  15th  of  October,  1433,  at  Calais.  The  capture  of  several  towns 
by  the  generals  of  Charles  VII.  contributed  much  to  restore  universal 
confidence  to  the  French,  and  in  the  year  1435  the  treaty  of  Arras, 
concluded  between  the  king  and  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  led,  if  not 
to  the  active  support,  at  least  to  the  neutrality  of  a lord  w'ho  had 
been  one  of  the  most  dangerous  enemies  of  the  crown  of  France. 

The  conditions  imposed  by  this  treaty  were  certainly  of  a rather 
humiliating  character,  but  the  immediate  result  more  than  com- 
pensated for  them;  Paris  opened  its  gates  on  May  29th,  1436,  and 
the  English  troops  who  had  shut  themselves  up  in  the  Bastille, 
offered  to  give  up  that  fortress  on  condition  that  they  might  be 
allowed  to  retire  with  all  their  property,  and  accompanied  by  those 


192 


History  of  France. 


who  would  like  to  follow  them.  These  terms  being  accepted,  they 
left  Paris  by  the  gate  Saint  Antoine,  marched  round  the  walls  and 
embarked  on  the  Seine  for  the  purpose  of  returning  to  Bouen. 
The  constable  de  Bichemont’s  easy  occupation  of  the  capital  led  the 
majority  of  the  small  places  in  the  neighbourhood,  St.  Denis, 
Chevreuse,  Marcoussis,  and  Montlhery  to  decide  either  upon 
spontaneous  surrender,  or  allowing  themselves  to  be  taken  after  no 
Change  in  great  resistance.  Charles  VII.,  on  his  way  through  France  to 
disposiUon  ^y011?  Lauphiny,  Languedoc,  Auvergne,  and  along  the  Loire, 
recovered  several  other  towns,  for  instance,  Chateau-Landon, 
Nemours,  and  Charny.  He  laid  siege  in  person  to  Montereau,  an 
important  military  post  with  which  a recent  and  sinister  remi- 
niscence was  connected.  A great  change  now  made  itself  apparent 
in  the  king’s  behaviour  and  disposition.  He  showed  activity  and 
vigilance,  and  was  ready  to  expose  himself  without  any  care  for 
fatigue  or  danger.  On  the  day  of  the  assault  (10th  of  October, 
A.D.  1437.  i43"\  he  Went  down  into  the  trenches,  remained  there  in  water  up 
ters  Paris,  to  his  waist,  mounted  the  scaling-ladder  sword  in  hand,  and  wras 
one  of  the  first  assailants  who  penetrated  over  the  top  of  the  walls 
right  into  the  place.  After  the  surrender  of  the  castle  as  well  as 
the  town  of  Montereau,  he  marched  on  Paris,  and  made  his  solemn 
re-entry  there  on  the  12th  of  November,  1437,  for  the  first  time 
since  in  1418  Tanneguy-Duchatel  had  carried  him  away,  whilst 
still  a child,  wrapped  in  his  bed-clothes.  Charles  was  received  and 
entertained  as  became  a recovered  and  a victorious  king ; but  he 
passed  only  three  weeks  there,  and  went  away  once  more,  on  the 
3rd  of  December,  to  go  and  resume  at  Orleans  first  and  then  at 
Bourges,  the  serious  cares  of  government.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
SorelS  r°yal  entry  into  Paris  that  Agnes  Sorel  or  Soreau,  who  was 

soon  to  have  the  name  of  Queen  of  Beauty , and  to  assume  in  French 
history  an  almost  glorious  though  illegitimate  position,  appeared 
with  brilliancy  in  the  train  of  the  queen,  Mary  of  Anjou,  to  whom 
the  king  had  appointed  her  a maid  of  honour. 

The  war  There  was  a continuance  of  war  to  the  north  of  the  Loire ; 
continued.  anq  amjqs^  many  alternations  of  successes  and  reverses  the 
national  cause  made  great  way  there.  Charles  resolved,  in  1442, 
to  undertake  an  expedition  to  the  south  of  the  Loire,  in  Aquitaine, 
where  the  English  were  still  dominant ; and  he  was  successful.  He 
took  from  the  English  Tartas,  Saint-Sever,  Marmande,  La  Beole, 
Blaye,  and  Bourg-sur-Mer.  Their  ally,  Count  John  d’Armagnac, 
submitted  to  the  king  of  France.  These  successes  cost  Charles  VII. 
the  brave  La  Hire,  who  died  at  Montauban  of  his  wounds.  On 
returning  to  Normandy,  where  he  had  left  Dunois,  Charles,  in 


Truce  of  Tours.— Battle  of  Formigny.  193 

1443,  conducted  a prosperous  campaign  there.  The  English 
leaders  were  getting  weary  of  a war  without  any  definite  issue ; 
and  they  had  proposals  made  to  Charles  for  a truce,  accompanied 
with  a demand  on  the  part  of  their  young  king,  Henry  VI.,  for  the 
hand  of  a French  princess,  Margaret  of  Anjou,  daughter  of  King 
Rene,  who  wore  the  three  crowns  of  Naples,  Sicily,  and  Jerusalem, 
without  possessing  any  one  of  the  kingdoms.  The  truce  and  the  ^ ^ 
marriage  were  concluded  at  Tours,  in  1444.  Neither  of  the  Truce  of 
arrangements  was  popular  in  England ; the  English  people,  who  Tours, 
had  only  a far-off  touch  of  suffering  from  the  war,  considered  that 
their  government  made  too  many  concessions  to  France.  In 
France,  too,  there  was  some  murmuring;  the  king,  it  was  said, 
did  not  press  his  advantages  with  sufficient  vigour ; every  body  not  popu- 
was  in  a hurry  to  see  all  Aquitaine  reconquered.  Charles  VII. lar* 
and  his  advisers  employed  the  leisure  afforded  by  the  truce  in  pre- 
paring for  a renewal  of  the  struggle.  They  were  the  first  to  begin  a.D.  1449. 
it  again  ; and  from  1449  to  1451  it  was  pursued  by  the  French  king  Hostilities 
and  nation  with  evTer  increasing  ardour,  and  with  obstinate  courage  rgSUmed- 
by  the  veteran  English  warriors,  astounded  at  no  longer  being  vic- 
torious. Normandy  and  Aquitaine,  which  was  beginning  to  be 
called  Guyenne  only,  were  throughout  this  period  the  corstant  and 
the  chief  theatre  of  war.  Amongst  the  great  number  of  fights  and 
incidents  which  distinguished  the  three  campaigns  in  those  two 
provinces  the  recapture  of  Rouen  by  Dunois  in  October,  1449,  the 
battle  of  Formigny,  won  near  Bayeux  on  the  15th  of  April,  1450, 
by  the  constable  De  Richemont,  and  the  twofold  capitulation  of 
Bordeaux,  first  on  the  28th  of  June,  1451,  and  next  on  the  9th  of 
October,  1453,  in  order  to  submit  to  Charles  VII.,  are  the  onlv 
events  to  which  a place  in  history  is  due,  for  those  were  the  days 
on  which  the  question  was  solved  touching  the  independence  of 
the  nation  and  the  kingship  in  France.  The  battle  of  Formigny  A D 
lasted  nearly  three  hours ; the  English  were  forced  to  fly  at  three  Battle  of 
points,  and  lost  3700  men  ; several  of  their  leaders  were  made  Formigny 
prisoners ; those  who  were  left  retired  in  good  order ; Bayeux, 
Avranches,  Caen,  Falaise,  and  Cherbourg  fell  one  after  the  other 
into  the  hands  of  Charles  VII.  ; and  by  the  end  of  August, 

1450,  the  whole  of  Normandy  had  been  completely  won  back  by 
France. 

The  conquest  of  Guyenne,  which  was  undertaken  immediately 
after  that  of  Normandy,  was  at  the  outset  more  easy  and  more 
speedy.  Amongst  the  lords  of  southern  France  several  hearty 
patriots,  such  as  John  of  Blois,  count  of  Perigord,  and  Arnold 
Amanieu,  sire  d’Albret,  of  their  own  accord  began  the  strife,  and  on 

o 


194 


History  oj  France. 

the  1st  of  November,  1450,  inflicted  a somewhat  severe  reverse  upon 
the  English,  near  Blanquefort.  In  the  spring  of  the  following 
year  Charles  VII.  authorized  the  count  of  Armagnac  to  take  the 
A.D.  1451.  and  sent  Dunois  to  assume  the  command-in-chie£  An  army 

Campaign  of  twenty  thousand  men  mustered  under  his  orders;  and,  in  the 
inGuyenne  course  0f  May,  1451,  some  of  the  principal  places  of  Guyenne,  such 
as  St.  Emilion.  Blaye,  Frensac,  Bourg-en-Mer,  Libourne,  and 
Dax  were  taken  by  assault  or  capitulated.  Bordeaux  and  Bayonne 
held  out  for  some  weeks;  but,  on  the  12th  of  June,  a treaty 
concluded  between  the  Bordelese  and  Dunois  secured  to  the  three 
estates  of  the  district  the  liberties  and  privileges  which  they  had 
enjoyed  under  English  supremacy ; and  it  was  further  stipulated 
that,  if  by  the  24th  of  June  the  city  had  not  been  succoured 
by  English  forces,  the  estates  of  Guyenne  should  recognize  the 
sovereignty  of  King  Charles.  When  the  24th  of  June  came,  a 
herald  went  up  to  one  of  the  towers  of  the  castle  and  shouted, 
“ Succour  from  the  king  of  England  for  them  of  Bordeaux ! ” 
None  replied  to  this  appeal;  so  Bordeaux  surrendered,  and  on 
the  29th  of  June  Dunois  took  possession  of  it  in  the  name  of  the 
king  of  France.  The  siege  of  Bayonne,  which  was  begun  on  the 
6th  of  August,  came  to  an  end  on  the  20th  by  means  of  a similar 
treaty.  Guyenne  was  thus  completely  won.  But  the  English  still 
had  a considerable  following  there.  They  had  held  it  for  three 
centuries ; and  they  had  always  treated  it  well  in  respect  of  local 
liberties,  agriculture,  and  commerce.  Charles  VII.,  on  recovering 
it,  was  less  wise.  He  determined  to  establish  there  forthwith  the 
Insurrec-  taxes,  the  laws,  and  the  whole  regimen  of  northern  France ; and 
B°nde x -^or(^e^ese  were  as  Prompt  in  protesting  against  these  measures 
as  the  king  was  in  employing  them.  In  August,  1452,  a deputation 
from  the  three  estates  of  the  province  waited  upon  Charles  at 
Bourges,  hut  did  not  obtain  their  demands.  On  their  return  to 
Bordeaux  an  insurrection  was  organized ; and  Peter  de  Mont- 
f errand,  sire  de  Lesparre,  repaired  to  London  and  proposed  to  the 
English  government  to  resume  possession  of  Guyenne.  On  the 
22nd  of  October,  1452,  Talbot  appeared  before  Bordeaux  with  a 
body  of  five  thousand  men  ; the  inhabitants  opened  their  gates  to 
him ; and  he  installed  himself  there  as  lieutenant  of  the  king  of 
England,  Henry  VI.  Nearly  all  the  places  in  the  neighbourhood, 
with  the  exception  of  Bourg  and  Blaye,  returned  beneath  the  sway 
of  the  English ; considerable  reinforcements  were  sent  to  Talbot 
from  England ; and  at  the  same  time  an  English  fleet  threatened 
the  coasts  of  Normandy.  But  Charles  VII.  was  no  longer  the 
blind  and  indolent  king  he  had  been  in  his  youth.  Nor  can 


195 


End  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War . 

the  prompt  and  effectual  energy  he  displayed  in  1453  t>8  any 
longer  attributed  to  the  influence  of  Agnes  Sorel,  for  she  died  on 
the  9th  of  February,  1450.  Charles  left  Eichemont  and  Dunois  to 
hold  Normandy  ; and,  in  the  early  da;ys  of  spring,  moved  in  person 
to  the  south  of  France  with  a strong  army  and  the  principal  Gascon 
lords  who  two  years  previously  had  brought  Guyenne  hack  under 
his  power.  On  the  2nd  of  June,  1453,  he  opened  the  campaign  at 
St.  Jean  d’Angely.  Several  places  surrendered  to  him  as  soon  as 
he  appeared  before  their  walls;  and  on  the  13th  of  July  he  laid  AD.  1453. 
siege  to  Castillon,  on  the  Dordogne,  which  had  shortly  before  c^iiion 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  English.  The  Bordelese  grew  alarmed  Death  of 
and  urged  Talbot  to  oppose  the  advance  of  the  French.  “We  may  Talbot* 
very  well  let  them  come  nearer  yet,”  said  the  old  warrior,  then 
eighty  years  of  age ; “ rest  assured  that,  if  it  please  God,  I will 
fulfil  my  promise  when  I see  that  the  time  and  the  hour  have  come.” 

On  the  night  between  the  16th  and  the  17th  of  July,  Talbot  set 
out  with  his  troops  to  raise  the  siege  of  Castillon ; the  result, 
however,  was  unfavourable  to  the  English,  and  their  brave  com- 
mander met  his  death  on  the  field  of  battle.  Castillon  surren- 
dered ; and  at  unequal  intervals  Libourne,  St.  Emilion,  Chateau- 
Neuf  de  Medoc,  Blanquefort,  St.  Macaire,  Cadillac,  &e.,  followed 
the  example.  At  the  commencement  of  October,  1453,  Bordeaux 
alone  was  still  holding  out.  The  promoters  of  the  insurrection  Taking  of 
which  had  been  concerted  with  the  English,  amongst  other  sires  Bordeaux 
de  Duras  and  de  Lesparre,  protracted  the  resistance  rather  in  their 
own  self-defence  than  in  response  to  the  wishes  of  the  population  ; 
the  king’s  artillery  threatened  the  place  by  land,  and  by  sea  a 
king’s  fleet  from  Bochelle  and  the  ports  of  Brittany  blockaded  the 
Gironde.  “ The  majority  of  the  king’s  officers,”  says  the  contem- 
porary historian,  Thomas  Basin,  “ advised  him  to  punish  by  at 
least  the  destruction  of  their  walls  the  Bordelese  who  had  recalled 
the  English  to  their  city ; but  Charles,  more  merciful  and  more 
soft-hearted,  refused.”  He  confined  himself  to  withdrawing  from 
Bordeaux  her  municipal  privileges,  which,  however,  she  soon  par- 
tially recovered,  and  to  imposing  upon  her  a fine  of  a hundred 
thousand  gold  crowns,  afterwards  reduced  to  thirty  thousand; 
he  caused  to  be  built  at  the  expense  of  the  city  two  fortresses,  the 
fort  of  the  Ha  and  the  castle  of  Trompette,  to  keep  in  check  so 
bold  and  fickle  a population ; and  an  amnesty  was  proclaimed  for 
all  but  twenty  specified  persons,  who  were  banished.  On  these 
conditions  the  capitulation  was  concluded  and  signed  on  the  17th  End  of  the 
of  October ; the  English  re- embarked ; and  Charles,  without war* 
entering  Bordeaux,  returned  to  Touraine.  The  English  had  no 

o 2 


Constable 
de  Riche- 
mont. 


Jacques 
Cceur,  his 
character. 


ig6  History  of  France . 

longer  any  possession  in  France  but  Calais  and  Guinea  ; the  Hun- 
dred Years’  War  was  over. 

And  to  whom  was  the  glory  due? 

Charles  VII.  himself  decided  the  question.  When  in  1455, 
twenty-four  years  after  the  death  of  Joan  of  Arc,  he  at  Borne  and 
at  Bouen  prosecuted  her  claims  for  restoration  of  character  and  did 
for  her  fame  and  her  memory  all  that  was  still  possible,  he  was  but 
relieving  his  conscience  from  a load  of  ingratitude  and  remorse  which 
in  general  weighs  but  lightly  upon  men  and  especially  upon  kings  ; 
La  Pucelle,  first  amongst  all,  had  a right  to  the  glory,  for  she  had 
been  the  first  to  contribute  to  the  success. 

Next  to  Joan  of  Arc,  the  constable  De  Eicliemont  was  the  most 
effective  and  the  most  glorious  amongst  the  liberators  of  France 
and  of  the  king.  He  was  a strict  and  stern  warrior,  unscrupulous 
and  pitiless  towards  his  enemies,  especially  towards  such  as  he 
despised,  severe  in  regard  to  himself,  dignified  in  his  manners,  never 
guilty  of  swearing  himself,  and  punishing  swearing  as  a breach  of 
discipline  amongst  the  troops  placed  under  his  orders.  Like  a true 
patriot  and  royalist,  he  had  more  at  heart  his  duty  towards  France 
and  the  king  than  he  had  his  own  personal  interests.  Dunois, 
La  Hire,  Xaintrailles,  and  marshals  De  Boussac  and  De  La  Fayette 
were,  under  Charles  VII.,  brilliant  warriors  and  useful  servants  of 
the  king  and  of  France;  but,  in  spite  of  their  knightly  renown,  it 
is  questionable  if  they  can  be  reckoned,  like  the  constable  De 
Eichemont,  amongst  the  liberators  of  national  independence.  There 
are  degrees  of  glory,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  history  not  to  distribute 
it  too  readily  and  as  it  were  by  handfuls. 

Besides  all  these  warriors,  we  meet,  under  the  sway  of  Charles  VII., 
at  first  in  a humble  capacity  and  afterwards  at  his  court,  in  his 
diplomatic  service  and  sometimes  in  his  closest  confidence,  a man  of 
quite  a different  origin  and  quite  another  profession,  but  one  who 
nevertheless  acquired  by  peaceful  toil  great  riches  and  great  influence  ; 
we  mean  Jacques  Coeur,  born  at  Bourges  at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  This  eminent  man,  after  acquiring  a large  fortune  by  commer- 
cial transactions,  rose  to  the  post  of  argentier , or  administrator  of  the 
royal  exchequer.  In  this  quality  he  was  for  twelve  years  associated 
with  the  most  important  government  transactions,  and  he  adminis- 
tered the  finances  with  the  greatest  probity  and  uprightness.  The 
war  was  becoming  daily  more  onerous  ; Jacques  Coeur  always  knew 
how  to  provide  the  necessary  means,  and  when  the  royal  exchequer 
was  empty,  he  supplied  the  deficiency  out  of  his  own  private  means. 
Thus  it  was  that  he  lent  to  Charles  VII.  the  200,000  golden  crowns 
(24,000,000  francs)  necessary  for  the  conquest  of  Normandy.  “ Sir, 


JACQUES  CCEUR. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Character  of  Charles  VII.  and  of  his  government.  197 

what  I have  is  yours,”  said  he  to  the  king.  The  courtiers  took  him 
at  his  word,  and  after  an  infamous  lawsuit  which  they  instituted 
against  him,  they  divided,  his  spoils  between  them,  and  caused  him 
to  be  shut  up  in  a convent  at  Beaucaire.  His  former  clerks,  how- 
ever, combined  to  set  him  free,  and  conducted  him  to  Rome,  where 
the  Pope  received  him  in  the  most  honourable  manner  (1455). 

He  died  the  following  year  at  Chio,  of  a wound  received  in  the 
course  of  a battle  with  the  Turks.  Another  financial,  Jean  de  A.D.  1456. 
Xaincoings,  as  innocent  as  Jacques  Coeur,  was  likewise  condemned  His  deatlL 
to  prison  and  all  his  property  confiscated  “ pour  avoir  pris  grandes 
et  excessives  sommes  des  deniers  du  Roi.” 

We  have  now  reached  the  end  of  events  under  this  long  reign; 
all  that  remains  is  to  run  over  the  substantial  results  of  Charles 
YII.’s  government,  and  the  melancholy  imbroglios  of  his  lat- 
ter years  with  his  son,  the  turbulent,  tricky,  and  wickedly  able 
born  conspirator  who  was  to  succeed  him  under  the  name  of 
Louis  XI. 

One  fact  is  at  the  outset  to  be  remarked  upon  ; it  at  the  first  blush  Nature  of 
appears  singular,  but  it  admits  of  easy  explanation.  In  the  first the  govern- 
nineteen  years  of  his  reign,  from  1423  to  1442,  Charles  VII.  very  CharlesVII 
frequently  convoked  the  states-general,  at  one  time  of  northern 
Prance  or  Langue  d’oil,  at  another  of  southern  Prance  or  Langue- 
d’oc.  Twenty-four  such  assemblies  took  place  during  this  period 
at  Bourges,  at  Selles  in  Berry,  at  Le  Puy  in  Velay,  at  Meun-sur- 
Yevre,  at  Chinon,  at  Sully-sur-Loire,  at  Tours,  at  Orleans,  at  Nevers, 
at  Carcassonne,  and  at  different  spots  in  Languedoc.  It  was  the 
time  of  the  great  war  between  France  on  the  one  side  and  England 
and  Burgundy  allied  on  the  other,  the  time  of  intrigues  incessantly 
recurring  at  court,  and  the  time  likewise  of  carelessness  and  indo- 
lence on  the  part  of  Charles  VII.,  more  devoted  to  his  pleasures  than 
regardful  of  his  government.  He  had  incessant  need  of  states- 
general  to  supply  him  with  money  and  men,  and  support  him 
through  the  difficulties  of  his  position.  But  when,  dating  from  the 
peace  of  Arras  (September  21,  1435),  Charles  VII.,  having  become 
reconciled  with  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  was  delivered  from  civil  war, 
and  was  at  grips  with  none  but  England  alone,  already  half  beaten 
by  the  divine  inspiration,  the  triumph,  and  the  martyrdom  of  Joan 
of  Arc,  his  posture  and  his  behaviour  underwent  a rare  transforma- 
tion. Without  ceasing  to  be  a coldly  selfish  and  scandalously  licen- 
tious king,  he  became  a practical,  hard-working,  statesmanlike  king, 
jealous  and  disposed  to  govern  by  himself,  but  at  the  same  time 
watchful  and  skilful  in  availing  himself  of  the  able  advisers  who, 
whether  it  were  by  a happy  accident  or  by  his  own  choice,  were 


198 


History  cf  France . 


Military 

returns. 


Adminis- 

trative 

measures. 


grouped  around  him.  By  assiduous  toil,  in  concert  with  his 
advisers,  he  was  able  to  take  in  hand  and  accomplish,  in  the  mili- 
tary, financial,  and  judicial  system  of  the  realm,  those  bold  and  at 
the  same  time  prudent  reforms  which  wrested  the  country  from  the 
state  of  disorder,  pillage,  and  general  insecurity  to  which  it  had  been 
a prey,  and  commenced  the  era  of  that  great  monarchical  adminis- 
tration which,  in  spitfe  of  many  troubles  and  vicissitudes,  was 
destined  to  be  during  more  than  three  centuries  the  govern- 
ment of  France.  The  constable  De  Bichemont  and  marshal  De  la 
Fayette  were  in  respect  of  military  matters  Charles  VII. ’s  principal 
advisers  ; and  it  was  by  their  counsel  and  with  their  co-operation 
that  he  substituted  for  feudal  service  and  for  the  bands  of  wandering 
mercenaries  ( routiers ),  mustered  and  maintained  by  hap-hazard, 
a permanent  army,  regularly  levied,  provided  for,  paid  and  com- 
manded, and  charged  with  the  duty  of  keeping  order  at  home,  and  at 
the  same  time  subserving  abroad  the  interests  and  policy  of  the  State. 
In  connexion  with  and  as  anatural  consequence  of  this  military  system 
Charles  VII.  on  his  own  sole  authority  established  certain  permanent 
imposts  with  the  object  of  making  up  any  deficiency  in  the  royal 
treasury  whilst  waiting  for  a vote  of  such  taxes  extraordinary  as 
might  be  demanded  of  the  states-general.  Jacques  Coeur,  the  two 
brothers  Bureau,  Martin  Gouge,  Michel  Lailler,  William  Cousinot, 
and  many  other  councillors,  of  burgher  origin,  laboured  zealously 
to  establish  this  administrative  system,  so  prompt  and  freed  from 
all  independent  discussion.  Weary  of  wars,  irregularities,  and 
sufferings,  France,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  asked  for  nothing  but 
peace  and  security;  and  so  soon  as  the  kingship  showed  that  it  had 
an  intention  and  was  in  a condition  to  provide  her  with  them,  the 
nation  took  little  or  no  trouble  about  political  guarantees  which,  as 
yet,  it  knew  neither  how  to  establish  nor  how  to  exercise  ; its  right 
to  them  was  not  disputed  in  principle,  they  were  merely  permitted 
to  fall  into  desuetude;  and  Charles  VII.,  who  during  the  first  half 
of  his  reign  had  twenty-four  times  assembled  the  states-general  to 
ask  them  for  taxes  and  soldiers,  was  able  in  the  second  to  raise  per- 
sonally both  soldiers  and  taxes  without  drawing  forth  hardly  any 
complaint.  Charles  VII.  was  a prince  neither  to  be  respected  nor 
to  be  loved,  and  during  many  years  his  reign  had  not  been  a pros- 
perous one  ; but  “he  re-quickened  justice  which  had  been  a long 
while  dead,”  says  a chronicler  devoted  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy ; 
“he  put  an  end  to  the  tyrannies  and  exactions  of  the  men-at-arms, 
and  out  of  an  infinity  of  murderers  and  robbers  he  formed  men  of 
resolution  and  honest  life  ; he  made  regular  paths  in  murderous 
woods  and  forests,  all  roads  safe,  all  towns  peaceful,  all  nationalities 


The  Church  and  the  State . 199 

of  his  kingdom  tranquil ; he  chastised  the  evil  and  honoured  the 
good,  and  he  was  sparing  of  human  blood.” 

Questions  of  military,  financial,  and  judicial  organization  were 
not  the  only  ones  which  occupied  the  government  of  Charles  VIL  Eccle 
He  attacked  also  ecclesiastical  questions  which  were  at  that  period  siastical 
a subject  of  passionate  discussion  in  Christian  Europe  amongst  the  questions, 
councils  of  the  Church  and  in  the  closets  of  princes.  The  celebrated 
ordinance,  known  by  the  name  of  Pragmatic  Sanction , which 
Charles  VII.  issued  at  Bourges  on  the  7th  of  July,  1438,  with  the 
concurrence  of  a grand  national  council,  laic  and  ecclesiastical,  was 
directed  towards  the  carrying  out,  in  the  internal  regulations  of  the 
French  Church  and  in  the  relations  either  of  the  State  with  the 
Church  in  France,  or  of  the  Church  of  France  with  the  papacy,  of 
reforms  long  since  desired  or  dreaded  by  the  different  powers  and 
interests.  It  would  be  impossible  to  touch  here  upon  these  difficult 
and  delicate  questions  without  going  far  beyond  the  limits  imposed 
upon  the  writer  of  this  history.  All  that  can  be  said  is  that  there 
was  no  lack  of  a religious  spirit  or  of  a liberal  spirit  in  the  Prag- 
matic Sanction  of  Charles  VII.,  and  that  the  majority  of  the  mea- 
sures contained  in  it  were  adopted  with  the  approbation  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  French  clergy  as  well  as  of  educated  laymen  in 
France. 

I11  whatever  light  it  is  regarded,  the  government  of  Charles  VII. 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  reign  brought  him  not  only  in  France  but 
throughout  Europe  a great  deal  of  fame  and  power.  When  he  had 
driven  the  English  out  of  his  kingdom,  he  was  called  Charles  the 
Victorious ; and  when  he  had  introduced  into  the  internal  regula- 
tions of  the  State  so  ffiany  important  and  effective  reforms  he  was 
called  Charles  the  Well-served.  “ The  sense  he  had  by  nature,** 
says  his  historian  Chastellain,  “had  been  increased  to  twice  as 
much  again,  in  his  straitened  fortunes,  by  long  constraint  and 
perilous  dangers  which  sharpened  his  wits  perforce.”  “ He  is  the 
king  of  kings,”  was  said  of  . him  by  the  doge  of  Venice,  Francis 
Foscari,  a good  judge  of  policy  ; “there  is  no  doing  without  him.9* 

Nevertheless,  at  the  close,  so  influential  and  so  tranquil,  of  his 
reign,  Charles  VII.  was  in  his  individual  and  private  life  the  most 
desolate,  the  most  harassed,  and  the  most  unhappy  man  in  his 
kingdom.  The  dauphin  Louis,  after  having  from  his  very  youth 
behaved  in  a factious,  harebrained,  turbulent  wray  towards  the  king  c° n^ct 
his  father,  had  become  at  one  time  an  open  rebel,  at  another  a Dauphin, 
venomous  conspirator  and  a dangerous  enemy.  At  his  birth,  in 
1423,  he  had  been  named  Louis  in  remembrance  of  his  ancestor 
St.  Louis  and  in  hopes  that  he  w’ould  resemble  him.  In  1440,  at 


200 


History  of  France. 


seventeen  years  of  age,  he  allied  himself  with  tne  great  lords,  who 
were  displeased  with  the  new  military  system  established  by 
Charles  VII.,  and  allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  by  them  into  the 
The  “ Pra-  transient  rebellion  known  by  the  name  of  Praguery.  When  the 
guery.”  king,  having  put  it  down,  refused  to  receive  the  rebels  to  favour, 
the  dauphin  said  to  his  father,  “ My  lord,  I must  go  back  with 
them,  then  ; for  so  I promised  them.”  “ Louis,”  replied  the  king, 
“ the  gates  are  open,  and  if  they  are  not  high  enough  I will  have 
sixteen  or  twenty  fathom  of  wall  knocked  down  for  you,  that  you 
may  go  whither  it  seems  best  to  you.”  Charles  VII.  had  made  his 
son  marry  Margaret  Stuart  of  Scotland,  that  charming  princess  who 
was  so  smitten  with  the  language  and  literature  of  France,  that 
coming  one  day  upon  the  poet  Alan  Chartier  asleep  upon  a bench, 
she  kissed  him  on  the  forehead  in  the  presence  of  her  mightily  asto- 
nished train,  for  he  was  very  ugly.  Tne  dauphin  rendered  his  wife  so 
wretched  that  she  died  in  1445,  at  the  age  of  one  and  twenty,  with 
these  words  upon  her  lips,  “ Oh  ! fie  on  life  ! Speak  to  me  no  more 
of  it.”  In  1449,  just  when  the  king  his  father  was  taking  up  arms  to 
drive  the  English  out  of  Normandy,  the  dauphin  Louis,  who  was 
now  living  entirely  in  Dauphiny,  concluded  at  Briai^on  a secret 
league  with  the  duke  of  Savoy  “ against  the  ministers  of  the  king 
of  France,  his  enemies .”  In  1456,  in  order  to  escape  from  the 
perils  brought  upon  him  by  the  plots  which  he  in  the  heart  of 
Dauphiny  was  incessantly  hatching  against  his  father,  Louis  fled 
from  Grenoble  and  went  to  take  refuge  in  Brussels  with  the  duke 
of  Burgundy,  Philip  the  Good,  who  willingly  received  him,  at  the 
same  time  excusing  himself  to  Charles  VII.  “ on  the  ground  of  the 
respect  he  owed  to  the  son  of  his  suzerain,”  and  putting  at  the 
disposal  of  Louis  “ his  guest  ” a pension  of  thirty-six  thousand 
iivres.  At  Brussels  the  dauphin  remained  impassive,  waiting  with 
De^th^of"  scan(^a^ous  indifference  for  the  news  of  his  father’s  death.  Charles 
CharlesVII  sank  into  a state  of  profound  melancholy  and  general  distrust.  At 
(July  22).  deserted  by  them  of  his  own  household  and  disgusted  with  his 
own  life,  he  died  on  the  22nd  of  July,  1461. 


CHAPTEK  YI. 

LOUIS  XI. CHARLES  VIII.  — LOUIS  XII.  (1461-1515). 

“Gentlemen,”  said  Dunois  on  rising  from  table  at  the  funeral-  A.'D.  1461* 
banquet  held  at  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis  in  honour  of  the  obsequies 
of  King  Charles  VII.,  “ we  have  lost  our  master ; let  each  look 
after  himself.”  The  old  warrior  foresaw  that  the  new  reign  would 
not  be  like  that  which  had  just  ended.  Charles  VII.  had  been  a 
prince  of  indolent  disposition,  more  inclined  to  pleasure  than 
ambition,  whom  the  long  and  severe  trials  of  his  life  had  moulded 
to  government  without  his  having  any  passion  for  governing,  and 
who  had  become  in  a quiet  way  a wise  and  powerful  king  without 
any  eager  desire  to  be  incessantly  and  every  where  chief  actor  and 
master.  His  son  Louis,  on  the  contrary,  was  completely  possessed 
with  a craving  for  doing,  talking,  agitating,  domineering,  and 
reaching,  no  matter  by  what  means,  the  different  and  manifold 
ends  he  proposed  to  himself.  Any  thing  but  prepossessing  in 
appearance,  supported  on  long  and  thin  shanks,  vulgar  in  looks  and 
often  designedly  ill-dressed,  and  undignified  in  his  manners  though 
haughty  in  mind,  he  was  powerful  by  the  sheer  force  of  a mind 
marvellously  lively,  subtle, , unerring,  ready,  and  inventive,  and  of 
a character  indefatigably  active,  and  pursuing  success  as  a passion 
without  any  scruple  or  embarrassment  in  the  employment  of  means. 

His  contemporaries,  after  observing  his  reign  for  some  time,  gave 
him  the  name  of  the  universal  spider , so  relentlessly  did  he  labour 
to  weave  a web  of  which  he  himself  occupied  the  centre  and 
extended  the  filaments  in  all  directions. 


202 


History  of  France. 


At  the  accession  of  Louis  XI.  the  feudal  system  was  still 
powerful.  At  the  summit,  the  houses  of  Burgundy,  Bourbon, 
Orleans,  Anjou  and  Brittany;  the  degrees  immediately  below  were 
occupied  by  the  families  of  Armagnac,  Albret  and  Saint  Pol. 
Against  feudalism  the  king  began  a desperate  warfare,  and  the 
first  decrees  which  he  published  were  as  much  the  expression  of  his 
hatred,  as  of  his  determination  to  do  away  with  every  reminiscence 
of  his  father’s  government.  Thus  we  account  for  the  parsimonious 
character  of  the  new  court,  the  annulling  of  the  pragmatic 
sanction,  the  prohibition  of  hunting,  the  dismissal  of  the  late 
king’s  ministers,  whose  places  were  given  to  men  of  low  extraction 
(Tristan  l’Hermite,  La  Balue,  Olivier  le  Daim),etc.,  etc.  Thoroughly 
irritated  by  these  measures,  and  by  others  besides,  such  as  that 
which  deprived  the  duke  of  Burgundy  of  the  lieutenancy  of 
Normandy,  which  had  first  been  bestowed  upon  him,  the  great 

A.D.  1484.  malcontents  formed  together,  at  the  end  of  1464,  an  alliance  “for  to  re- 

League  of  .. 

the  Com-  monstrate  with  the  king,”  says  Commynes,  “ upon  the  bad  order  and 
mon  Weal,  injustice  he  kept  up  in  his  kingdom,  considering  themselves  strong 
enough  to  force  him  if  he  would  not  mend  his  ways ; and  this  war  was 
called  the  common  weal , because  it  was  undertaken  under  colour  of 
being  for  the  common  weal  of  the  kingdom,  the  which  was  soon  con- 
verted into  private  weal.”  The  aged  duke  of  Burgundy,  sensible  and 
wary  as  he  was,  gave  at  first  only  a hesitating  and  slack  adherence 
to  the  league  : but  his  son  Charles,  count  of  Charolais,  entered  into 
it  passionately,  and  the  father  was  no  more  in  a condition  to  resist 
his  son  than  he  was  inclined  to  follow  him.  The  number  of  the 
declared  malcontents  increased  rapidly ; and  the  chiefs  received  at 
Paris  itself,  in  the  church  of  Notre  Dame,  the  adhesion  and  the 
signatures  of  those  who  wished  to  join  them.  Louis  XI.  had  no 
sooner  obtained  a clear  insight  into  the  league  of  the  princes  than 
he  set  to  work  with  his  usual  activity  and  knowledge  of  the  world 
to  checkmate  it.  To  rally  together  his  own  partisans  and  to 
separate  his  foes,  such  was  the  two-fold  end  he  pursued,  at  first 
Louis  XI.  some  success.  He  would  have  been  glad  to  have  nothing  to 

grapples  do  but  to  negotiate  and  talk.  Though  he  was  personally  brave,  he 
feudalism  no^  ^e  war  anc^  unf°reseen  issues.  He  belonged  to  the 
class  of  ambitious  despots  who  prefer  strategem  to  force.  But  the 
very  ablest  speeches  and  artifices,  even  if  they  do  not  remain 
entirely  fruitless,  are  not  sufficient  to  reduce  matters  promptly  to 
order  when  great  interests  are  threatened,  passions  violently  excited, 
and  factions  let  loose  in  the  arena.  Between  the  League  of  the 
Common  Weal  and  Louis  XI.  there  was  a question  too  great  to  be, 
at  the  very  outset,  settled  peacefully.  It  was  feudalism  in  decline 


203 


The  King  and  the  Feudal  System, 


at  grips  with  the  kingship  which  had  been  growing  greater  and 
greater  for  two  centuries.  The  lords  did  not  trust  the  king’s 
promises ; and  one  amongst  those  lords  was  too  powerful  to  yield 
without  a fight.  At  the  beginning  Louis  had,  in  Auvergne  and  in 
Berry,  some  successes  which  decided  a few  of  the  rebels,  the  most 
insignificant,  to  accept  truces  and  enter  upon  parleys ; but  the 
great  princes,  the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  Brittany,  and  Berry,  waxed 
more  and  more  angry. 

The  two  armies  met  at  Montlhery,  on  the  16th  of  July,  1465.  A.D.  1465. 

Battle  of 
Montlhery 


Breze,  who  commanded  the  king’s  advance-guard,  immediately  BattIe  of 


went  into  action  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  be  killed.  Louis  came 
up  to  his  assistance  with  troops  in  rather  loose  order ; the  affair 
became  hot  and  general  ; the  French  for  a moment  wavered,  and  a 
rumour  ran  through  the  ranks  that  the  king  had  just  been  killed. 

“ No,  my  friends,”  said  Louis,  taking  off  his  helmet,  “ no,  I am 
not  dead ; defend  your  king  with  good  courage.”  The  wavering 
was  transferred  to  the  Burgundians,  and  the  advantage  virtually 
remained  on  the  side  of  the  French. 

Negotiations  for  peace  speedily  followed.  There  was  no  diffi-  Treaties  of 
cuity  about  them.  Louis  was  ready  to  make  sacrifices  as  soon  as  Confians 
he  recognized  the  necessity  for  them,  being  quite  determined,  how- 
ever,  in  his  heart,  to  recall  them  as  soon  as  fortune  came  back  to 
him.  Two  distinct  treaties  were  concluded  : one  at  Confians  on  the 
5th  of  October,  1465,  between  Louis  and  the  count  of  Charolais  ; 
and  the  other  at  St.  Maur  on  the  29th  of  October,  between  Louis 
and  the  other  princes  of  the  League.  By  one  or  the  other  of  the 
treaties  the  king  granted  nearly  every  demand  that  had  been  made 
upon  him  ; to  the  count  of  Charolais  he  gave  up  all  the  towns  of 
importance  in  Picardy ; to  the  duke  of  Berry  he  gave  the  duchy 
of  Normandy,  with  entire  sovereignty ; and  the  other  princes, 
independently  of  the  different  territories  that  had  been  conceded  to 
them,  all  received  large  sums  in  ready  money.  Scarcely  were  the 
treaties  signed  and  the  princes  returned  each  to  his  own  dominions, 
when  a quarrel  arose  between  the  duke  of  Brittany  and  the  new 
duke  of  Normandy.  Louis,  who  was  watching  for  dissensions 
between  his  enemies,  w^ent  at  once  to  see  the  duke  of  Brittany, 
and  made  with  him  a private  convention  for  mutual  security. 

Then,  having  his  movements  free,  he  suddenly  entered  Normandy 
to  retake  possession  of  it  as  a province  which,  notwithstanding  the 
cession  of  it  just  made  to  his  brother,  the  king  of  France  could 
not  dispense  with.  Evreux,  Gisors,  Gournay,  Louviers,  and  even 
Bouen  fell,  without  much  resistance,  again  into  his  power. 

In  order  to  be  safe  in  the  direction  of  Burgundy  as  well  as  that 


204 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  1467. 
Death  of 
Philip  the 
Good. 

Insurrec- 
tions at 
Ghent  and 
Liege. 


A.D.  1468. 
Treaty  of 
Ancenis. 


of  Brittany,  Louis  had  entered  into  negotiations  with  Edward  IV., 
king  of  England,  and  had  made  him  offers,  perhaps  even  promises, 
which  seemed  to  trench  upon  the  rights  ceded  by  the  treaty  of 
Confians  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy  as  to  certain  districts  of 
Picardy.  The  count  of  Charolais  was  informed  of  it,  and  complained 
bitterly  of  the  king’s  obstinate,  pretensions  and  underhand  ways. 
A serious  incident  now  happened,  which  for  a while  distracted  the 
attention  of  the  two  rivals  from  their  mutual  recriminations.  Duke 
Philip  the  Good,  who  had  for  some  time  past  been  visibly  declining 
in  body  and  mind,  was  visited  at  Bruges  by  a stroke  of  apoplexy, 
soon  discovered  to  be  fatal. 

A few  days  after  his  death,  several  of  the  principal  Flemish 
cities,  Ghent  first  and  then  Liege,  rose  against  the  new  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy in  defence  of  their  liberties  already  ignored  or  threatened. 
The  intrigues  of  Louis  were  not  unconnected  with  these  seditions. 
He  would  undoubtedly  have  been  very  glad  to  have  seen  his  most 
formidable  enemy  beset,  at  the  very  commencement  of  his  ducal 
reign,  by  serious  embarrassments,  and  obliged  to  let  the  king  of 
France  settle  without  trouble  his  differences  with  his  brother  Duke 
Charles  of  Berry  and  with  the  duke  of  Brittany.  But  the  new 
duke  of  Burgundy  was  speedily  triumphant  over  the  Flemish 
insurrections  ; and  after  these  successes,  at  the  close  of  the  year 
1467,  he  was  so  powerful  and  so  unfettered  in  his  movements  that 
Louis  might  with  good  reason  fear  the  formation  of  a fresh  league 
amongst  his  great  neighbours  in  coalition  against  him,  and  perhaps 
even  in  communication  with  the  English,  who  were  ever  ready  to 
seek  in  France  allies  for  the  furtherance  of  their  attempts  to 
regain  there  the  fortunes  wrested  from  them  by  Joan  of  Arc  and 
Charles  YII.  In  view  of  such  a position,  Louis  formed  a resolution, 
unpalatable  no  doubt  to  one  so  jealous  of  his  own  power,  but 
indicative  of  intelligence  and  boldness ; he  confronted  the  difficul- 
ties of  home  government  in  order  to  prevent  perils  from  without. 

He  summoned  the  states- general  to  a meeting  at  Tours  on  the 
1st  of  April,  1468,  and  obtained  from  them  the  annulment  of  the 
concessions  he  had  made,  more  particularly  with  reference  to  Nor- 
mandy, a province  which  was  within  so  dangerous  a proximity  of 
England. 

Thus  fortified  by  their  burst  of  attachment,  Louis,  by  the  treaty 
of  Ancenis,  signed  on  the  10th  of  September,  1468,  put  an  end  to 
his  differences  with  Francis  II.,  duke  of  Brittany,  who  gave  up  his 
alliance  with  the  house  of  Burgundy,  and  undertook  to  prevail  upon 
Duke  Charles  of  France  to  accept  an  arbitration  for  the  purpose  of 
settling,  before  two  years  were  over,  the  question  of  his  territorial 


Louis  XL  at  Peronne, 


205 


appanage  in  the  place  of  Normandy.  • In  the  meanwhile  a pension 
of  sixty  thousand  livres  was  to  be  paid  by  the  crown  to  that  prince. 
Thus  Louis  was  left  with  the  new  duke,  Charles  of  Burgundy,  as 
the  only  adversary  he  had  to  face.  His  advisers  were  divided  as 
to  the  course  to  he  taken  with  this  formidable  vassal.  Was  he  to 
be  dealt  with  by  war  or  by  negotiation  1 Count  De  Dampmartin, 
marshal  De  Rouault,  and  nearly  all  the  military  men  earnestly 
advised  war ; but  the  king  did  not  like  to  risk  the  kingdom  ; and 
he  had  more  confidence  in  negotiation  than  in  violent  measures. 


Two  of  his  principal  advisers,  the  constable  De  St.  Pol  and  the 
cardinal  De  la  Balue,  bishop  of  Evreux,  were  of  his  opinion,  and 
urged  him  to  the  top  of  his  bent.  Accordingly  he  started  for 
Noy on  on  the  2nd  of  October,  taking  with  him  the  constable,  the 
cardinal,  his  confessor,  and,  for  all  his  escort,  four  score  of  his  faith- 
ful Scots  and  sixty  men-at-arms.  Duke  Charles  went  to  meet  him  interview 
outside  the  town.  They  embraced  one  another  and  returned  on  t^et^een  f 
foot  to  Peronne,  chatting  familiarly,  and  the  king  with  his  hand  France  and 
resting  on  the  duke’s  shoulder  in  token  of  amity.  Louis  had  the  duke  of 
quarters  at  the  house  of  the  chamberlain  of  the  town  ; the  castle  a^pTronne 
being,  it  was  said,  in  too  bad  a state  and  too  ill-furnished  for  his 
reception.  “ King  Louis,  on  coming  to  Peronne,  had  not  con-  x 
sidered,”  says  Commynes,  “ that  he  had  sent  two  ambassadors  to 
the  folks  of  Liege  to  excite  them  against  the  duke.  Nevertheless 
the  said  ambassadors  had  advanced  matters  so  well  that  they  had  Revolt 
already  made  a great  mass  (of  rebels).  The  Liegese  came  and  took  of  the 
by  surprise  the  town  of  Tongres,  wherein  were  the  bishop  of  Liege  ^e£es8* 
and  the  lord  of  Humbercourt,  whom  they  took  also,  slaying  more- 
over some  servants  of  the  said  bishop.”  The  fugitives  who  reported 
this  news  at  Peronne  made  the  matter  a great  deal  worse  than  it 
was ; they  had  no  doubt,  they  said,  but  that  the'  bishop  and  sire 
d’Humbercourt  had  also  been  murdered ; and  Charles  had  no 
more  doubt  about  it  than  they.  Exasperated  by  so  glaring  an  act 
of  treachery,  Charles  the  Rash  confined  his  sovereign  within  the 
tower  where  Charles  the  Simple  had  died  in  929  ; and,  through  the 
happy  mediation  of  Philip  de  Commynes,  obliged  him  to  sign  the 
treaty  of  Peronne  (1468).  According  to  the  terms  of  this  agree- 
ment the  king  renounced  every  suzerainty  over  the  possessions  of 
the  duke  of  Burgundy  ; he  further  gave  the  province  of  Cham- 
pagne to  his  own  brother,  and  consented  to  the  destruction  of  the 
city  of  Liege.  He  had  even  the  cruelty  of  witnessing  the  massacre 
of  those  whose  rebellion  he  had  not  only  encouraged  but  assisted. 

But  Louis  XI.’s  deliverance  after  his  quasi-captivity  at  Peronne, 
and  the  new  treaty  he  had  concluded  with  Duke  Charles,  were  and 


206 


History  of  France. 


Continued 
rivalry 
between 
France  and 
Burgundy. 


A.D.  1472. 
Siege  of 
Beauvais. 
Joan 

Fourquet. 


Relations 
with  Eng- 
land. 


could  be  only  a temporary  break  in  the  struggle  between  these  two 
princes,  destined  as  they  were  both  by  character  and  position  to 
irremediable  incompatibility.  They  were  too  powerful  and  too 
different  to  live  at  peace  when  they  were  such  close  neighbours  and 
when  their  relations  were  so  complicated.  Between  1468  and 
1477,  from  the  incident  at  Peronne  to  the  death  of  Charles  at  the 
siege  of  Nancy,  the  history  of  the  two  princes  was  nothing  but 
one  constant  alternation  between  ruptures  and  re-adjustments,  hos- 
tilities and  truces,  wherein  both  were  constantly  changing  their 
posture,  their  language,  and  their  allies.  It  was  at  one  time  the 
affairs  of  the  duke  of  Brittany  or  those  of  Prince  Charles  of  France, 
become  duke  of  Guienne ; at  another  it  was  the  relations  with  the 
different  claimants  to  the  throne  of  England,  or  the  fate  of  the 
towns,  in  Picardy,  handed  over  to  the  duke  of  Burgundy  by  the 
treaties  of  Conflans  and  Peronne,  which  served  as  a ground  or 
pretext  for  the  frequent  recurrences  of  war.  In  1471  St.  Quentin 
opened  its  gates  to  Count  Louis  of  St.  Pol,  constable  of  France. 
The  next  year  (1472)  war  broke  out.  Duke  Charles  went  and  laid 
siege  to  Beauvais,  and  on  the  27th  of  June  delivered  the  first 
assault.  The  inhabitants  were  at  this  moment  left  almost  alone  to 
defend  their  town.  A young  girl  of  eighteen,  Joan  Fourquet,  whom 
a burgher’s  wife  of  Beauvais,  Madame  Laisne,  her  mother  by  adop- 
tion, had  bred  up  in  the  history,  still  so  recent,  of  Joan  of  Arc, 
threw  herself  into  the  midst  of  the  throng,  holding  up  her  little  axe 
(haclidte)  before  the  image  of  St.  Angadresme,  patroness  of  the 
town,  and  crying,  “ 0 glorious  virgin,  come  to  my  aid ; to  arms  ! 
to  arms  ! ” The  assault  was  repulsed ; reinforcements  came  up 
from  Noyon,  Amiens,  and  Paris,  under  the  orders  of  the  marshal  de 
Rouault.  Charles  remained  for  twelve  days  longer  before  the  place, 
looking  for  a better  chance  ; but  on  the  12th  of  July  he  decided 
upon  raising  the  siege,  and  took  the  road  to  Normandy.  Some  days 
before  attacking  Beauvais,  he  had  taken,  not  without  difficulty, 
Nesle  in  the  Yermandois.  “ There  it  was,”  says  Commynes,  “ that 
he  first  committed  a horrible  and  wicked  deed  of  war,  which  had 
never  been  his  wont ; this  was  burning  every  thing  every  where  ; 
those  who  were  taken  alive  were  hanged ; a pretty  large  number  had 
their  hands  cut  off.  It  mislikes  me  to  speak  of  such  cruelty ; but 
I was  on  the  spot,  and  must  needs  say  something  about  it.”  Com- 
mynes undoubtedly  said  something  about  it  to  Charles  himself, 
who  answered,  “ It  is  the  fruit  borne  by  the  tree  of  war  ; it  would 
have  been  the  fate  of  Beauvais  if  I could  have  taken  the  town.” 
Between  the  two  rivals  in  France,  relations  with  England  were 
a subject  of  constant  manoeuvring  and  strife.  In  spite  of  reverses 


20/ 


Edward  IV.  attempts  to  invade  France. 

on  the  Continent  and  civil  wars  in  their  own  island,  the  kings  of 

England  had  not  abandoned  their  claims  to  the  crown  of  France; 

they  were  still  in  possession  of  Calais ; and  the  memory  of  the 

battles  of  Crecy,  Poitiers,  and  Agincourt  was  still  a tower  of  strength 

to  them.  Between  1470  and  1472  the  house  of  York  had 

triumphed  over  the  house  of  Lancaster;  and  Edward  IY.  was 

undisputed  king.  In  his  views  touching  France  he  found  a natural 

ally  in  the  duke  of  Burgundy ; and  it  was  in  concert  with  Charles  A.D.  1478. 

that  Edward  was  incessantly  concocting  and  attempting  plots  and  £h®  En~, 
. , , . VTr  T ° , glish  lan<5 

campaigns  against  Louis  XL  in  1474  he,  by  a herald,  called  upon  in  jjor_ 

Louis  to  give  up  to  him  Hormandy  and  Guienne,  else,  he  told  him,  mandy. 

he  would  cross  over  to  France  with  his  army.  “ Tell  your  master,” 

answered  Louis  coolly,  “ that  I should  not  advise  him  to.”  Edward 

landed  at  Calais  on  the  22nd  of  June,  1475,  with  an  army  of 

from  sixteen  to  eighteen  thousand  men  thirsting  for  conquest  and 

pillage  in  France,  and  the  duke  of  Burgundy  had  promised  to  go 

and  join  him  with  a considerable  force ; but  the  latter  after  having 

appeared  for  a moment  at  Calais  to  concert  measures  with  his  ally, 

returned  no  more,  and  even  hesitated  about  admitting  the  English 

into  his  towns  of  Artois  and  Picardy.  Edward  waited  for  him 

nearly  two  months  at  Peronne,  but  in  vain.  During  this  time 

Louis  negotiated ; he  fixed  his  quarters  at  Amiens,  and  Edward 

came  and  encamped  half  a league  from  the  town.  An  agreement 

was  soon  come  to  as  to  the  terms  of  peace.  King  Edward  bound 

himself  to  withdraw  with  his  army  to  England  so  soon  as  Louis  XI. 

should  have  paid  him  seventy-five  thousand  crowns.  Louis  promised 

besides  to  pay  annually  to  King  Edward  fifty  thousand  crowns, 

in  two  payments,  during  the  time  that  both  princes  were  alive.  A 

truce  for  seven  years  was  concluded ; they  made  mutual  promises 

to  lend  each  other  aid  if  they  were  attacked  by  their  enemies  or  by 

their  owTn  subjects  in  rebellion ; and  Prince  Charles,  the  eldest 

son  of  Louis  XI.,  was  to  marry  Elizabeth,  Edward’s  daughter, 

when  both  should  be  of  marriageable  age.  Lastly,  Queen  Margaret 

of  Anjou,  who  had  been  a prisoner  in  England  since  the  death  of 

her  husband,  Henry  VI.,  was  to  be  set  at  liberty  and  removed  to 

France,  on  renouncing  all  claim  to  the  crown  of  England.  These 

conditions  having  been  formulated,  they  were  signed  by  the  two 

kings  at  Pecquigny  on  the  Somme,  three  leagues  from  Amiens,  on 

the  29th  of  August,  1475. 

The  duke  of  Burgundy,  as  soon  as  he  found  out  that  the  king  of  Lorraine 
France  had,  under  the  name  of  truce,  made  peace  for  seven  years  ^cha,6* 
with  the  king  of  England,  and  that  Edward  IY.  had  recrossed  the  the  Rash. 
Channel  with  his  army,  saw  that  his  attempts,  so  far,  were  a 


Charles 
the  Bash 
attacks 
Lorraine. 


A.D  1472. 

Death  of 
the  duke 
of  Guienne 
(May  2i). 


208  History  of  France. 

failure.  Accordingly  lie  too  lost  no  time  in  signing  [on  the  13th  of 
September,  1475]  a truce  with  King  Louis  for  nine  years,  and 
directing  his  ambition  and  aiming  his  blows  against  other  quarters 
than  western  France.  Two  little  states,  his  neighbours  on  the 
east,  Lorraine  and  Switzerland,  became  the  object  and  the  theatre 
of  his  passion  for  war.  Lorraine  had  at  that  time  for  its  duke 
Rene  II.,  of  the  house  of  Anjou  through  his  mother  Yolande,  a 
young  prince  who  was  wavering  as  so  many  others  were  between 
France  and  Burgundy.  Charles  suddenly  entered  Lorraine,  took 
possession  of  several  castles,  had  the  inhabitants  who  resisted 
hanged,  besieged  Haney,  which  made  a valiant  defence,  and  ended 
by  conquering  the  capital  as  wTell  as  the  country-places,  leaving 
Duke  Rene  no  asylum  but  the  court  of  Louis  XI.,  of  whom  the 
Lorraine  prince  had  begged  a support,  which  Louis  after  his 
custom  had  promised  without  rendering  it  effectual.  Charles  did 
not  stop  there.  He  had  already  been  more  than  once  engaged  in 
hostilities  v ith  his  neighbours  the  Swiss ; and  he  now  learned  that 
they  had  just  made  a sanguinary  raid  upon  the  district  of  Vaud, 
the  domain  of  a petty  prince  of  the  house  of  Savoy,  and  a devoted 
servant  of  the  duke  of  Burgundy’s.  Scarcely  two  months  after  the 
capture  of  Haney,  Charles  set  out,  on  the  11th  of  June,  1476,  to  go 
and  avenge  his  client  and  wreak  his  haughty  and  turbulent 
humour  upon  these  bold  peasants  of  the  Alps. 

In  spite  of  the  truce  he  had  but  lately  concluded  with  Charles 
the  Rash,  the  prudent  Louis  did  not  cease  to  keep  an  attentive 
watch  upon  him,  and  to  reap  advantage,  against  him,  from  the 
leisure  secured  to  the  king  of  France  by  his  peace  with  the  king 
of  England  and  the  duke  of  Brittany.  A late  occurrence  had  still 
further  strengthened  his  position  : his  brother  Charles,  who  became 
duke  of  Guienne,  in  1469,  after  the  treaty  of  Pcronne,  had  died  011 
the  24th  of  May,  1472.  There  were  sinister  rumours  abroad  touch- 
ing this  death.  Louis  was  suspected  of  having  poisoned  his 
brother.  At  any  rate  this  event  had  important  results  for  him. 
Hot  only  did  it  set  him  free  from  all  fresh  embarrassment  in  that 
direction,  but  it  also  restored  to  him  the  beautiful  province  of 
Guienne  and  many  a royal  client.  Of  the  great  feudal  chieftains 
who,  in  1464,  had  formed  against  him  the  League  of  the  Common 
Weal,  the  duke  of  Burgundy  was  the  only  one  left  on  the  scene 
and  in  a condition  to  put  him  in  peril. 

Louis  XI.  felt,  however,  now  sure  of  success,  for  his  principal 
adversary,  Charles  the  Rash,  had  begun  the  prosecution  of  a plan 
which  proved  beyond  his  strength,  and  the  failure  of  which  even- 
tually turned  to  the  advantage  of  the  king  ofFrance.  The  dominions 


209 


Charles  the  Rash  defeated, 

of  Charles  consisted  of  the  duchy  and  county  of  Burgundy  on  tho 
one  side,  and  of  the  Netherlands  on  the  other — feudal  regime  here, 
communal  regime  there.  Between  these  divisions  no  communications 
existed,  and  it  was  in  order  to  form  a homogeneous  whole  of  the 
two  discordant  and  ^antagonistic  parts  that  Charles  the  Bold  staked 
his  power,  his  treasures  and  his  life.  He  wished  to  he  a king,  and 
with  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  creation  of  a kingdom  of  Belgian- 
Gaul,  he  had  courted  the  alliance  of  the  emperor  Frederick  III., 
promising  to  the  archduke  Maximilian  the  hand  of  his  daughter 
Mary.  Nothing  resulted  from  this  scheme  on  account  of  tho 
sudden  retreat  of  the  emperor,  who  left  Treves  on  the  very  day 
before  that  which  had  been  fixed  for  the  ceremony  of  consecra- 
tion. Mad  with  fury,  Charles  the  Bash  then  turned  against  Ger- 
many. After  a long  siege  he  failed  to  take  the  city  of  Neuss, 
and  signed  with  Louis  XI.  the  peace  of  Soleure  which  has  been 
called  Treve  Marchande,  on  account  of  the  stipulations  it  con-  ‘<Treve 
tained  respecting  freedom  of  commerce  between  France,  England,  Mar- 
and  the  Netherlands.  Safe,  as  he  thought,  on  that  side,  he  had  c 
leisure  to  attack  both  the  Swiss  and  the  Lorraine  where  he  had 
for  his  client  the  old  king  Bene.  He  started  from  Besan^on  on 
the  6th  of  February  to  take  the  field  with  an  army  amounting,  it 
is  said,  to  thirty  or  forty  thousand  men,  provided  with  a power- 
ful artillery  and  accompanied  by  an  immense  baggage-train,  wherein 
Charles  delighted  to  display  his  riches  and  magnificence  in  contrast 
with  the  simplicity  and  roughness  of  his  personal  habits.  At  the 
rumour  of  such  an  armament,  the  Swiss  attempted  to  keep  off 
the  war  from  their  country.  Charles,  however,  gave  no  heed,  saw 
nothing  in  their  representations  but  an  additional  reason  for 
hurraing  on  his  movements  with  confidence,  and  on  the  19th  of  A.D.  1476. 
February  arrived  before  Grans  >n,  a little  town  in  the  district  of  Grans^n0* 
Vaud,  where  war  had  already  begun.  There  he  was  tremendously  (Feb.), 
beaten  by  the  Swiss ; the  squadrons  of  his  chivalry  were  not  able 
to  make  any  impression  upon  the  battalions  of  Berne,  Schwitz, 

Soleure,  and  Fribourg,  armed  with  pikes  eighteen  feet  long ; and 
at  sight  of  the  mountaineers  marching  with  huge  strides  and 
lowered  heads  upon  their  foes  and  heralding  their  advance  by  the 
lo wings  of  the  bull  of  Uri  and  the  cow  of  Unterwalden,  two  enor- 
mous instruments  made  of  buffalo-horn,  and  given,  it  was  said,  to 
their  ancestors  by  Charlemagne,  the  whole  Burgundian  army, 
seized  with  fright,  fled  in  wild  confusion.  On  the  22nd  of  June, 
another  desperate  battle  was  fought  at  Morat,  and  hopelessly  lost 
by  the  Burgundians.  Charles  had  still  three  thousand  horse,  but  an^  Morat 
he  saw  them  break  up,  and  he  himself  had  great  difficulty  in  (June). 

p 


210 


History  of  France. 


getting  away,  with  merely  a dozen  men  behind  him,  and  reaching 
Morges,  twelve  leagues  from  Morat.  Eight  or  ten  thousand  of  his 
men  had  fallen,  more  than  half,  it  is  said,  killed  in  cold  blood, 
after  the  fight.  Never  had  the  Swiss  been  so  dead  set  against 
their  foes  ; and  “ as  cruel  as  at  Morat  ” was  for*  a long  while  a com- 
mon expression. 

The  duke  Charles  learned  before  long  that  the  Swiss  were  not  his  most 
makes  war  threatening  foes,  and  that  he  had  something  else  to  do  instead  of 
going  after  them  amongst  their  mountains.  During  his  two  cam- 
paigns against  them,  the  duke  of  Lorraine,  Rene  II.,  whom  he  had 
despoiled  of  his  dominions  and  driven  from  Nancy,  had  been 
wandering  amongst  neighbouring  princes  and  people  in  France, 
Germany,  and  Switzerland,  at  the  courts  of  Louis  XI.  and  the 
emperor  Frederic  III.,  on  visits  to  the  patricians  of  Berne,  and 
in  the  free  towns  of  the  Rhine.  He  was  young,  sprightly,  amiable, 
and  brave  ; he  had  been  well  received  and  certain  promises  had 
been  made  him.  His  partisans  in  Lorraine  recovered  confidence 
in  his  fortunes ; the  city  of  Strasbourg  gave  him  some  cannon,  four 
hundred  cavalry,  and  eight  hundred  infantry ; Louis  XI.  lent  him 
some  money ; and  Rene  before  long  found  himself  in  a position 
to  raise  a small  army  and  retake  Epinal,  Saint-Die,  Vaudemont, 
and  the  majority  of  the  minor  towns  in  Lorraine.  Finally  he 
attacked  and  defeated  the  Burgundians  at  Nancy  on  January  the 
5th,  1477.  The  duke  was  killed  on  the  field  of  battle.  Charles 
the  Rash  had  left  only  a daughter,  Mary  of  Burgundy,  sole  heiress 


A.D.  1477. 
Battle  of 
Nancy. 
Death  of 


Charles  the  of  all  his  dominions.  To  annex  this  magnificent  heritage  to  the 
Rash.  crown  of  France  by  the  marriage  of  the  heiress  with  the  dauphin, 
who  was  one  day  to  be  Charles  VIII.,  was  clearly  for  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  nation  as  well  as  of  the  French  kingship,  and 'such 
had,  accordingly,  been  Louis  XI.’s  first  idea. 

Mary  of  All  the  efforts  of  Louis  the  XI.,  however,  did  not  succeed.  On 

Burgundy  the  1 8th  of  August,  1477,  seven  months  after  the  battle  of  Nancy 
marries  ° 7 y «/ 

and  the  death  of  Charles  the  Rash,  Archduke  Maximilian,  son  of 

the  emperor  Frederic  III.,  arrived  at  Ghent  to  wed  Mary  of 

Burgundy.  “The  moment  he  caught  sight  of  his  betrothed,”  say 

the  Flemish  chroniclers,  “ they  both  bent  down  to  the  ground  and 

turned  as  pale  as  death  ; a sign  of  mutual  love  according  to  some, 

an  omen  of  unhappiness  according  to  others.”  Next  day,  August 

19,  the  marriage  was  celebrated  with  great  simplicity  in  the  chapel 

of  the  Hotel  de  Ville ; and  Maximilian  swore  to  respect  the 

privileges  of  Ghent.  A few  days  afterwards  he  renewed  the  same 

oath  at  Bruges,  in  the  midst  of  decorations  bearing  the  modest 

device,  “Most  glorious  prince,  defend  us  lest  we  perish”  ( Glorio - 


the  Em- 
peror 
Maxi- 
milian. 


211 


Policy  of  Louis  XL 

sissime  princeps , defends  nos  ne  pereamus).  Xot  only  did  Louis  XI. 
thus  fail  in  his  first  wise  design  of  incorporating  with  France,  try 
means  of  a marriage  between  his  son  the  dauphin  and  Princess 
Mary,  the  heritage  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundy,  but  he  suffered  the 
heiress  and  a great  part  of  the  heritage  to  pass  into  the  hands  of 
the  son  of  the  German  Emperor  ; and  thereby  he  paved  the  way 
for  that  determined  rivalry  between  the  houses  of  France  and  Aus- 
tria, which  was  a source  of  so  many  dangers  and  woes  to  both 
states  during  three  centuries.  In  vain,  when  the  marriage  of 
Maximilian  and  Mary  was  completed,  did  Louis  XI.  attempt  to 
struggle  against  his  new  and  dangerous  neighbour ; his  campaigns 
in  the  Flemish  provinces,  in  1478  and  1479,  had  no  great  result; 
he  lost,  on  the  7th  of  August,  1479,  the  battle  of  Guinegate, 
between  St.  Omer  and  Therouanne ; and  before  long,  tired  of  Battle  of 
war,  which  was  not  his  favourite  theatre  for  the  display  of  his  Guilie&ate< 
abilities,  he  ended  by  concluding  with  Maximilian  a truce  at  first, 
and  then  a peace,  which,  in  spite  of  some  conditionals  favourable  to 
France,  left  the  principal  and  the  fatal  consequences  of  the  Austro- 
Burgundian  marriage  to  take  full  effect.  This  event  marked 
the  stoppage  of  that  great,  national  policy  which  had  prevailed 
during  the  first  part  of  Louis  XI.’s  reign.  J oan  of  Arc  and 
Charles  VII.  had  driven  the  English  from  France ; and  for  sixteen 
years  Louis  XI.  had,  by  fighting  and  gradually  destroying  the 
great  vassals  who  made  alliance  with  them,  prevented  them  from 
regaining  a footing  there.  That  was  work  as  salutary  as  it  was 
glorious  for  the  nation  and  the  French  kingship.  At  the  death 
of  Charles  the  Eash  the  work  was  accomplished  ; Louis  XI.  was 
the  only  Power  left  in  France,  without  any  great  peril  from 
without  and  without  any  great  rival  within ; but  he  then  fell 
under  the  sway  of  mistaken  ideas  and  a vicious  spirit.  Old  in 
years,  master-power  still  though  beaten  in  his  last  game  of  policy, 
he  appeared  to  all  as  he  really  was  and  as  he  had  been  prediscerned 
to  be  by  only  such  eminent  observers  as  Commynes,  that  is,  a 
crooked,  swindling,  utterly  selfish,  vindictive,  cruel  man.  Xot 
only  did  he  hunt  down  implacably  the  men  who,  after  having 
served  him,  had  betrayed  or  deserted  him  ; he  revelled  in  the 
vengeance  he  took  and  the  sufferings  he  inflicted  on  them.  Xote  Cruelty  of 
for  instance,  his  treatment  of  Cardinal  Balue,  whom  he  caused  to  be  Louis  XI. 
confined  in  a cage,  “eight  feet  broad,”  says  Commynes,  “and 
only  one  foot  higher  than  a man’s  stature,  covered  with  iron  plates 
outside  and  inside,  and  fitted  with  terrible  bars.”  In  it  the  un-  Torture  of 
fortunate  prelate  passed  eleven  years,  and  it  was  not  until  1480  Balue^1 
that  he  was  let  out,  at  the  solicitation  of  Pope  Sixtus  IV.,  to  whom 


212  History  of  France . 

Louis  XI.,  being  old  and  ill,  thought  he  could  not  possibly  refuse 
this  favour. 

He  was  still  more  pitiless  towards  a man  more  formidable  and 
less  subordinate,  both  in  character  and  origin,  than  Cardinal  Balue. 
A.D.  1475.  Louis  of  Luxembourg,  count  of  St.  Pol,  had  been  from  his  youth 
the  count  UP  enga§e(^  in  the  wars  and  intrigues  of  the  sovereigns  and  great 
of  St.  Pol.  feudal  lords  of  western  Europe,  France,  England,  Germany,  Bur- 
gundy, Brittany  and  Lorraine.  From  1433  to  1475  he  served  and 
betrayed  them  all  in  turn,  seeking  and  obtaining  favours,  incurring 
and  braving  rancour,  at  one  time  on  one  side  and  at  another  time 
on  another,  acting  as  constable  of  France  and  as  diplomatic  agent 
for  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  raising  troops  and  taking  towns  for 
Louis  XI.,  for  Charles  the  Rash,  for  Edward  IY.,  for  the  German 
emperor,  and  trying  nearly  always  to  keep  for  himself  what  he  had 
taken  on  another’s  account ; given  up  at  last,  by  the  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, to  the  king,  he  was  beheaded  on  the  19th  of  December, 
1475,  in  Paris,  on  the  Place  de  Greve. 

In  August,  1477,  the  battle  of  Haney  had  been  fought  ; Charles 
the  Rash  had  been  killed ; and  the  line  of  the  dukes  of  Burgundy 
had  been  extinguished.  Louis  XI.  remained  master  of  the  battle- 
field on  which  the  great  risks  and  great  scenes  of  his  life  had  been 
passed  through.  It  seemed  as  if  he  ought  to  fear  nothing  now,  and 
that  the  day  for  clemency  had  come.  But  such  was  not  the  king’s 
opinion  ; two  cruel  passions,  suspicion  and  vengeance,  had  taken 
possession  of  his  soul ; he  remained  convinced,  not  without  reason, 
that  nearly  all  the  great  feudal  lords  who  had  bepn  his  foes  were 
continuing  to  conspire  against  him,  and  that  he  ought  not,  on  his 
side,  ever  to  cease  from  striving  against  them.  The  trial  of  the 
constable,  St.  Pol,  had  confirmed  all  his  suspicions  ; he  had  dis- 
covered thereby  traces  and  almost  proofs  of  a design  for  a long  time 
past  conceived  and  pursued  by  the  constable  and  his  associates,  the 
design  of  seizing  the  king,  keeping  him  prisoner,  and  setting  his 
son,  the  dauphin,  on  the  throne,  with  a regency  composed  of  a 
council  of  lords.  Amongst  the  declared  or  presumed  adherents 
of  this  project,  the  king  had  found  James  d’Armagnac,  duke  of 
Nemours,  the  companion  and  friend  of  his  youth,  for  his  father, 
the  count  of  Pardiac,  had  been  governor  to  Louis,  at  that  time 
dauphin.  Arrested,  sent  to  the  Bastille,  and  tried  on  a charge  of 
AD.  1477  high  treason,  the  duke  de  Nemours  was  beheaded  on  the  4th  of 
tlie  duke  0f  August,  1477.  A disgusting  detail,  reproduced  by  several  modern 
Nemours,  writers,  has  almost  been  received  into  history.  Louis  XI.,  it  is 
said,  ordered  the  children  of  the  duke  of  Nemours  to  be  placed 
under  the  scaffold  and  besprinkled  with  their  father’s  blood.  None 


2i3 


Louis  XI.  and  his  friends. 

of  his  contemporaries,  even  the  most  hostile  to  Louis  XI.,  and  even 
amongst  those  who,  at  the  states-general  held  in  1484,  one  of  them 
after  his  death,  raised  their  voices  against  the  trial  of  the  duke  of 
Nemours  and  in  favour  of  his  children,  has  made  any  mention  of 
this  pretended  atrocity. 

The  same  rule  of  historical  equity  makes  it  incumbent  upon  us  The  friends 
to  remark  that,  in  spite  of  his  feelings  of  suspicion  and  revenge,  of£°uisXl. 
Louis  XI.  could  perfectly  well  appreciate  the  men  of  honour  in  Damp_ 
whom  he  was  able  to  have  confidence,  and  would  actually  confide  martin, 
in  them  even  contrary  to  ordinary  probabilities.  He  numbered 
amongst  his  most  distinguished  servants  three  men  who  had  begun 
by  serving  his  enemies  and  whom  he  conquered,  so  to  speak,  by  his 
penetration  and  his  firm  mental  grasp  of  policy.  They  were  Philip 
of  Chabannes,  count  de  Dampmartin,  Odet  d’Aydie,  lord  of  The  lord  of 
Lescun  in  Bearn,  whom  he  created  count  of  Comminges,  and  Lescun. 
finally  Philip  de  Commynes,  the  most  precious  of  the  politic  con-  phiiip  de 
quests  made  by  Louis  in  the  matter  of  eminent  counsellors,  to  whom  Commynes. 
he  remained  as  faithful  as  they  were  themselves  faithful  and  useful 
to  him.  The  Memoires  of  Commynes  are  the  most  striking  proof 
of  the  rare  and  unfettered  political  intellect  placed  by  the  future 
historian  at  the  king’s  service  and  of  the  estimation  in  which  the 
king  had  wit  enough  to  hold  it. 

Louis  XI.  rendered  to  France  four  centuries  ago,  during  a reign  Homs  ad- 
of  twenty-two  years,  three  great  services,  the  traces  and  influence  ministra- 
of  which  exist  to  this  day.  He  prosecuted  steadily  the  work  of tlon 
Joan  of  Arc  and  Charles  VII.,  the  expulsion  of  a foreign  kingship 
and  the  triumph  of  national  independence  and  national  dignity. 

By  means  of  the  provinces  which  he  successively  won,  wholly  or 
partly,  Burgundy,  Franche-Comte,  Artois,  Provence,  Anjou,  Rous- 
sillon, and  Barrois,  he  caused  France  to  make  a great  stride 
towards  territorial  unity  within  her  natural  boundaries.  By  the 
defeat  he  inflicted  on  the  great  vassals,  the  favour  he  showed  the 
middle  classes,  and  the  use  he  had  the  sense  to  make  of  this  new 
social  force,  he  contributed  powerfully  to  the  formation  of  the 
French  nation  and  to  its  unity  under  a national  government. 

Feudal  society  had  not  an  idea  of  how  to  form  itself  into  a nation 
or  discipline  its  forces  under  one  head  ; Louis  XI.  proved  its 
political  weakness,  determined  its  fall,  and  laboured  to  place  in  its 
stead  France  and  monarchy.  Herein  are  the  great  facts  of  his 
reign  and  the  proofs  of  his  superior  mind. 

But  side  by  side  with  these  powerful  symptoms  of  a new  regimen 
appeared  also  the  vices  of  which  that  regimen  contained  the  germ, 
and  those  of  the  man  himself  who  was  labouring  to  found  it. 


Character 
of  LouisXI 


His  super- 
stition. 


214  History  of  France. 

Feudal  society,  perceiving  itself  to  be  threatened,  at  one  time 
attacked  Louis  XI.  with  passion,  at  another  entered  into  violent 
disputes  against  him;  and  Louis,  in  order  to  struggle  with  it, 
employed  all  the  practices  at  one  time  crafty  and  at  another  vio- 
lent that  belong  to  absolute  power.  Craft  usually  predominated  in 
his  proceedings,  violence  being  often  too  perilous  for  him  to  risk  it ; 
he  did  not  consider  himself  in  a condition  to  say  brazen-facedly, 
“ Might  before  right,”  but  he  disregarded  right  in  the  case  of  his 
adversaries,  and  he  did  not  deny  himself  any  artifice,  any  lie,  any 
baseness,  however  specious,  in  order  to  trick  them  or  ruin  them 
secretly,  when  he  did  not  feel  himself  in  a position  to  crush  them  at  a 
blow.  He  was  “ familiar,”  but  “ by  no  means  vulgar  ; ” he  was  in 
conversation  able  and  agreeable,  with  a mixture,  however,  of  petu- 
lance and  indiscretion,  even  when  he  was  meditating  some  perfidy  ; 
and  “ there  is  much  need,”  he  used  to  say,  “ that  my  tongue  should 
sometimes  serve  me ; it  has  hurt  me  often  enough.”  The  most 
puerile  superstitions  as  well  as  those  most  akin  to  a blind  piety 
found  their  way  into  his  mind.  When  he  received  any  bad  news, 
he  would  cast  aside  for  ever  the  dress  he  was  wearing  when  the 
news  came  ; and  of  death  he  had  a dread  which  was  carried  to  the 
extent  of  pusillanimity  and  ridiculousness.  “ Whilst  he  was  every 
day,”  says  M.  de  Barante,  “becoming  more  suspicious,  more  absolute, 
more  terrible  to  his  children,  to  the  princes  of  the  blood,  to  his  old 
servants,  and  to  his  wisest  counsellors,  there  was  one  man  who, 
without  any  fear  of  his  wrath,  treated  him  with  brutal  rudeness. 
This  was  James  Coettier,  his  doctor.  When  the  king  would  some- 
times complain  of  it  before  certain  confidential  servants  : 4 1 know 
very  well/  Coettier  would  say,  ‘ that  some  fine  morning  you’ll  send 
me  where  you’ve  sent  so  many  others  ; but,  ’sdeath,  you’ll  not  live 
a week  after  ! ’ ” Then  the  king  would  coax  him,  overwhelm  him 
with  caresses,  raise  his  salary  to  ten  thousand  crowns  a month,  make 
him  a present  of  rich  lordships ; and  he  ended  by  making  him 
premier  president  of  the  Court  of  Exchequer.  All  churches  and 
all  sanctuaries  of  any  small  celebrity  were  recipients  of  his  obla- 
tions, and  it  was  not  the  salvation  of  his  soul  but  life  and  health 
that  he  asked  for  in  return. 

Whether  they  were  sincere  or  assumed,  the  superstitions  of 
Louis  XI.  did  not  prevent  him  from  appreciating  and  promoting 
the  progress  of  civilization,  towards  which  the  fifteenth  century  saw 
the  first  real  general  impulse.  He  favoured  the  free  development  of 
industry  and  trade;  he  protected  prin'ing,  in  its  infancy,  and 
scientific  studies,  especially  the  study  of  medicine  ; by  his  authori 
zation,  it  is  said,  the  operation  for  the  stone  was  tried,  for  the  first 


Louis  XI.  favours  the  progress  of  civilization.  215 

time  in  France,  upon  a criminal  under  sentence  of  death,  who 
recovered  and  was  pardoned ; and  he  welcomed  the  philological 
scholars  who  were  at  this  time  labouring  to  diffuse  through 
Western  Europe  the  works  of  Greek  and  Eoman  antiquity.  He 
instituted,  at  first  for  his  own  and  before  long  for  the  public  service, 
post-horses  and  the  letter-post  within  his  kingdom.  Towards 
intellectual  and  social  movement  he  had  not  the  mistrust  and  His  re- 
antipathy of  an  old,  one-grooved,  worn-out,  unproductive  despotism  ; yae^ 
his  kingly  despotism  was  new,  and,  one  might  almost  say,  innova-  ments. 
tional,  for  it  sprang  and  was  growing  up  from  the  ruins  of  feudal 
rights  and  liberties  which  had  inevitably  ended  in  monarchy.  But 
despotism’s  good  services  are  shortlived ; it  has  no  need  to  last  long 
before  it  generates  iniquity  and  tyranny ; and  that  of  Louis  XI.,  in 
the  latter  part  of  his  reign,  bore  its  natural,  unavoidable  fruits. 

“ His  mistrust,”  says  M.  de  Barante,  “ became  horrible  and  almost 
insane  \ every  year  he  had  surrounded  his  castle  of  Plessis  with 
more  walls,  ditches  and  rails.  On  the  towers  were  iron  sheds,  a 
shelter  from  arrows  and  even  artillery.  More  than  eighteen  hundred 
of  those  planks  bristling  with  nails,  called  caltrops,  were  distri- 
buted over  the  yonder  side  of  the  ditch.  There  were  every  day  four 
hundred  crossbow-men  on  duty,  with  orders  to  shoot  whosoever 
approached.  Every  suspected  passer-by  was  seized,  and  carried  off 
to  Tristan  l’Hermite,  the  provost  marshal.  Ho  great  proofs  were 
required  for  a swing  on  the  gibbet  or  for  the  inside  of  a sack  and  a 
plunge  in  the  Loire. 

A11  unexpected  event  occurred  at  this  time  to  give  a little  more  A.D.  1482. 
heart  to  Louis  XI.,  who  was  now  very  ill,  and  to  mingle  with  his 
gloomy  broodings  a gleam  of  future  prospects.  Mary  of  Burgundy,  Burgun  y. 
daughter  of  Charles  the  Rash,  died  at  Bruges  on  the  27th  of 
March,  1482,  leaving  to  her  husband,  Maximilian  of  Austria,  a 
daughter,  hardly  three  years  of  age,  Princess  Marguerite  by  name, 
heiress  to  the  Burgundian-Flemish  dominions  which  had  not  come 
into  the  possession  of  the  king  of  France.  Louis,  as  soon  as  he 
heard  the  news,  conceived  the  idea  and  the  hope  of  making  up  for 
the  reverse  he  had  experienced  five  years  previously  through  the 
marriage  of  Mary  of  Burgundy.  He  would  arrange  espousals 
between  his  son  the  dauphin,  Charles,  thirteen  years  old,  and  the 
infant  princess  left  by  Mary,  and  thus  recover  for  the  crown  of 
France  the  beautiful  domains  he  had  allowed  to  slip  from  him.  A 
negotiation  was  opened  at  once  on  the  subject  between  Louis, 
Maximilian,  and  the  estates  of  Flanders,  and,  on  the  23rd  of 
December,  1482,  it  resulted  in  a treaty,  concluded  at  Arras, 
which  arranged  for  the  marriage  and  regulated  the  mutual 


History  of  France . 


2l6 

conditions.  In  January,  1483,  the  ambassadors  from  the  estates  of 
Flanders  and  from  Maximilian,  who  then  for  the  first  time  assumed 
the  title  of  archduke,  came  to  France  for  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty. 

AD.  1483.  On  the  2nd  of  June  following,  the  infant  princess,  Marguerite  of 
M^erite  Austria,  was  brought  by  a solemn  embassy  to  Paris  first,  and  then, 
betrothed  on  the  23rd  of  June,  to  Amboise,  where  her  betrothal  to  the 
to  the  Dau-  dauphin,  Charles,  was  celebrated.  Louis  XI.  did  not  feel  fit  for 
removal  to  Amboise ; and  he  would  not  even  receive  at  Plessis-les- 
Tours  the  new  Flemish  embassy.  Assuredly  neither  the  king  nor 
any  of  the  actors  in  this  regal  scene  foresaw  that  this  marriage, 
which  they  with  reason  looked  upon  as  a triumph  of  French  policy, 
would  never  be  consummated  ; that,  at  the  request  of  the  court  of 
France,  the  pope  would  annul  the  betrothal ; and  that,  nine  years 
after  its  celebration,  in  1492,  the  Austrian  princess,  after  having  been 
brought  up  at  Amboise  under  the  guardianship  of  the  duchess  of 
Pourbon,  Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  Louis  XI , would  be  sent  back 
to  her  father,  Emperor  Maximilian,  by  her  affianced,  Charles  VIII., 
then  king  of  France,  who  preferred  to  become  the  husband  of  a 
French  princess  with  a French  province  for  dowry,  Anne,  duchess 
of  Brittany. 

A.D.  1483.  ft  was  in  March,  1481,  that  Louis  XI.  had  his  first  attack  of  that 
Death  of  apoplexy  which,  after  several  repeated  strokes,  reduced  him  to  such 
a state  of  weakness  that  in  June,  1483,  he  felt  himself  and  declared 
himself  not  in  a fit  state  to  be  present  at  his  son’s  betrothal.  Two 
months  afterwards,  on  the  25th  of  August,  St.  Louis’  day,  he  had 
a fresh  stroke,  and  lost  all  consciousness  and  speech. 

On  Saturday,  August  30th,  1483,  between  seven  and  eight  in 
the  evening,  he  expired,  saying,  “ Our  Lady  of  Embrun,  my  good 
mistress,  have  pity  upon  me ; the  mercies  of  the  Lord  will  I sing 
for  ever  ( misericordias  Domini  in  (sternum  cantabo)” 

Louis  XL  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  described  and  appraised, 
in  his  own  day  too,  by  the  most  distinguished  and  independent  of 
his  councillors,  Philip  de  Commynes,  and,  three  centuries  after- 
wards, by  one  of  the  most  thoughtful  and  the  soundest  intellects 
amongst  the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Duclos,  who, 
moreover,  had  the  advantage  of  being  historiographer  of  France 
and  of  having  studied  the  history  of  that  reign  in  authentic  docu- 
ments. We  reproduce  here  the  two  judgments,  the  agreement  of 
which  is  remarkable  : — 

“ God,”  says  Commynes,  “ had  created  our  king  more  wise, 
liberal,  and  full  of  manly  virtue  than  the  princes  who  reigned  with 
him  and  in  his  day,  and  who- were  his  enemies  and  neighbours.  In 


217 


Death  of  the  king. — Regency . 

nil  there  was  good  and  evil,  for  they  were  men  ; but,  without 
flattery,  in  him  were  more  things  appertaining  to  the  office  of  king 
than  in  any  of  the  rest.  I saw  them  nearly  all,  and  knew  what 
they  could  do.” 

“ Louis  XI.,”  says  Duclos,  “ was  far  from  being  without  reproach ; 
few  princes  have  deserved  so  much ; but  it  may  be  said  that  he 
was  equally  celebrated  for  his  vices  and  his  virtues,  and  that,  every- 
thing being  put  in  the  balance,  he  was  a king.” 

We  will  be  more  exacting  than  Commynes  and  Duclos ; we  will 
not  consent  to  apply  to  Louis  XI.  the  words  liberal , virtuous , and 
virtue ; he  had  not  greatness  of  soul,  nor  uprightness  of  character, 
nor  kindness  of  heart ; he  was  neither  a great  king  nor  a good 
king  ; but  we  may  assent  to  Duclos’  last  words — he  was  a king. 

Louis  XI.  had  by  the  queen,  his  wife,  Charlotte  of  Savoy,  six  cliil-  Family  of 
dren ; three  of  them  survived  him  : Charles  VIII.,  his  successor  ; Louis  XI° 
Anne,  his  eldest  daughter,  who  had  espoused  Peter  of  Bourbon,  sire 
de  Beaujeu  ; and  Joan,  whom  he  had  married  to  the  duke  of  Orleans, 
who  became  Louis  XII.  At  their  father’s  death,  Charles  was 
thirteen  * Anne  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  ; and  Joan  nineteen. 

According  to  Charles  V.’s  decree,  which  had  fixed  fourteen  as  the 
age  for  the  king’s  majority,  Charles  VIII.,  on  his  accession,  was 
very  nearly  a major  ; but  Louis  XI.,  with  good  reason,  considered 
him  very  far  from  capable  of  reigning  as  yet.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  had  a very  high  opinion  of  his  daughter  Anne,  and  it  was  to 
her  far  more  than  to  sire  de  Beaujeu,  her  husband,  that  six  days 
before  his  death  and  by  his  last  instructions  he  entrusted  the 
guardianship  of  his  son,  to  whom  he  already  gave  the  title  of  king , 
and  the  government  of  the  realm.  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans,  was  a 
natural  claimant  to  the  regency  ; but  Anne  de  Beaujeu,  imme- 
diately and  without  consulting  anybody,  took  up  the  position 
which  had  been  entrusted  to  her  by  her  father,  and  the  fact  was 
accepted  without  ceasing  to  be  questioned.  Louis  XI.  had  not  been 
mistaken  in  his  choice ; there  was  none  more  fitted  than  his 
daughter  Anne  to  continue  his  policy  under  the  reign  and  in  the 
name  of  his  successor. 

She  began  by  acts  of  intelligent  discretion.  She  tried,  not  to  Regency  cf 
subdue  by  force  the  rivals  and  malcontents,  but  to  put  them  in  the  Madame  de 
wrong  in  the  eyes  of  the  public  and  to  cause  embarrassment  Beaujett* 
to  themselves  by  treating  them  with  fearless  favour.  Her  brother- 
in-law,  the  duke  of  Bourbon,  was  vexed  at  being  only  in  appear- 
ance and  name  the  head  of  his  own  house  ; and  she  made  him 
constable  of  Prance  and  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom.  The 
friends  of  Duke  Louis  of  Orleans,  amongst  others  his  chief  confi.- 


213  History  of  France \ 

dant  George  of  Amboise,  bishop  of  Montauban,  and  Count  Dunois, 
son  of  Charles  VII. ’s  hero,  persistently  supported  the  duke’s  rights 
to  the  regency;  and  Madame  (the  title  Anne  de  Beaujeu  had 
assumed)  made  Duke  Louis  governor  of  Ile-de-France  and  of  Cham- 
Her  energy  pagne  and  sent  Dunois  as  governor  to  Dauphiny.  She  kept  those 
tiaUty^"  -^°^s  XI.’s  advisers  for  whom  the  public  had  not  conceived  a 
perfect  hatred  like  that  felt  for  their  master;  and  Commynes  alone 
was  set  aside,  as  having  received  from  the  late  king  too  many 
personal  favours  and  as  having  too  much  inclination  towards 
independent  criticism  of  the  new  regency.  Two  of  Louis  XI. ’s 
subordinate  and  detested  servants,  Oliver  le  Daim  and  John  Doyac, 
were  prosecuted,  and  one  was  hanged  and  the  other  banished ; 
and  his  doctor,  James  Coettier,  was  condemned  to  disgorge  fifty 
thousand  crowns  out  of  the  enormous  presents  he  had  received 
from  his  patient.  At  the  same  time  that  she  thus  gave  some 
satisfaction  to  the  cravings  of  popular  wrath,  Anne  de  Beaujeu 
threw  open  the  prisons,  recalled  exiles,  forgave  the  people  a 
quarter  of  the  talliage,  cut  down  expenses  by  dismissing  six 
thousand  Swiss  whom  the  late  king  had  taken  into  his  pa}r,  re-esta- 
blished some  sort  of  order  in  the  administation  of  the  domains  of 
the  crown,  and,  in  fine,  whether  in  general  measures  or  in  respect 
of  persons,  displayed  impartiality  without  paying  court  and  firmness 
without  using  severity. 

Anne’s  discretion  was  soon  put  to  a great  trial.  A general  cry 
was  raised  for  the  convocation  of  the  states-general.  The  ambitious 
hoped  thus  to  open  a road  to  power  ; the  public  looked  forward  to  it 
for  a return  to  legalized  government.  Xo  doubt  Anne  would  have 
preferred  to  remain  more  free  and  less  responsible  in  the  exercise  of 
her  authority  ; for  it  was  still  very  far  from  the  time  when  national 
assemblies  could  be  considered  as  a permanent  power  and  a regular 
means  of  government.  But  Anne  and  her  advisers  did  not  waver; 
they  were  too  wise  and  too  weak  to  oppose  a great  public  wish. 
The  states-general  were  convoked  at  Tours  for  the  5th  of  January, 
A.D.  1484.  1484.  The  deputies  had  all  at  heart  one  and  the  same  idea  ; they 
general^are  desired  ^urn  the  °ld  and  undisputed  monarchy  into  a legalized 
convoked  and  free  government.  Clergy,  nobles,  and  third  estate,  there  was 
at  Tours.  nof.  ;n  any  0f  their  minds  any  revolutionary  yearning  or  any  thought 
of  social  war.  It  is  the  peculiar  and  the  beautiful  characteristic  of 
the  states-general  of  1484  that  they  had  an  eye  to  nothing  but 
a great  political  reform,  a regimen  of  legality  and  freedom. 

Two  men,  one  a Xorman  and  the  other  a Burgundian,  the  canon 
John  Masselin  and  Philip  Pot,  lord  of  la  Koche,  a former  counsellor 
of  Philip  the  Good,  duke  of  Burgundy,  were  the  exponents  of  this 


219 


The  States-general, 

political  spirit,  at  once  bold  and  prudent,  conservative  and  reforma- 
tive. The  nation’s  sovereignty  and  the  right  of  the  estates  not  only 
to  vote  imposts  but  to  exercise  a real  influence  over  the  choice  and 
conduct  of  the  officers  of  the  crown,  this  was  wliat  they  affirmed 
in  principle  and  what  in  fact  they  laboured  to  get  established.  They 
voted  the  taxes  for  a period  of  two  years,  declared  that  at  the  end 
of  that  interval  they  would  meet  again  as  a matter  of  course,  and 
separated  only  after  having  passed  resolutions  of  the  boldest 
character. 

Neither  Masselin  nor  his  descendants  for  more  than  three  cen-  re“ 
turies  were  destined  to  see  the  labours  of  the  states-general  of  1484 
obtain  substantial  and  durable  results.  The  work  they  had  con- 
ceived and  attempted  was  premature.  The  establishment  of  a free 
government  demands  either  spontaneous  and  simple  virtues  such 
as  may  be  found  in  a young  and  small  community,  or  the  lights, 
the  scientific  method,  and  the  wisdom,  painfully  acquired  and  still 
so  imperfect,  of  great  and  civilized  nations.  Trance  of  the  fifteenth 
century  was  in  neither  of  these  conditions.  But  it  is  a crown  of 
glory  to  have  felt  that  honest  and  patriotic  ambition  which  animated 
Masselin  and  his  friends  at  their  exodus  from  the  corrupt  and  cor- 
rupting despotism  of  Louis  XI.  Who  would  dare  to  say  that  their 
attempt,  vain  as  it  was  for  them,  was  so  also  for  generations  sepa- 
rated from  them  by  centuries  % Time  and  space  are  as  nothing  in 
the  mysterious  development  of  God’s  designs  towards  men,  and  it 
is  the  privilege  of  mankind  to  get  instruction  and  example  from  far- 
off  memories  of  their  own  history.  It  wais  a duty  to  render  to  the 
states-general  of  1484  the  homage  to  wdiich  they  have  a right  by 
reason  of  their  intentions  and  their  efforts  on  behalf  of  the  good 
cause  and  in  spite  of  their  unsuccess. 

When  the  states-general  had  separated,  Anne  de  Beaujeu,  with-  Ambition 
out  difficulty  or  uproar,  resumed,  as  she  had  assumed  on  her  father’s  Orleans0 
death,  the  government  of  Trance;  and  she  kept  it  yet  for  seven 
years,  from  1484  to  1491.  During  all  this  time  she  had  a rival 
and  foe  in  Louis,  duke  of  Orleans,  who  was  one  day  to  be 
Louis  XII.  This  ambitious  prince  induced  Tran^ois  II.,  duke  of 
Brittany,  Richard  III.,  king  of  England,  Maximilian  of  Austria, 
and  others  to  take  up  arms  against  the  regent.  She  vanquished 
Trancois  at  Nantes,  and  sent  to  the  gallows  Landais,  minister  of 
that  prince,  and  the  original  instigator  of  the  league.  In  order 
to  divert  the  attention  of  Richard  III.,  she  gave  her  support  to 
Henry  Tudor,  who  ultimately  gained  the  battled  Bosworth  (1485) 
and  ascended  to  the  throne  of  England,  under  the  title  of  Henry  VI I. 

To  Maximilian  she  opposed  with  success  the  marshals  d’Esquerdes 


220 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  1488. 
Battle  of 
St.  Aubin- 
du-Cormier 
(July  28). 


Charles 
VIII. 
marries 
Anne  of 
Brittany. 


and  De  Gie.  The  fooH-sh  war,  thus  called  on  account  of  the  pre- 
cipitation with  which  it  had  been  undertaken,  came  to  an  issue 
as  speedily  as  it  was  unexpected.  The  counts  of  Albret  and  of 
Comminges  had  espoused  the  cause  of  the  duke  of  Orleans : they 
were  defeated  on  their  own  domains  in  the  South  of  France.  In 
July,  1488,  Louis  de  la  Tremoille  came  suddenly  down  upon 
Brittany,  took  one  after  the  other  Chateaubriant,  Ancenis,  and 
Fougeres,  and,  on  the  28th,  gained  at  St.  Aubin-du-Cormier,  near 
Rennes,  over  the  army  of  the  duke  of  Brittany  and  his  English, 
German,  and  Gascon  allies,  a victory  which  decided  the  campaign  : 
six  thousand  of  the  Breton  army  were  killed,  and  Duke  Louis  of 
Orleans,  the  prince  of  Orange  and  several  French  lords,  his  friends, 
were  made  prisoners. 

It  was  a great  success  for  Anne  de  Beaujeu.  She  had  beaten 
her  united  foes.  Two  incidents  that  supervened,  one  a little  before 
and  the  other  a little  after  the  battle  of  St.  Aubin-du-Cormier, 
occurred  to  both  embarrass  the  position,  and  at  the  same  time  call 
forth  all  the  energy  of  Anne.  Her  brother-in-law,  Duke  John  of 
Bourbon,  the  head  of  his  house,  died  on  the  1st  of  April,  1488, 
leaving  to  his  younger  brother,  Peter,  his  title  and  domains. 
Having  thus  become  duchess  of  Bourbon,  and  being  well  content 
with  this  elevation  in  rank  and  fortune,  Madame  the  Great  (as 
Anne  de  Beaujeu  was  popularly  called)  was  somewhat  less  eagerly 
occupied  with  the  business  of  the  realm,  was  less  constant  at  the 
king’s  council,  and  went  occasionally  with  her  husband  to  stay 
awhile  in  their  own  territories.  Charles  VIII.,  moreover,  having 
nearly  arrived  at  man’s  estate,  made  more  frequent  manifestations 
of  his  own  personal  will ; and  Anne,  clear-sighted  and  discreet 
though  ambitious,  was  little  by  little  changing*  her  dominion  into 
influence.  But  some  weeks  after  the  battle  of  St.  Aubin-du- 
Cormier,  on  the  7th  or  9th  of  September,  1488,  the  death  of 
Francis  II.,  duke  of  Brittany,  rendered  the  active  intervention  of 
the  duchess  of  Bourbon  natural  and  necessary  : for  he  left  his 
daughter,  the  Princess  Anne,  barely  eighteen  years  old,  exposed  to 
all  the  difficulties  attendant  upon  the  government  of  her  inherit- 
ance and  to  all  the  intrigues  of  the  claimants  to  her  hand.  The 
count  of  Nassau,  having  arrived  in  Brittany  with  the  proxy  of 
Archduke  Maximilian,  had  by  a mock  ceremony  espoused  the 
Breton  princess  in  his  master’s  name.  Madame  de  Beaujeu  imme- 
diately sent  into  Brittany  a powerful  army,  and  compelled  the  young 
heiress  to  bestow  h#self  upon  the  suzerain,  Charles  VIII.  The 
young  princess  ^larguerite  of  Austria,  who  had  for  eight  years 
been  under  guardianship  and  education  at  Arnboise  as  the  future 


Marriage  of  Charles  VIII. — Its  results.  22  i 

wife  of  the  king  of  France,  was  removed  from  France  and  taken 
back  into  Flanders  to  her  father  Archduke  Maximilian  with  all  the 
external  honours  that  could  alleviate  such  an  insult.  On  the  7th 
of  February,  1492,  Anne  was  crowned  at  St.  Denis  ; and  next  day, 
the  8th  of  February,  she  made  her  entry  in  state  into  Paris  amidst 
the  joyful  and  earnest  acclamations  of  the  public.  A sensible  and 
a legitimate  joy  : for  the  reunion  of  Brittany  to  France  was  the  Brittany 
consolidation  of  the  peace  which,  in  this  same  century,  on  the  17th  reunited  to 
of  September,  1453,  had  put  an  end  to  the  Hundred  Years’  War  I'rance' 
between  France  and  England,  and  was  the  greatest  act  that 
remained  to  be  accomplished  to  insure  the  definitive  victory  and 
the  territorial  constitution  of  French  nationality. 

Charles  VIII.  was  pleased  with  and  proud  of  himself.  He  had 
achieved  a brilliant  and  a difficult  marriage.  In  Europe  and  within 
his  own  household  he  had  made  a display  of  power  and  independence. 

In  order  to  espouse  Anne  of  Brittany  he  had  sent  back  Marguerite 
of  Austria  to  her  father.  He  had  gone  in  person  and  withdrawn 
from  prison  his  cousin  Louis  of  Orleans,  whom  his  sister  Anne  de 
Beaujeu  had  put  there  ; and  so  far  from  having  got  embroiled  with 
her  he  saw  all  the  royal  family  reconciled  around  him.  This  was 
no  little  success  for  a young  prince  of  twenty-one.  He  thereupon 
devoted  himself  with  ardour  and  confidence  to  his  desire  of  winning 
back  the  kingdom  of  Naples  which  Alphonso  I.,  king  of  Arragon, 
had  wrested  from  the  House  of  France,  and  of  thereby  re-opening 
for  himself  in  the  East  and  against  Islamry  that  career  of  Christian 
glory  which  had  made  a saint  of  his  ancestor  Louis  IX.  By  two 
treaties  concluded  in  1493  [one  at  Barcelona  on  the  19th  of  January 
and  the  other  at  Senlis  on  the  23rd  of  May],  he  gave  up  Roussillon 
and  Cerdagne  to  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  king  of  Arragon,  and 
Franche-Comte,  Artois  and  Charolais  to  the  House,  of  Austria,  and, 
after  having  at  such  a lamentable  price  purchased  freedom  of  move- 
ment, he  wTent  and  took  up  his  quarters  at  Lyons  to  prepare  for  his 
Neapolitan  venture. 

It  were  out  of  place  to  follow  out  here  in  all  its  details  a war  g 
which  belongs  to  the  history  of  Italy  far  more  than  to  that  of  Italy. 
France ; it  will  suffice  to  point  out  with  precision  the  positions  of 
the  principal  Italian  States  at  this  period,  and  the  different  shares 
of  influence  they  exercised  on  the  fate  of  the  French  expedition. 

Six  principal  States,  Piedmont,  the  kingdom  of  the  dukes  of 
Savoy;  the  duchy  of  Milan;  the  republic  of  Venice;  the  republic 
of  Florence;  Rome  and  the  pope;  and  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
co-existed  in  Italy  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  August, 

1494,  when  Charles  VIII.  started  from  Lyons  on  his  Italian  expe- 


Its  rulers 
temporal 
and  spiri- 
tual. 


Italian 
campaign 
or  Charles 
VIII. 


?.  2 1 History  of  France. 

dition,  Piedmont  was  governed  by  Blanche  of  Montferrat,  widow 
of  Charles  the  Warrior,  duke  of  Savoy,  in  the  name  of  her  son 
Charles  John  Amadeo,  a child  only  six  years  old.  In  the  duchy  of 
Milan  the  power  was  in  the  hands  of  Ludovic  Sforza,  called 
the  Moor , who,  being  ambitious,  faithless,  lawless,  unscrupulous, 
employed  it  in  banishing  to  Pavia  the  lawful  duke,  his  own  nephew, 
John  Galeas  Mario  Sforza,  of  whom  the  Florentine  ambassador 
said  to  Ludovic  himself,  “ This  young  man  seems  to  me  a good 
young  man,  and  animated  by  good  sentiments,  but  very  deficient 
in  wits.”  He  was  destined  to  die  ere  long,  probably  by  poison. 
The  republic  of  Venice  had  at  this  period  for  its  doge  Augustin 
Barbarigo  ; and  it  was  to  the  council  of  Ten  that  in  respect  of 
foreign  affairs  as  well  as  of  the  home  department  the  power  really 
belonged.  Peter  de’  Medici,  son  of  Lorenzo  de’  Medeci,  the  father 
of  the  Muses , was  feebly  and  stupidly,  though  with  all  the  airs  and 
pretensions  of  a despot,  governing  the  republic  of  Florence.  Borne 
had  for  pope  Alexander  VI.  (Boderigo  Borgia),  a prince  who  was 
covetous,  licentious,  and  brazen-faced ly  fickle  and  disloyal  in  his 
policy,  and  who  would  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  utterly 
demoralized  men  of  the  fifteenth  century  only  that  he  had  for  son 
a Caesar  Borgia.  Finally  at  Naples,  in  1494,  three  months  before 
the  day  on  which  Charles  VIII.  entered  Italy,  King  Alphonso  II. 
ascended  the  throne.  “ No  man,”  says  Commynes,  “ was  ever 
more  cruel  than  he,  or  more  wicked,  or  more  vicious  and  tainted,  or 
more  gluttonous.”  Such,  in  Italy,  whether  in  her  kingdoms  or  her 
republics,  were  the  Heads  with  whom  Charles  VIII.  had  to  deal 
when  he  went,  in  the  name  of  a disputed  right,  three  hundred 
leagues  away  from  his  own  kingdom  in  quest  of  a bootless  and 
ephemeral  conquest. 

On  his  way  to  Italy,  Charles  VIII.  had  stopped  at  Lyons,  and 
there  he  spent  so  much  money  in  rejoicings  that  he  was  obliged  to 
contract  a loan  before  he  could  proceed  with  his  undertaking.  He 
conducted  his  army  through  Vienne  (Dauphine),  Gap,  the  passage 
of  mount  Genevre  and  Susa  as  far  as  Asti,  where  he  was  detained  by 
a serious  illness.  His  fleet,  under  the  command  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  gained  at  the  same  time  a victory  over  the  Neapolitans  at 
Bapalto,  near  Genoa.  From  Asti,  where  he  received  the  visit  of 
Ludovic  Sforza,  Charles  VIII.  went  to  Placentia,  and  there  he 
learnt  both  the  deaths  of  the  duke  of  Milan  and  the  anticipated 
usurpation  of  the  young  prince’s  guardian.  He  then  crossed  the 
Apennine  pass  of  Pontemoli  which  had  been  left  defenceless,  and 
entered  Tuscany,  delivering  Pisa  from  the  yoke  of  the  Florentines, 
and  respecting,  in  this  last  named  city,  the  intrepidity  of  Pietro 


Charles  VIII.  in  Italy . 


2*3 


Capponi  and  the  inhabitants,  who  had  risen  to  maintain  their  free- 
dom. “ Sound  your  trumpets,”  said  they  to  the  French,  “ we  will 
ring  our  hells.” 

On  the  1st  of  January,  1495,  Charles  VIII.  entered  Rome  with 
his  army  ; the  pope  having  retired  at  first  to  the  Vatican  and  vm# 
afterwards  to  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  Charles  remaining  enters 
master  of  the  city,  which,  in  a fit  of  mutual  ill-humour  and  mis-  ^iTl) 
trust,  was  for  one  day  given  over  to  pillage  and  the  violence  of  the 
soldiery.  At  last,  on  the  15th  of  January,  a treaty  was  concluded 
which  regulated  pacific  relations  between  the  two  sovereigns,  and 
secured  to  the  French  army  a free  passage  through  the  States  of 
the  Church,  both  going  to  Naples  and  also  returning,  and 
provisional  possession  of  the  town  of  Civita  Vecchia,  on  condition 
that  it  should  be  restored  to  the  pope  when  the  king  returned  to 
France.  It  was  announced  that,  on  the  23rd  of  January,  the 
Arragonese  king  of  Naples,  Alphonso  II.,  had  abdicated  in  favour 
of  his  son,  Ferdinand  II.;  and,  on  the  28th  of  January,  Charles  VIII. 
took  solemn  leave  of  the  pope,  received  his  blessing,  and  left 
Rome,  as  he  had  entered  it,  at  the  head  of  his  army,  and  more 
confident  than  ever  in  the  success  of  the  expedition  he  was  going 
to  carry  out. 

After  such  a beginning,  the  Italian  campaign  promised  to  he 
merely  a brilliant  military  promenade,  where  the  only  trouble  would 
be  that  necessitated  by  appointing  every  day  the  quarters  for  the 
troops.  There  was  indeed  the  semblance  of  a fight  at  San-Germano, 
but  the  king  of  Naples,  betrayed  both  by  his  army  and  by  his 
subjects,  was  obliged  to  seek  safety  in  the  island  of  Ischia,  from 
whence  he  reached  Sicily.  Charles  VIII.  entered  Naples  on  the  and 
22nd  of  February  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  on  horseback  beneath  Naples 
a pall  of  cloth  of  gold  borne  by  four  great  Neapolitan  lords,  and  v '* 
“ received,”  says  Guicciardini,  “ with  cheers  and  a joy  of  which  it 
would  be  vain  to  attempt  a description  ; the  incredible  exultation 
of  a crowd  of  both  sexes,  of  every  age,  of  every  condition,  of  every 
quality,  of  every  party,  as  if  he  had  been  the  father  and  first  founder 
of  the  city.” 

At  the  news  hereof  the  disquietude  and  vexation  of  the  principal  A.D.  1495. 
Italian  powers  were  displayed  at  Venice  as  well  as  at  Milan  and  at 
Rome  ; on  the  31st  of  March,  1495,  a league  was  concluded  between  the  Pope, 
Pope  Alexander  VI.  Emperor  Maximilian  I.,  as  king  of  the  Romans,  the  Em- 
the  king  of  Spain,  the  Venetians,  and  the  duke  of  Milan  : “ To  three  Spaniards 
ends,”  says  Commynes,“  for  to  defend  Christendom  against  the  Turks,  the  Vene- 
for  the  defence  of  Italy,  and  for  the  preservation  of  their  estates.  Milanese*1) 
There  was  nothing  in  it  against  the  king,  they  told  me,  but  it  was  to  (March  31 


224 


History  of  France. 


Retreat  of 
the  French 
(May  20). 


A.D.  1495. 
Battle  of 
Fornovo 
(July  5). 


secure  themselves  from  him  ; they  did  not  like  his  so  deluding  the 
world  with  words  by  saying  that  all  he  wanted  was  the  kingdom 
and  then  to  march  against  the  Turk,  and  all  the  while  he  was 
showing  quite  the  contrary.”  Charles  VIII.  remained  nearly  two 
months  at  Naples  after  the  Italian  league  had  been  concluded,  and 
whilst  it  was  making  its  preparations  against  him  was  solely  con- 
cerned about  enjoying,  in  his  beautiful  but  precarious  kingdom, 
“ all  sorts  of  mundane  pleasaunces,”  as  his  councillor,  the  cardinal 
of  St.  Malo,  says,  and  giving  entertainments  to  his  new  subjects, 
as  much  disposed  as  himself  to  forget  every  thing  in  amusement. 
On  the  12th  of  May,  1495,  all  the  population  of  Naples  and  of  the 
neighbouring  country  was  a-foot  early  to  see  their  new  king  make 
his  entry  in  state  as  king  of  Naples,  Sicily  and  Jerusalem,  with  his 
Neapolitan  court  and  his  French  troops  ; and  only  a week  afterwards, 
on  the  20th  of  May,  1495,  Charles  VIII.  started  from  Naples  to 
return  to  France  with  an  army  at  the  most  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
thousand  strong,  leaving  for  guardian  of  his  new  kingdom  his  cousin 
Gilbert  of  Bourbon,  count  de  Montpensier,  a brave  but  indolent 
knight,  (who  never  rose,  it  was  said,  until  noon,)  with  eight  or  ten 
thousand  men,  scattered  for  the  most  part  throughout  the  provinces. 

During  the  months  of  April  and  May,  thus  wasted  by  Charles 
VIII.,  the  Italian  league,  and  especially  the  Venetians  and  the 
duke  of  Milan,  Ludovic  the  Moor,  had  vigorously  pushed  for- 
ward their  preparations  for  war,  and  had  already  collected  an 
army  more  numerous  than  that  with  which  the  king  of  France,  in 
order  to  return  home,  would  have  to  traverse  the  whole  of  Italy. 
He  took  more  than  six  weeks  to  traverse  it,  passing  three  days  at 
Borne,  four  at  Siena,  the  same  number  at  Pisa,  and  three  at  Lucca, 
though  he  had  declared  that  he  would  not  halt  anywhere.  He 
evaded  entering  Florence,  where  he  had  made  promises  which  he 
could  neither  retract  nor  fulfil.  It  was  in  the  duchy  of  Parma, 
near  the  town  of  Fornovo,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Taro,  an  affluent 
of  the  Po,  that  the  French  and  Italian  armies  met,  on  the  5th  of 
July,  1495.  The  French  army  was  nine  or  ten  thousand  strong, 
with  five  or  six  thousand  camp-followers,  servants  or  drivers  ; the 
Italian  army  numbered  at  least  thirty  thousand  men,  well  supplied 
and  well  rested,  whereas  the  French  were  fatigued  with  their  long 
march  and  very  badly  off  for  supplies.  The  battle  was  very  hotly 
contested,  but  did  not  last  long,  with  alternations  of  success  and 
reverse  on  both  sides.  The  two  principal  commanders  in  the  king’s 
army,  Louis  de  la  Tremoille  and  John  James  Trivulzio,  sustained 
without  recoiling  the  shock  of  troops  far  more  numerous  than 
their  own. 


225 


Battle  of  Fornovo . 

Both  armies  might  ahd  did  claim  the  victory,  for  they  had,  each 
of  them,  partiy  succeeded  in  their  design.  The  Italians  wished  to 
unmistakably  drive  out  of  Italy  Charles  VIII.,  who  was  withdrawing 
voluntarily ; but  to  make  it  an  unmistakable  retreat,  he  ought  to 
have  been  defeated,  his  army  beaten,  and  himself  perhaps  a Its  results, 
prisoner.  "With  that  view  they  attempted  to  bar  his  passage  and 
beat  him  on  Italian  ground : in  that  they  failed  ; Charles,  remain- 
ing master  of  the  battle-field,  went  on  his  way  in  freedom  and 
covered  with  glory,  he  and  his  army.  He  certainly  left  Italy,  but 
he  left  it  with  the  feeling  of  superiority  in  arms,  and  with  the 
intention  of  returning  thither  better  informed  and  better  supplied. 

The  Italian  allies  were  triumphant,  but  without  any  ground  of  security 
or  any  lustre  ; the  expedition  of  Charles  VIII.  was  plainly  only  the 
beginning  of  the  foreigner’s  ambitious  projects,  invasions  and  wars 
against  their  own  beautiful  land.  The  king  of  France  and  his  men 
of  war  had  not  succeeded  in  conquering  it,  but  they  had  been 
charmed  with  such  an  abode ; they  had  displayed  in  their  cam- 
paign knightly  qualities  more  brilliant  and  more  masterful  than  the 
studied  duplicity  and  elegant  effeminacy  of  the  Italians  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  and,  after  the  battle  of  Fornovo,  they  returned  to 
France  justly  proud  and  foolishly  confident  notwithstanding  the 
incompleteness  of  their  success. 

Charles  VIII.  reigned  for  nearly  three  years  longer  after  his  batter 
return  to  his  kingdom ; and  for  the  first  two  of  them  he  passed  his  Charles^ 
time  in  indolently  dreaming  of  his  plans  for  a fresh  invasion  of  VIII. 

Italy,  and  in  frivolous  abandonment  to  his  pleasures  and  the  enter- 
tainments at  his  court,  which  he  moved  about  from  Lyons  to 
Moulins,  to  Paris,  to  Tours  and  to  Amboise.  The  news  which 
came  to  him  from  Italy  was  worse  and  worse  every  day.  The 
count  de  Montpensier,  whom  he  had  left  at  Naples,  could  not  hold 
his  own  there,  and  died  a prisoner  on  the  11th  of  November, 

1496,  after  having  found  himself  driven  from  place  to  place  by 
Ferdinand  II.,  who  by  degrees  recovered  possession  of  nearly  all 
his  kingdom,  merely,  himself  also,  to  die  there  on  the  6th  of 
October,  leaving  for  his  uncle  and  successor,  Frederick  III.,  the 
honour  of  recovering  the  last  four  places  held  by  the  French. 

Whilst  still  constantly  talking  of  the  war  he  had  in  view,  Charles 
attended  more  often  and  more  earnestly  than  he  hitherto  had  done,  to 
the  internal  affairs  of  his  kingdom.  His  two  immediate  predecessors, 

Charles  VII.  and  Louis  XI.  had  decreed  the  collation  and  revision 
of  local  customs,  so  often  the  rule  of  civil  jurisdiction;  but  the  work 
made  no  progress  ; Charles  VIII.  by  a decree  dated  March  15, 

1497,  abridged  the  formalities,  and  urged  on  the  execution  of  it, 

Q 


226 


History  of  France. 


though  it  was  not  completed  until  the  reign  of  Charles  IX.  By 
another  decree,  dated  August  2,  1497,  he  organized  and  regulated, 
as  to  its  powers  as  well  as  its  composition,  the  king’s  grand  council, 
the  supreme  administrative  body  which  was  a fixture  at  Paris.  At 
A.  D.  1498.  the  beginning  of  the  yjear  1498,  Charles  VIII.  was  at  Amboise, 
Charles  where  considerable  works  had  been  begun  under  his  direction  by 
VIII.  several  excellent  artists  whom  he  had  brought  from  Naples.  When 
passing  one  day  through  a dark  gallery,  he  knocked  his  forehead 
against  a door  with  such  violence  that  he  died  a few  hours  after- 
wards (April  7,  1498).  He  was  only  twenty-eight  years  old; 
Commines  has  said  of  him  : “ He  had  little  understanding,  but  he 
was  so  good  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  find  a kinder 
creature.”  With  him  the  direct  family  of  Yalois  became  extinct, 
and  was  replaced  by  that  of  the  Yalois-Orleans.  Under  the  reign 
of  Charles  YIII.  the  cultivation  of  the  mulberry  tree  was  first 
introduced  into  France  ; the  earliest  plantations  were  attempted  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Montelimar  with  complete  success. 

Louis  XII.  On  ascending  the  throne  Louis  XII.  reduced  the  public  taxes 
Tj°ol\cvSofhe  an(^  conhrmed  in  their  posts  his  predecessor’s  chief  advisers,  using 
his  prede-  to  Louis  de  la  Tremoille,  who  had  been  one  of  his  most  energetic 
essor.  foes,  that  celebrated  expression,  “The  king  of  France  avenges  not 
the  wrongs  of  the  duke  of  Orleans.”  At  the  same  time  on  the  day 
of  his  coronation  at  Pheims  [May  27,  1492],  he  assumed,  besides 
his  title  of  king  of  France,  the  titles  of  king  of  Naples  and  of 
Jerusalem  and  duke  of  Milan.  This  was  as  much  as  to  say  that  he 
would  pursue  a pacific  and  conservative  policy  at  home,  and  a 
warlike  and  adventurous  policy  abroad.  And,  indeed,  his  govern- 
ment did  present  these  two  phases  so  different  and  inharmonious. 
By  his  policy  at  home,  Louis  XII.  deserved  and  obtained  the  name 
of  Father  of  the  People;  by  his  enterprises  and  wars  abroad,  he 
involved  France  still  more  deeply  than  Charles  YIII.  had  in  that 
mad  course  of  distant,  reckless,  and  incoherent  conquests  for  which 
his  successor,  Francis  L,  was  destined  to  pay  by  capture  at  Pavia 
and  by  the  lamentable  treaty  of  Madrid,  in  1526,  as  the  price  of 
his  release.  Let  us  follow  these  two  portions  of  Louis  XII. ’s  reign, 
each  separately,  without  mixing  up  one  -with  the  other  by  reason 
of  identity  of  dates.  We  shall  thus  get  at  a better  understanding 
and  better  appreciation  of  their  character  and  their  results. 

Claims  Outside  of  France  Milaness  [the  Milanese  district]  was  Louis 

as^MsSS  XII. ’s  first  thought,  at  his  accession,  and  the  first  object  of  his 
patrimony,  desire.  He  looked  upon  it  as  his  patrimony.  His  grandmother, 
Valentine  Yisconti,  widow  of  that  duke  of  Orleans  who  had  been 
assassinated  at  Paris  in  1407  by  order  of  John  the  Fearless,  duke 


LOUIS  XII. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


First  Invasion  of  Italy. 


227 


of  Burgundy,  had  been  the  last  to  inherit  the  duchy  of  Milan  which 
the  Sforzas,  in  1450,  had  seized.  When  Charles  VIII.  invaded 
Italy  in  1 494,  “ Now  is  the  time,”  said  Louis,  “ to  enforce  the 
rights  of  Valentine  Visconti,  my  grandmother,  to  Milaness.”  And 
he,  in  fact,  asserted  them  openly,  and  proclaimed  his  intention  of 
vindicating  them  so  soon  as  he  found  the  moment  propitious. 
Accordingly,  in  the  month  of  August,  1499,  the  French  army,  with 
a strength  of  from  twenty  to  five  and  twenty  thousand  men,  of 
whom  five  thousand  were  Swiss,  invaded  Milaness.  Duke  Ludo-  ^.d  1499. 
vie  Sforza  opposed  to  it  a force  pretty  nearly  equal  in  number,  but  The  French 
far  less  full  of  confidence  and  of  far  less  valour.  In  less  than  three  Itaiy 
weeks  the  duchy  was  conquered  ; in  only  two  cases  was  any  assault 
necessary ; all  the  other  places  were  given  up  by  traitors  or  surren- 
dered without  show  of  resistance.  On  the  6th  of  October,  1499,  Their  first 
Louis  made  his  triumphal  entry  into  Milan  amidst  cries  of  “Hurrah. ! successes* 
for  France.”  He  reduced  the  heavy  imposts  established  by  the 
Sforzas,  revoked  the  vexatious  game-laws,  instituted  at  Milan  a 
court  of  justice  analogous  to  the  French  parliaments,  loaded  with 
favours  the  scholars  and  artists  who  were  the  honour  of  Lombardy, 
and  recrossed  the  Alps  at  the  end  of  some  weeks,  leaving  as 
governor  of  Milaness  John  James  Trivulzio,  the  valiant  Condottiere , 
who,  four  years  before,  had  quitted  the  service  of  Ferdinand  II., 
king  of  Naples,  for  that  of  Charles  VIII.  Unfortunately  Trivulzio 
was  himself  a Milanese,  and  of  the  faction  of  the  Guelphs.  He 
had  the  passions  of  a partisan,  and  the  habits  of  a man  of  war,  and 
he  soon  became  as  tyrannical,  and  as  much  detested  in  Milaness  as 
Ludovic  the  Moor  had  but  lately  been.  A plot  was  formed  in 
favour  of  the  fallen  tyrant,  who  was  in  Germany  expecting  it,  and 
was  recruiting,  during  expectancy,  amongst  the  Germans  and  Swiss 
in  order  to  take  advantage  of  it.  On  the  25th  of  January  1500,  A.D.  1500. 
the  insurrection  broke  out ; and  two  months  later  Ludovic  Sforza  J?8™ l^c’ 
had  once  more  become  master  of  Milaness,  where  the  French  Milan 
possessed  nothing  but  the  castle  of  Milan.  (Jan- 

Louis  XII.,  so  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  Milanese  insurrection, 
sent  into  Italy  Louis  de  la  Tremoille,  the  best  of  his  captains,  and 
the  cardinal  d’Amboise,  his  privy  councillor  and  his  friend ; the 
former  to  command  the  royal  troops,  French  and  Swiss,  and  the 
latter  “ for  to  treat  about  the  reconciliation  of  the  rebel  towns,  and 
to  deal  with  everything  as  if  it  were  the  king  in  his  own  person.” 

The  campaign  did  not  last  long.  The  Swiss  who  had  been  recruited 
by  Ludovic  and  those  who  were  in  Louis  XII. ’s  service  had  no 
mind  to  fight  one  another  ; and  the  former  capitulated,  surrendered 
the  strong  place  of  Novara,  and  promised  to  evacuate  the  country 

Q 2 


223 


History  of  France. 


on  condition  of  a safe-conduct  for  themselves  and  their  booty. 
Betrayed  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  Ludovic  was  sent  to  France 
where  he  expired  fourteen  years  after,  a prisoner  in  the  castle  of 
Loches.  The  duchy  of  Milan  then  submitted  to  Louis  XII.,  and 
this  prince  made  immediate  preparations  for  attacking  Naples. 
"With  this  view  he  signed  with  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  the  secret 
treaty  of  Granada  (Nov.  11,  1500). 

On  hearing  of  the  approach  of  the  French,  the  new  king  Frederic 
requested  the  Spaniards  to  defend  him,  and  gave  over  to  them  his 
fortresses  : this  was  surrendering  to  the  enemy.  Dethroned  with- 
out having  fought,  and  made  a prisoner  in  the  island  of  Ischia,  he 
was  conducted  first  to  Blois,  and  then  to  Tours,  whilst  his  son  was 
confined  in  Spain.  He  was  at  least  avenged  by  the  disunion  which 
took  place  between  his  enemies.  Gonzalvo  of  Cordova,  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  chieftains  of  the  day,  attempted  to  defend  Barletta, 
but  would  have  been  compelled  to  surrender,  had  not  the  treaty  of 
Lyons,  by  apparently  bringing  about  a cessation  of  hostilities, 
permitted  the  treacherous  Ferdinand  to  succour  his  general.  The 
The  French  French  suffered,  in  consequence,  two  defeats  (Seminara,  Cerignola), 
Semfnara^  and  lost  nearly  all  their  possessions  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  (1503). 

and  Louis  XII.  hasted  to  levy  and  send  to  Italy,  under  the  command 

Cerignola.  0f  L0m.s  de  la  Tremoille,  a fresh  army  for  the  purpose  of  relieving 
Gaeta  and  recovering  Naples' ; but  at  Parma  La  Tremoille  fell  ill, 
and  the  command  devolved  upon  the  Marquis  of  Mantua,  who 
A.D.  1503.  marched  on  Gaeta.  He  found  Gonzalvo  of  Cordova  posted  with 
fhe  lGarig-  army  011  ^ie  bank  of  the  Garigliano,  either  to  invest  the 
liano  place  or  to  repulse  reinforcements  that  might  arrive  for  it.  The 
(Dec.  27).  {.wo  armjes  passed  fifty  days  face  to  face  almost,  with  the  river  and 
its  marshes  between  them,  and  vainly  attempting  over  and  over 
again  to  join  battle.  At  length  the  French  were  defeated,  and 
Gaeta  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1504. 

At  the  news  of  these  reverses  the  grief  and  irritation  of  Louis 
XII.  were  extreme.  Not  only  was  he  losing  his  Neapolitan  con- 
quest, but  even  his  Milanese  was  also  threatened.  The  ill-will  of 
the  Venetians  became  manifest.  The  determined  prosecution  of 
hostilities  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  by  Gonzalvo  of  Cordova,  in 
spite  of  the  treaty  concluded  at  Lyons  on  the  5th  of  April,  1503, 
between  the  kings  of  France  and  Spain,  was  so  much  the  more  offen- 
sive to  Louis  XII.  in  that  this  treaty  was  the  consequence  and  the 
confirmation  of  an  enormous  concession  which  he  had,  two  years 
previously,  made  to  the  king  of  Spain  on  consenting  to  affiance  his 
daughter,  Princess  Claude  of  France,  two  years  old,  to  Ferdinand’s 


229 


France  nearly  dismembered  by  its  king. 

grandson,  Charles  of  Austria,  who  was  then  only  one  year  old,  and 
who  became  Charles  the  Fifth  (emperor)  ! Lastly,  about  the  same 
time,  Pope  Alexander  VI.,  who,  willy  nilly,  had  rendered  Louis 
XII.  so  many  services,  died  at  Rome  on  the  12th  of  August,  1503. 

Louis  had  hoped  that  his  favourite  minister,  Cardinal  George 
d’Amboise,  would  succeed  him,  and  that  hope  had  a great  deal  to 
do  with  the  shocking  favour  he  showed  Caesar  Borgia,  that  infa- 
mous son  of  a demoralized  father.  But  the  candidature  of  Cardinal 
d’Amboise  failed  ; a four  weeks’  pope,  Pius  III.,  succeeded  Alex- 
ander VI. ; and,  when  the  Holy  See  suddenly  became  once  more 
vacant,  Cardinal  d’Amboise  failed  again  ; and  the  new  choice  was 
Cardinal  Julian  della  Rovera,  Pope  Julius  II.,  who  soon  became 
the  most  determined  and  most  dangerous  foe  of  Louis  XII.,  already 
assailed  by  so  many  enemies. 

In  order  to  put  off  the  struggle  which  had  succeeded  so  ill  for 
him  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  Louis  concluded  on  the  31st  of  Spain. 
March,  1504,  a truce  for  three  years  with  the  king  of  Spain  ; and 
on  the  22nd  of  September,  in  the  same  year,  in  order  to  satisfy  his 
grudge  on  account  of  the  Venetians’  demeanour  towards  him,  he 
made  an  alliance  against  them  with  Emperor  Maximilian  I.  and 
Pope  Julius  II.,  with  the  design,  all  three  of  them,  of  wresting 
certain  provinces  from  them.  With  those  political  miscalculations 
was  connected  a more  personal  and  more  disinterested  feeling. 

Louis  repented  of  having  in  1501,  under  the  influence  of  his  wife, 

Anne  of  Brittany,  affianced  his  daughter  Claude  to  Prince  Charles 
of  Austria,  and  of  the  enormous  concessions  he  had  made  by  two 
treaties,  one  of  April  5,  1503,  and  the  other  of  September  22, 1504, 
for  the  sake  of  this  marriage.  He  had  assigned  as  dowry  to  his 
daughter,  first  the  duchy  of  Milan,  then  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
then  Brittany,  and  then  the  duchy  of  Burgundy  and  the  countship 
of  Blois.  The  latter  of  these  treaties  contained  even  the  following 

O 

strange  clause  : “ If,  by  default  of  the  Most  Christian  king  or  of 
the  queen  his  wife,  or  of  the  Princess  Claude,  the  aforesaid  marriage  Dismem 
should  not  take  place,  the  Most  Christian  king  doth  will  and  of  France 
consent,  from  now,  that  the  said  duchies  of  Burgundy  and  Milan 
and  the  countship  of  Asti,  do  remain  settled  upon  the  said  Prince 
Charles,  duke  of  Li  xe  nbourg,  with  all  the  rights  therein  possessed 
or  possibly  to  be  possessed  by  the  Most  Christian  king.”  [Corps 
Diplomatique  du  Droit  des  Gens , by  J.  Dumont,  t.  iv.  part  i.  p.  57.] 

It  was  dismembering  France  and  at  the  same  time  settling  on  all 
her  frontiers,  to  east,  west,  and  south-west,  as  well  as  to  north  and 
south,  a power  which  the  approaching  union  of  two  crowns,  the 
imperial  and  the  Spanish,  on  the  head  of  Prince  Charles  of  Austria 
rendered  so  preponderating  and  so  formidable. 


230 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  1506. 
Annulled 
by  the 
States- 
general. 


A.D  1506 
—1511. 

Summary 
of  the 
Italian 
war. 


The  states-general  were  convoked  and  met  at  Tours  (1506)  for 
the  purpose  of  deliberating  upon  so  important  a step  : the  nation 
protested,  through  the  voice  of  George  d’Amboise,  against  the  poli- 
tical arrangements  made  by  Anne  of  Brittany,  and  the  king  seized 
the  earliest  opportunity  of  annulling  by  force  what  he  would  never 
have  consented  to,  had  the  suggestion  been  offered  to  him  whilst 
he  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  usual  health. 

Whatever  displeasure  must  have  been  caused  to  the  emperor  of 
Germany  and  to  the  king  of  Spain  by  this  resolution  on  the  part  of 
Trance  and  her  king,  it  did  not  show  itself  either  in  acts  of  hos- 
tility,. or  even  in  complaints  of  a more  or  less  threatening  kind.  Italy 
remained  for  some  years  longer  the  sole  theatre  of  rivalry  and  strife 
between  these  three  great  powers  ; and,  during  this  strife,  the  utter 
diversity  of  the  combinations,  whether  in  the  way  of  alliance  or  of 
rupture,  bore  witness  to  the  extreme  changeability  of  the  interests, 
passions,  and  designs  of  the  actors.  From  1506  to  1515,  between 
Louis  XII. ’s  will  and  his  death,  we  find  in  the  history  of  his 
career  in  Italy  five  coalitions  and  as  many  great  battles  of  a pro- 
foundly contradictory  character.  In  1508,  Pope  Julius  II.,  Louis 
XII.,  Emperor  Maximilian,  and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  king  of 
Spain,  form  together  against  the  Venetians  the  League  of  Cambrai. 
In  1510,  Julius  II.,  Ferdinand,  the  Venetians,  and  the  Swiss  make 
a coalition  against  Louis  XII.  In  1512,  this  coalition,  decomposed 
for  a while,  re-unites,  under  the  name  of  the  League  of  the  Holy 
Union , between  the  pope,  the  Venetians,  the  Swiss,  and  the  kings 
of  Arragon  and  Haples  against  Louis  XII.,  minus  the  Emperor 
Maximilian  and  plus  Henry  VIII.,  king  of  England.  On  the  14th 
of  May,  1509,  Louis  XII.,  in  the  name  of  the  League  of  Cambrai , 
gains  the  battle  of  Agnadello  against  the  Venetians.  On  the  11th 
of  April,  1512,  it  is  against  Pope  Julius  II.,  Ferdinand  the  Catholic, 
and  the  Venetians  that  he  gains  the  battle  of  Eavenna.  On  the 
14th  of  March,  1513,  he  is  in  alliance  with  the  Venetians,  and  it 
is  against  the  Swiss  that  he  loses  the  battle  of  Ho  vara.  In  1510, 
1511,  and  1512,  in  the  course  of  all  these  incessant  changes  of 
political  allies  and  adversaries,  three  councils  met  at  Tours,  at  Pisa, 
and  at  St.  John  Lateran,  with  views  still  more  discordant  and 
irreconcilable  than  those  of  all  these  laic  coalitions.  We  merely 
point  out  here  the  principal  traits  of  the  nascent  sixteenth  century; 
we  have  no  intention  of  tracing  with  a certain  amount  of  detail  any 
incidents  but  those  that  refer  to  Louis  XII.  and  to  France,  to  their 
procedure  and  their  fortunes. 

Jealousy,  ambition,  secret  resentment,  and  the  prospect  of 
despoiling  them  caused  the  formation  of  the  League  of  Cambrai 
against  the  Venetians.  Independently  of  their  natural  haughtiness 


231 


Battle  of  Agnadello . 

the  Venetians  were  puffed  up  with  the  advantages  they  had  ob- 
tained in  a separate  campaign  against  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  and 
flattered  themselves  that  they  would  manage  to  conquer  one  after 
the  other,  or  to  split  up,  or  to  tire  out  their  enemies ; and  they  pre- 
pared energetically  for  war.  Louis  XII.,  on  his  side,  got  together  The  Vene- 
an  army  with  a strength  of  2300  lances  (about  13,000  mounted  attadted. 
troops),  10,000  to  12,000  French  foot  and  6000  or  8000  Swiss. 

One  of  his  most  distinguished  officers  was  the  celebrated  Bayard, 
whose  courage  and  high  sense  of  honour  merited  for  him  the  title  of 
Chevalier  sans  peur  et  sans  reproclie. 

On  the  14th  of  May,  1509,  the  French  and  the  Venetians  A.D.  1509. 
encountered  near  the  village  of  Agnadello,  in  the  province  of  Lodi,  Agnadello 
on  the  banks  of  the  Adda.  Louis  XII.  commanded  his  army  in  person,  (May  14). 
wdth  Louis  de  la  Tremoille  and  James  Trivulzio  for  his  principal 
lieutenants  : the  Venetians  were  under  the  orders  of  two  generals, 
the  count  of  Petigliano  and  Barthelemy  d’Alviano,  both  members 
of  the  Homan  family  of  the  Orsini,  but  not  on  good  terms  with  one 
another.  The  great  blow  fell  upon  the  Venetians’  infantry,  which 
lost,  according  to  some,  eight  thousand  men ; others  say  that  the 
number  of  dead  on  both  sides  did  not  amount  to  more  than  six 
thousand.  The  territorial  results  of  the  victory  were  greater  than 
the  numerical  losses  of  the  armies.  Within  a fortnight  the  towns 
of  Caravaggio,  Bergamo,  Brescia,  Crema,  Cremona  and  Pizzighi- 
tone  surrendered  to  the  French.  Peschiera  alone,  a strong  fortress 
* at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Lake  of  Garda,  resisted  and  was 
carried  by  assault. 

Louis,  so  gentle  at  home,  behaved  barbarously  in  Italy ; he  put 
to  the  sword  every  garrison  which  dared  to  hold  out  against  his 
forces,  and  sent  to  the  gallows  every  peasant  who  cried  “ San 
Marco  ! ” In  this  extremity,  the  republic  saved  itself  by  an  act  of 
wisdom' which  was  at  the  same  time  a masterpiece  of  calculation. 

They  withdrew  their  troops  from  all  the  cities  on  the  mainland, 
and  released  their  subjects  from  their  oath  of  allegiance.  These,  no 
longer  constrained  to  fidelity,  made  it  a point  of  honour  to  remain 
spontaneously  faithful.  Concentrated  between  its  own  walls  and  • 
safe  by  its  inexpregnable  position  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  Venice 
waited  patiently  for  discord  to  break  out  amongst  the  confederates. 

This  soon  came  to  pass.  Louis  XII.  committed  the  mistake  of  Political 
embroiling  himself  with  the  Swiss  by  refusing  to  add  20,000  of^^g3 
livres  to  the  pay  of  60,000  he  was  giving  them  already,  and  by  XII. 
styling  them  “ wretched  mountain-shepherds  who  presumed  to 
impose  upon  him  a tax  he  was  not  disposed  to  submit  to.”  The 
pope  conferred  the  investiture  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples  upon 


AD.  1510. 
Death  of 
Cardinal 
d’Amboise 
(May  25). 


His  cha- 
racter. 


232  History  of  France. 

Ferdinand  tlie  Catholic,  who  at  first  promised  only  his  neutrality, 
but  could  not  fail  to  be  drawn  in  still  further  when  war  was 
rekindled  in- Italy.  In  all  these  negotiations  with  the  Venetians, 
the  Swiss,  the  kings  of  Spain  and  England  and  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian, J ulius  II.  took  a bold  initiative.  Maximilian  alone  remained 
for  some  time. at  peace  with  the  king  of  France.  In  October,  1511, 
a league  was  formally  concluded  between  the  pope,  the  Venetians, 
the  Swiss  and  King  Ferdinand  against  Louis  XII.  A place  was 
reserved  in  it  for  the  king  of  England,  Henry  VIII.,  who,  on 
ascending  the  throne,  had  sent  word  to  the  king  of  France  that  “he 
desired  to  abide  in  the  same  friendship  that  the  king  his  father 
had  kept  up,”  but  who,  at  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  burned  to 
resume  on  the  Continent  an  active  and  a prominent  part.  The 
coalition  thus  formed  was  called  the  League  of  Holy  Union.  “ I,” 
said  Louis  XII.,  “am  the  Saracen  against  whom  this  league  is 
directed.” 

He  had  just  lost,  a few  months  previously,  the  intimate  and 
faithful  adviser  and  friend  of  his  whole  life  ; Cardinal  George 
d’Amboise,  seized  at  Milan  with  a fit  of  the  gout,  during  which 
Louis  tended  him  with  the  assiduity  and  care  of  an  affectionate 
brother,  died  at  Lyons  on  the  25th  of  May,  1510,  at  fifty  years  of 
age.  He  was  one,  not  of  the  greatest,  but  of  the  most  honest 
ministers  who  ever  enjoyed  a powerful  monarch’s  constant  favour, 
and  employed  it,  we  will  not  say  with  complete  disinterestedness, 
but  with  a predominant  anxiety  for  the  public  weal.  In  the  . 
matter  of  external  policy  the  influence  of  Cardinal  d’Amboise  was 
neither  skilfully  nor  salutarily  exercised  : he,  like  his  master, 
indulged  in  those  views  of  distant,  incoherent  and  improvident 
conquests  which  caused  the  reign  of  Louis  XII.  to  be  wasted  in 
ceaseless  wars,  with  which  the  Cardinal’s  desire  of  becoming  pope 
was  not  altogether  unconnected,  and  which,  after  having  resulted 
in  nothing  but  reverses,  were  a heavy  heritage  for  the  succeeding 
reign.  But  at  home,  in  his  relations  with  the  king  and  in  his  civil 
and  religious  administration,  Cardinal  d’Amboise  was  an  earnest 
and  effective  friend  of  justice,  of  sound  social  order,  and  of  regard 
for  morality  in  the  practice  of  power.  It  is  said  that,  in  his  latter 
days,  he,  virtuously  weary  of  the  dignities  of  this  world,  said  to 
the  infirmary -brother  who  was  attending  him,  “ Ah ! Brother 
John,  why  did  I not  always  remain  Brother  John!”  A pious 
regret,  the  sincerity  and  modesty  whereof  are  rare  amongst  men  of 
high  estate. 

“At  last,  then,  I am  the  only  pope  ! ” cried  Julius  II.,  when  he 
heard  that  Cardinal  d’Amboise  was  dead.  But  his  joy  was  mis- 


“ The  barbarians  must  be  driven  from  Italy”  233 


placed  : the  cardinal’s  death  was  a great  loss  to  him  ; between  the 
king  and  the  pope  the  cardinal  had  been  an  intelligent  mediator 
who  understood  the  two  positions  and  the  two  characters,  and  who, 
though  most  faithful  and  devoted  to  the  king,  had  nevertheless  a 
place  in  his  heart  for  the  papacy  also,  and  laboured  earnestly  on 
every  occasion  to  bring  about  between  the  two  rivals  a policy  of 
moderation  and  peace.  War  was  rekindled,  or,  to  speak  more  cor- 
rectly, resumed  its  course  after  the  cardinal’s  death.  Julius  II. 
plunged  into  it  in  person,  moving  to  every  point  where  it  was  going 
on,  living  in  the  midst  of  camps,  himself  in  military  costume, 
besieging  towns,  having  his  guns  pointed  and  assaults  delivered 
under  his  own  eyes.  Men  expressed  astonishment,  not  unmixed 
with  admiration,  at  the  indomitable  energy  of  this  soldier-pope  at 
seventy  years  of  age.  It  was  said  that  he  had  cast  into  the  Tiber 
the  keys  of  St.  Peter  to  gird  on  the  sword  of  St.  Paul.  His  answer 
to  everything  was,  “ The  barbarians  must  be  driven  from  Italy.” 

Louis  XII.  became  more  and  more  irritated  and  undecided. 

Prom  1510  to  1512  the  war  in  Italy  was  thus  proceeding,  but  Gaston  de 
with  no  great  results,  when  Gaston  de  Foix,  duke  of  Hemours,  ^nder^f 
came  to  take  the  command  of  the  French  army.  He  was  scarcely  the  French 
twenty-three,  and  had  hitherto  only  served  under  Trivulzio  and  la  army* 
Palisse  ; but  he  had  already  a character  for  bravery  and  intelli- 
gence in  war.  Louis  XII.  loved  this  son  of  his  sister  Mary  of 
Orleans,  and  gladly  elevated  him  to  the  highest  rank.  Gaston, 
from  the  very  first,  justified  this  favour.  Instead  of  seeking  for 
glory  in  the  field  only,  he  began  by  shutting  himself  up  in  Milan 
which  the  Swiss  were  besieging.  They  made  him  an  offer  to  take 
the  road  back  to  Switzerland,  if  he  would  giye  them  a month’s 
pay  ; the  sum  was  discussed  ; Gaston  considered  that  they  asked 
too  much  for  their  withdrawal ; the  Swiss  broke  off  the  negotia- 
tion ; but  “to  the  great  astonishment  of  everybody,”  says  Guic- 
ciardini, “ they  raised  the  siege  and  returned  to  their  own  country.” 

The  pope  was  besieging  Bologna ; Gaston  arrived  there  suddenly 
with  a body  of  troops  whom  he  had  marched  out  at  night  through 
a tempest  of  wind  and  snow  ; and  he  was  safe  inside  the  place 
whilst  the  besiegers  were  still  ignorant  of  his  movement.  The 
siege  of  Bologna  was  raised.  Gaston  left  it  immediately  to  march 
on  Brescia,  which  the  Venetians  had  taken  possession  of  for  the 
Holy  League.  He  retook  the  town  by  a vigorous  assault,  gave  it 
up  to  pillage,  punished  with  death  Count  Louis  Avogaro  and  his 
two  sons,  who  had  excited  the  inhabitants  against  France,  and 
gave  a beating  to  the  Venetian  army  before  its  walls.  All  these 
successes  had  been  gained  in  a fortnight.  “ According  to  uni- 


23  4 


History  of  France . 


versal  opinion,”  says  Guicciardini,  “ Italy  for  several  centuries  had 
seen  nothing  like  these  military  operations.” 

AD  1512  Finally,  a decisive  battle  was  fought  at  Eavenna  (April  11th) 
Killed  at  * which  cost  the  life  of  the  heroic  French  commander.  When  the 
Ravenna  fatal  news  was  known,  the  consternation  and  grief  were  profound. 
(April  11).  ^.jie  age  twenty- three  Gaston  de  Foix  had  in  less  than  six 

months  won  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the  army,  of  the  king 
and  of  France.  It  was  one  of  those  sudden  and  undisputed  repu- 
tations which  Seem  to  mark  out  men  for  the  highest  destinies.  “ I 
would  fain,”  said  Louis  XII.,  when  he  heard  of  his  death,  “ have 
no  longer  an  inch  of  land  in  Italy  and  be  able  at  that  price  to  bring 
back  to  life  my  nephew  Gaston  and  all  the  gallants  who  perished 
The  domi-  with  him.  God  keep  us  from  often  gaining  such  victories  ! ” La 

nation  of  Palisse,  a warrior  valiant  and  honoured,  assumed  the  command  of 
the  French  ....  , . _ . _ 

disappears  this  victorious  army  ; but  under  pressure  of  repeated  attacks  from 

from  Italy,  the  Spaniards,  the  Venetians  and  the  Swiss,  he  gave  up  first  the 
Eomagna,  then  Milaness,  withdrew  from  place  to  place,  and  ended 
by  falling  back  on  Piedmont.  Julius  II.  won  back  all  he  had 
won  and  lost.  Maximilian  Sforza,  son  of  Ludovic  the  Moor , after 
twelve  years  of  exile  in  Germany,  returned  to  Milan  to  resume 
possession  of  his  father’s  duchy.  By  the  end  of  June,  1512,  less 
than  three  months  after  the  victory  of  Eavenna,  the  domination  of 
the  French  had  disappeared  from  Italy. 

Louis  XII.  had,  indeed,  something  else  to  do  besides  crossing 
the  Alps  to  go  to  the  protection  of  such  precarious  conquests. 
Into  France  itself  war  was  about  to  make  its  way  ; it  was  his  own 
kingdom  and  his  own  country  that  he  had  to  defend.  In  vain, 
after  the  death  qf  Isabella  of  Castile,  had  he  married  his  niece, 
Germaine  de  Foix,  to  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  whilst  giving  up  to 
him  all  pretensions  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  In  1512  Ferdinand 
invaded  Navarre,  took  possession  of  the  Spanish  portion  of  that 
little  kingdom,  and  thence  threatened  Gascony.  Henry  VIII.,  king 
of  England,  sent  him  a fleet,  which  did  not  withdraw  until  after  it 
had  appeared  before  Bayonne  and  thrown  the  south-west  of  France 
into  a state  of  alarm.  In  the  north  Henry  VIII.  continued  his 
preparations  for  an  expedition  into  France,  obtained  from  his  par- 
liament subsidies  for  that  purpose,  and  concerted  plans  with 
Emperor  Maximilian,  who  renounced  his  doubtful  neutrality,  and 
Lea  "JP  en£'aSed  last  in  the  Holy  League.  Louis  XII.  had  in 

° * Germany  an  enemy  as  zealous  almost  as  Julius  II.  was  in  Italy  : 
Maximilian’s  daughter,  Princess  Marguerite  of  Austria,  had  never 
forgiven  France  or  its  king,  whether  he  were  called  Charles  VIII. 
or  Louis  XII.,  the  treatment  she  had  received  from  that  court 


Death  of  Pope  Julius  II. 


235 


when,  after  having  been  kept  there  and  brought  up  for  eight  years 
to  become  queen  of  France,  she  had  been  sent  away,  and  handed 
hack  to  her  father,  to  make  way  for  Anne  of  Brittany.  She  was 
ruler  of  the  Low  Countries,  active,  able,  full  of  passion,  and  in 
continual  correspondence  with  her  father,  the  emperor,  over  whom 
she  exercised  a great  deal  of  influence.  The  Swiss,  on  their  side, 
continuing  to  smart  under  the  contemptuous  language  which  Louis 
had  imprudently  applied  to  them,  1 ecame  more  and  more  pro- 
nounced against  him,  rudely  dismissed  Louis  de  la  Tremoille  who 
attempted  to  negotiate  with  them,  re-established  Maximilian  Sforza 
in  theduchy  of  Milan,  and  haughtily  styled  themselves  “vanquishers 
of  kings  and  defenders  of  the  holy  Roman  Church.”  And  the 
Roman  Church  made  a good  defender  of  herself.  Julius  II.  had 
convoked  at  Rome,  at  St.  John  Lateran,  a council,  which  met  on 
the  3rd  of  May,  1512,  and  in  presence  of  which  the  council  of  Pisa 
and  Milan,  after  an  attempt  at  removing  to  Lyons,  vanished  away 
like  a phantom.  Everywhere  things  were  turning  out  according  to 
the  wishes  and  for  the  profit  of  the  pope  ; and  France  and  her  king 
were  reduced  to  defending  themselves  on  their  own  soil  against  a 
coalition  of  all  their  great  neighbours. 

On  the  21st  of  February,  1513,  ten  months  since  Gaston  de  Foix  a.D.  1513. 
the  victor  of  Ravenna,  had  perished  in  the  hour  of  his  victory,  Death  of 
Pope  Julius  II.  died  at  Rome  at  the  very  moment  when  he  seemed 
invited  to  enjoy  all  the  triumph  of  his  policy.  He  died  without  (Feb.  21). 
bluster  and  without  disquietude,  disavowing  naught  of  his  past  life 
and  relinquishing  none  of  his  designs  as  to  the  future.  The  death 
of  Julius  II.  seemed  to  Louis  XII.  a favourable  opportunity  for 
once  more  setting  foot  in  Italy,  and  recovering  at  least  that  which 
he  regarded  as  his  hereditary  right,  the  duchy  of  Milan.  He  com-  State  of 
missioned  Louis  de  la  Tremoille  to  go  and  renew  the  conquest ; and,  Europe, 
whilst  thus  reopening  the  Italian  war,  he  commenced  negotiations 
with  certain  of  the  coalitionists  of  the  Holy  League , in  the  hope  of 
causing  division  amongst  them,  or  even  of  attracting  some  one  of 
them  to  himself.  He  knew  that  the  Venetians  were  dissatisfied 
and  disquieted  about  their  allies,  especially  the  Emperor  Maximilian, 
the  new  duke  of  Milan,  Maximilian  Sforza,  and  the  Swiss.  Fie  had 
little  difficulty  in  coming  to  an  understanding  with  the  Venetian 
senate ; and,  on  the  14th  of  May,  1513,  a treaty  of  alliance,  offen- 
sive and  defensive,  was  signed  at  Blois  between  the  king  of  France 
and  the  republic  of  Venice.  Louis  hoped  also  to  find  at  Rome  in 
the  new  pope,  Leo  X.  [Cardinal  John  de’  Medici,  elected  pope 
March  11,  1513],  favourable  inclinations  : but  they  were  at  first 
very  ambiguously  and  reservedly  manifested.  As  a Florentine,  Leo  X. 


236 


History  of  France. 


had  a leaning  towards  France ; but  as  pope,  he  was  not  disposed 

to  relinquish  or  disavow  the  policy  of  Julius  II.  as  to  the  indepen- 

dence of  Italy  in  respect  of  any  foreign  sovereign,  and  as  to  the 
extension  of  the  power  of  the  Holy  See ; and  he  wanted  time  to 
make  up  his  mind  to  infuse  into  his  relations  with  Louis  XII.  good- 
Poor  re  will  instead  of  his  predecessor’s  impassioned  hostility.  Louis  had 
suits  oi  the  not  and  could  not  have  any  confidence  in  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  ; 
foreign  but  he  knew  him  to  be  as  prudent  as  he  was  rascally,  and  he 

policy.  concluded  with  him  at  Orthez,  on  the  1st  of  April,  1513,  a year’s 
truce,  which  Ferdinand  took  great  care  not  to  make  known  to  his 
allies,  Henry  VIII.  king  of  England,  and  the  Emperor  Maximilian, 
the  former  of  whom  was  very  hot-tempered,  and  the  latter  very 
deeply  involved,  through  his  daughter  Marguerite  of  Austria,  in  the 
warlike  league  against  France.  This  was  all  that  was  gained  during 
the  year  of  Julius  II.’s  death  by  Louis  XII. ’s  attempts  to  break  up 
or  weaken  the  coalition  against  France  ; and  these  feeble  diplomatic 
advantages  were  soon  nullified  by  the  unsuccess  of  the  French 
expedition  in  Milaness.  Conquerors  at  Novara,  the  Swiss  drove 
the  French  from  the  duchy  of  Milan,  which  La  Tremoille  had 
reconquered  ; in  Burgundy  they  besieged  Dijon;  in  the  north  the 
combined  troops  of  Maximilian  and  Henry  VIII.  of  England  gained 
the  battle  of  Guinegate,  sometimes  called  battle  of  the  Spurs,  on 
account  of  the  haste  with  which  the  French  cavalry,  under  the 
influence  of  a panic  flight,  fled  from  the  field  of  battle.  The  truce 
of  Orleans,  followed  by  the  treaty  of  London,  put  a stop  to  these 
disasters,  and  the  Italian  question  remained  still  undecided. 

Such  was  the  situation  in  which  France,  after  a reign  of  fifteen 
years  and  in  spite  of  so  many  brave  and  devoted  servants,  had  been 
placed  by  Louis  XII. ’s  foreign  policy.  Had  he  managed  the  home 
affairs  of  his  kingdom  as  badly  and  with  as  little  success  as  he  had 
matters  abroad,  is  it  necessary  to  say  what  would  have  been  his 
people’s  feelings  towards  him,  and  what  name  he  would  have  left 
in  history?  Happily  for  France  and  for  the  memory  of  Louis  XII., 
his  home-government  was  more  sensible,  more  clear-sighted,  more 
able,  more  moral,  and  more  productive  of‘  good  results  than  his 
foreign  policy  was. 

When  we  consider  this  reign  from  this  new  point  of  view,  we 
Louis  XII.  are  at  once  struck  by  two  facts  : 1st,  the  great  number  of  legislative 
and  administrative  acts  that  we  meet  with,  bearing  upon  the  general 
interests  of  the  country,  interests  political,  judicial,  financial,  and 
commercial ; the  Reoueil  des  Ordonnances  des  Rois  de  France  con- 
tains forty-three  important  acts  of  this  sort  owing  their  origin  to 
Louis  XII.;  it  was  clearly  a government  full  of  watchfulness, 


Home 
policy  of 


2 37 


Home  Policy  of  Louis  XII. 

activity,  and  attention  to  good  order  and  the  public  weal;  2nd,  the 
profound  remembrance  remaining  in  succeeding  ages  of  this  reign 
and  its  deserts  ; a remembrance  which  was  manifested,  in  1560 
amongst  the  states-general  of  Orleans,  in  1576  and  1588  amongst 
the  states  of  Blois,  in  1593  amongst  the  states  of  the  League,  and 
even  down  to  1614  amongst  the  states  of  Paris.  During  more 
than  a hundred  years  France  called  to  mind,  and  took  pleasure  in 
calling  to  mind  the  administration  of  Louis  XII.  as  the  type  of  a 
wise,  intelligent,  and  effective  regimen.  Confidence  may  be  felt  in 
a people’s  memory  when  it  inspires  them  for  so  long  afterwards  with 
sentiments  of  justice  and  gratitude. 

If  from  the  simple  table  of  the  acts  of  Louis  XII.’s  home-govern- 
ment we  pass  to  an  examination  of  their  practical  results,  it  is  plain 
that  they  were  good  and  salutary. 

Foreigners  were  not  less  impressed  than  the  French  themselves  with 
the  advance  in  order,  activity,  and  prosperity  which  had  taken  place 
amongst  the  French  community.  Macchiavelli  admits  it,  and,  with 
the  melancholy  of  an  Italian  politician  acting  in  the  midst  of  rival- 
ries amongst  the  Italian  republics,  he  attributes  it  above  all  to 
French  unity,  superior  to  that  of  any  other  State  in  Europe. 

As  to  the  question,  to  whom  reverts  the  honour  of  the  good 
government  at  home  under  Louis  XII.,  and  of  so  much  progress  in 
the  social  condition  of  France,  it  may  be  attributed,  in  a great  mea- 
sure, to  the  influence  of  the  states  assembled  at  Tours,  in  1484,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Charles  VIII. ; but  Louis  XII.’s  per- 
sonal share  in  the  good  home-government  of  France  during  his 
reign  was  also  more  meritorious.  His  chief  merit,  a rare  one 
amongst  the  powerful  of  the  earth,  especially  when  there  is  a ques- 
tion of  reforms  and  of  liberty,  was  that  he  understood  and  enter- 
tained the  requirements  and  wishes  of  his  day  ; he  was  a mere 
young  prince  of  the  blood  when  the  states  of  1484  were  sitting  at 
Tours  ; but  he  did  not  forget  them  when  he  was  king,  and,  far  from 
repudiating  their  patriotic  and  modest  work  in  the  cause  of  reform 
and  progress,  he  entered  into  it  sincerely  and  earnestly  with  the  aid 
of  Cardinal  d’Amboise,  his  honest,  faithful,  and  ever  influential 
councillor.  The  character  and  natural  instincts  of  Louis  XII. 
inclined  him  towards  the  same  views  as  his  intelligence  and  modera- 
tion in  politics  suggested.  He  was  kind,  sympathetic  towards  his 
people,  and  anxious  to  spare  them  every  burden  and  every  suffering 
that  was  unnecessary,  and  to  have  justice,  real  and  independent  jus- 
tice, rendered  to  all.  He  reduced  the  talliages  a tenth  at  first  and 
a third  at  a later  period.  He  refused  to  accept  the  dues  usual  on  a 
joyful  accession.  When  the  wars  in  Italy  caused  him  some  extra- 


His  admi- 
nistrat  on. 


His  intelli- 
gence and 
modera- 
tion. 


2$8 


History  of  France . 


Admini- 

stration 

justice. 


Private 

life. 


ordinary  expense  he  disposed  of  a portion  of  the  royal  possessions, 
strictly  administered  as  they  were,  before  imposing  fresh  burdens 
upon  the  people.  His  court  was  inexpensive,  and  he  had  no 
favourites  to  enrich.  His  economy  became  proverbial ; it  was 
sometimes  made  a reproach  to  him  ; and  things  were  carried  so  far 
that  he  was  represented,  on  the  stage  of  a popular  theatre,  ill,  pale, 
and  surrounded  by  doctors,  who  were  holding  a consultation  as  to 
the  nature  of  his  malady  : they  at  last  agreed  to  give  him  a potion 
of  gold  to  take  ; the  sick  man  at  once  sat  up,  complaining  of  nothing 
more  than  a burning  thirst.  When  informed  of  this  scandalous 
piece  of  buffoonery,  Louis  contented  himself  with  saying,  “ I had 
rather  make  courtiers  laugh  by  my  stinginess  than  my  people  weep 
by  my  extravagance.”  He  was  pressed  to  punish  some  insolent 
comedians,  but,  “ Ho,”  said  he,  “ amongst  their  ribaldries  they  may 
sometimes  tell  us  useful  truths  ; let  them  amuse  themselves,  pro. 
vided  that  they  respect  the  honour  of  women.”  In  the  administra- 
tion of  justice  he  accomplished  important  reforms,  called  for  by 
the  states-general  of  1484  and  promised  by  Louis  XI.  and  Charles 
VIII.,  but  nearly  all  of  them  left  in  suspense.  The  purchase  of 
offices  was  abolished  and  replaced  by  a two-fold  election  : in  all 
grades  of  the  magistracy,  when  an  office  was  vacant,  the  judges  were 
to  assemble  to  select  three  persons  from  whom  the  king  should  be 
bound  to  choose.  The  irremovability  of  the  magistrates,  which  had 
been  accepted  but  often  violated  by  Louis  XI.,  became  under  Louis' 
XII.  a fundamental  rule.  It  was  forbidden  to  every  one  of  the  king’s 
magistrates,  from  the  premier-president  to  the  lowest  provost,  to 
accept  any  place  or  pension  from  any  lord,  under  pain  of  suspension 
from  their  office  or  loss  of  their  salary.  The  annual  Mercurials 
(Wednesday  meetings)  became,  in  the  supreme  courts,  a general  and 
standing  usage.  The  expenses  of  the  law  were  reduced.  In  1501, 
Louis  XII.  instituted  at  Aix,  in  Provence,  a new  Parliament ; in 
1499  the  court  of  exchequer  at  Rouen,  hitherto  a supreme  but  mov- 
able and  temporary  court,  became  a fixed  and  permanent  court  which 
afterwards  received,  under  Francis  I.,  the  title  of  Parliament.  Be- 
ing convinced  before  long,  by  facts  themselves,  that  these  reforms 
were  seriously  meant  by  their  author  and  were  practically  effective, 
the  people  conceived,  in  consequence,  towards  the  king  and  the 
magistrates  a general  sentiment  of  gratitude  and  respect. 

Louis  XII. ’s  private  life  also  contributed  to  win  for  him,  we  will 
not  say  the  respect  and  admiration,  but  the  goodwill  of  the  public. 
He  was  not,  like  Louis  IX.,  a model  of  austerity  and  sanctity ; but 
after  the  licentious  court  of  Charles  VII. , the  coarse  habits  of 
Louis  XI.  and  the  easy  morals  of  Charles  VIII.,  the  French  public 


Matrimonial  Alliances . 


2 39 


was  not  exacting.  Lonis  XII.  was  thrice  married.  His  first  wife, 

Joan,  daughter  of  Louis  XI.,  was  an  excellent  and  worthy  princess, 
hut  ugly,  ungraceful,  and  hump-hacked.  He  had  been  almost  forced 
to  marry  her,  and  he  had  no  child  by  her.  On  ascending  the  throne 
he  begged  Pope  Alexander  VI.  to  annul  his  marriage;  the  negotia- 
tion was  anything  but  honourable  either  to  the  king  or  to  the  pope  ; 
and  the  pope  granted  his  bull  in  consideration  of  the  favours  shown 
to  his  unworthy  son,  Caesar  Borgia,  by  the  king.  Joan  alone 
behaved  with  a virtuous  as  well  as  modest  pride,  and  ended  her  life 
in  sanctity  within  a convent  at  Bourges,  being  wholly  devoted  to 
pious  works,  regarded  by  the  people  as  a saint,  spoken  of  by  bold 
preachers  as  a martyr  and  “ still  the  true  and  legitimate  queen  of  Matr£ 
Prance,”  and  treated  at  a distance  with  profound  respect  by  the  king  monial 
who  had  put  her  away.  Louis  married  in  1499  his  predecessor’s  ^n^of8* 
widow,  Anne,  duchess  of  Brittany,  twenty-three  years  of  age,  Brittany, 
short,  prefty,  a little  lame,  witty,  able,  and  firm.  It  was,  on  both 
sides,  a marriage  of  policy,  though  romantic  tales  have  been  mixed 
up  with  it ; it  was  a suitable  and  honourable  royal  arrangement* 
without  any  lively  affection  on  one  side  or  the  other,  but  with  mutual 
esteem  and  regard.  As  queen,  Anne  was  haughty,  imperious,  sharp- 
tempered,  and  too  much  inclined  to  mix  in  intrigues  and  negotia- 
tions at  Rome  and  Madrid,  sometimes  without  regard  for  the  king’s 
policy ; but  she  kept  up  her  court  with  spirit  and  dignity,  being 
respected  by  her  ladies,  whom  she  treated  well,  and  favourably 
regarded  by  the  public,  who  were  well  disposed  towards  her  for  hav- 
ing given  Brittany  to  Prance.  Some  courtiers  showed  their  astonish- 
ment that  the  king  should  so  patiently  bear  with  a character  so  far 
from  agreeable  ; but  “ one  must  surely  put  up  with  something  from 
a woman,”  said  Louis,  “ when  she  loves  her  honour  and  her  hus- 
band.” After  a union  of  fifteen  years,  Anne  of  Brittany  died  on 
the  9th  of  January,  1514,  at  the  castle  of  Blois,  nearly  thirty-seven 
years  old.  Louis  was  then  fifty-two.  He  seemed  very  much  to 
regret  his  wife ; but,  some  few  months  after  her  death,  another  mar-  Tlie  Pirin- 
riage  of  policy  was  put,  on  his  behalf,  in  course  of  negotiation.  It  ceS3  Mary 
was  in  connexion  with  Princess  Mary  of  England,  sister  of  Henry  s 
VIII.,  with  whom  it  was  very  important  for  Louis  XII.  and  for 
Prance  to  be  once  more  at  peace  and  on  good  terms.  Three  treaties 
were  concluded  on  the  7th  of  August,  1514,  between  the  kings  of 
Prance  and  England  in  order  to  regulate  the  conditions  of  their  politi- 
cal and  matrimonial  alliance;  on  the  13th  of  August  the  duke  de 
Longueville,  in  his  sovereign’s  name,  espoused  the  Princess  Mary 
at  Greenwich ; and  she,  escorted  to  Prance  by  a brilliant  embassy, 
arrived  on  the  8th  of  October  at  Abbeville  where  Louis  XII.  was 


240 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  1515. 
Death  of 
Louis  XII. 


His  solici- 
tude for  his 
people. 


awaiting  her.  Three  days  afterwards  the  marriage  was  solemnized 
there  in  state,  and  Louis,  who  had  suffered  from  gout  during  the  cere- 
mony, carried  off  his  young  queen  to  Paris  after  having  had  her 
crowned  at  St.  Denis.  Mary  Tudor  had  given  up  the  German 
prince,  who  was  destined  to  become  Charles  V.,  hut  not  the  hand- 
some English  nobleman  she  loved.  The  duke  of  Suffolk  went  to 
France  to  see  her  after  her  marriage,  and  in  her  train  she  had  as 
maid  of  honour  a young  girl,  a beauty  as  well,  who  was  one  day  to 
be  queen  of  England — Anne  Boleyn. 

Less  than  three  months  after  this  marriage,  on  the  1st  of  January, 
1515,  “the  death-bell-men  were  traversing  the  streets  of  Paris, 
ringing  their  bells  and  crying,  ‘ The  good  King  Louis,  father  of  the 
people,  is  dead.’  ” Louis  XII.,  in  fact,  had  died  that  very  day  at 
midnight,  from  an  attack  of  gout  and  a rapid  decline. 

To  the  last  of  his  days  he  was  animated  by  earnest  sympathy  and 
active  solicitude  for.  his  people.  It  cost  him  a great  deal*  to  make 
with  the  king  of  England  the  treaties  of  August  7,  1514,  to  cede 
Tournai  to  the  English,  and  to  agree  to  the  payment  to  them  of 
a hundred  thousand  crowns  a year  for  ten  years.  He  did  it  to 
restore  peace  to  France,  attacked  on  her  own  soil,  and  feeling  her 
prosperity  threatened.  For  the  same  reason  he  negotiated  with 
Pope  Leo  X.,  Emperor  Maximilian  and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic, 
and  he  had  very  nearly  attained  the  same  end  by  entering  once 
more  upon  pacific  relations  with  them,  when  death  came  and  struck 
him  down  at  the  age  of  fifty-three.  He  died  sorrowing  over  the 
concessions  die  had  made  from  a patriotic  sense  of  duty  as  much  as 
from  necessity,  and  full  of  disquietude  about  the  future.  He  felt  a 
sincere  affection  for  Francis  de  Valois,  count  of  Angouleme,  his  son- 
in-law  and  successor  ; the  marriage  between  his  daughter  Claude 
and  that  prince  had  been  the  chief  and  most  difficult  affair  connected 
with  his  domestic  life  ; and  it  was  only  after  the  death  of  the  queen 
Anne  of  Brittany,  that  he  had  it  proclaimed  and  celebrated.  The 
bravery,  the  brilliant  parts,  the  amiable  character,  and  the  easy 
grace  of  Francis  I.  delighted  him,  but  he  dreaded  his  presumptuous 
inexperience,  his  reckless  levity,  and  his  ruinous  extravagance  ; and 
in  his  anxiety  as  a king  and  father  he  said,  “We  are  labouring  in 
vain ; this  big  boy  will  spoil  everything  for  us.” 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  RENAISSANCE  AND  THE  REFORMATION FRANCIS  I.  AND  HENRY  It. 

(1515—1559). 

Two  tilings,  essential  to  political  prosperity  amongst  communities 
of  men,  have  hitherto  been  to  seek  in  France;  predominance  of 
public  spirit  over  the  spirit  of  caste  or  of  profession,  and  modera- 
tion and  fixity  in  respect  of  national  ambition  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  France  has  been  a victim  to  the  personal  passions  of  her 
chiefs  and  to  her  own  reckless  changeability. 

We  are  entering  upon  the  history  of  a period  and  a reign 
during  which  this  intermixture  of  merits  and  demerits,  of  virtues 
and  vices,  of  progress  and  backsliding,  was  powerfully  and  attrac- 
tively exhibited  amongst  the  French.  Francis  I , his  government 
and  his  times,  commence  the  era  of  modern  France,  and  bring 
clearly  to  view  the  causes  of  her  greatnesses  and  her  weaknesses. 

When,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1515,  he  ascended  the  throne  before  A.D.  1515. 
he  had  attained  his  one  and  twentieth  year,  it  was  a brilliant  and  ^cces“ 
brave  but  spoilt  child  that  became  king.  He  had  been  under  the  Francis  I. 
governance  of  Artus  Gouffier,  sire  de  Boisy,  a nobleman  of  Poitou, 
who  had  exerted  himself  to  make  his  royal  pupil  a loyal  knight 
well  trained  in  the  moral  code  and  all  the  graces  of  knighthood,  but 
without  drawing  his  attention  to  more  serious  studies  or  preparing 
him  for  the  task  of  government.  The  young  Francis  d’Angouleme 

R 


Louise  de 
Savoy. 


Margue- 
rite de 
Valois. 


Early  gov- 
ernment ol 
Francis  I. 


242  History  of  France. 

lived  and  was  moulded  under  the  influence  of  two  women,  his 
mother,  Louise  of  Savoy,  and  his  eldest  sister  Marguerite,  who. both 
of  them  loved  and  adored  him  with  passionate  idolatry.  The  former 
princess  was  proud,  ambitious,  audacious  or  pliant  at  need,  able 
and  steadfast  in  mind,  violent  and  dissolute  in  her  habits,  greedy  of 
pleasure  and  of  money  as  well  as  of  power,  so  that  she  gave  her 
son  neither  moral  principles  nor  a moral  example  : for  him  the 
supreme  kingship,  for  herself  the  rank,  influence  and  wealth  of  a 
queen-mother,  and,  for  both,  greatness  that  might  subserve  the 
gratification  of  their  passions — this  was  all  her  dream  and  all  her 
aim  as  a mother.  Of  quite  another  sort  were  the  character  and 
sentiments  of  Marguerite  de  Yalois.  She  was  born  on  the  11th  of 
April,  1492,  and  was,  therefore,  only  two  years  older  than  her 
brother  Francis;  but  her  more  delicate  nature  was  sooner  and  more 
richly  cultivated  and  developed.  She  was  brought  up  “ with 
strictness  by  a most  excellent  and  most  venerable  dame,  in  whom 
all  the  virtues,  at  rivalry  one  with  another,  existed  together  ” 
[Madame  de  Chatillon,  whose  deceased  husband  had  been  governour 
to  King  Charles  VIII.].  As  she  was  discovered  to  have  rare 
intellectual  gifts  and  a very  keen  relish  for  learning,  she  was  pro- 
vided with  every  kind  of  preceptors,  who  made  her  proficient  in 
profane  letters , as  they  werg  then  called.  Marguerite  learnt  Latin, 
Greek,  philosophy,  and  especially  theology.  Intellectual  pursuits, 
however,  were  far  from  absorbing  the  whole  of  this  young  soul. 
“ She,”  says  a contemporary,  “had  an  agreeable  voice  of  touching 
tone  which  roused  the  tender  inclinations  that  there  are  in  the 
heart.”  Tenderness,  a passionate  tenderness,  very  early  assumed 
the  chief  place  in  Marguerite’s  soul,  and  the  first  object  of  it  was 
her  brother  Francis.  When  mother,  son,  and  sister  were  spoken 
of,  they  were  called  a Trinity,  and  to  this  Marguerite  herself  bore 
witness  when  she  said  with  charming  modesty  : 

“ Such  boon  is  mine,  to  feel  the  amity 
That  God  hath  putten  in  our  trinity, 

Wherein  to  make  a third,  I,  all  unfitted 
To  be  that  number’s  shadow,  am  admitted.” 

Marguerite  it  was  for  whom  this  close  communion  of  three  per- 
sons had  the  most  dolorous  consequences  : we  shall  fall  in  with  her 
more  than  once  in  the  course  of  this  history ; but,  whether  or  no, 
she  was  assuredly  the  best  of  this  princely  trio,  and  Francis  I. 
was  the  most  spoilt  by  it.  There  is  nothing  more  demoralizing 
than  to  be  an  idol. 

The  first  acts  of  his  government  were  sensible  and  of  good  omen. 
He  confirmed  or  renewed  the  treaties  or  truces  which  Louis  XII., 


FRANCIS  I. 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Francis  I.  and  his  advisers . 


243 


at  the  close  of  his  reign,  had  concluded  with  the  Venetians,  the 
Swiss,  the  pope,  the  king  of  England,  the  archduke  Charles  and 
the  emperor  Maximilian,  in  order  to  restore  peace  to  his  kingdom. 

At  home  Francis  I.  maintained  at  his  council  the  principal  and 
most  tried  servants  of  his  predecessor,  amongst  others  the  finance- 
minister,  Florimond  Bobertet ; and  he  raised  to  four  the  number 
of  the  marshals  of  France,  in  order  to  confer  that  dignity  on  Bayard’s  His  advi- 
valiant  friend,  James  of  Chabannes,  lord  of  la  Palice,  who  even  sers* 
under  Louis  XII.  had  been  entitled  by  the  Spaniards  “ the  great 
marshal  of  France.”  At  the  same  time  he  exalted  to  the  highest 
offices  in  the  State  two  new  men,  Charles,  duke  of  Bourbon,  who 
was  still  a mere  youth  but  already  a warrior  of  renown,  and 
Anthony  Duprat,  the  able  premier  president  of  the  parliament  of 
Paris  ; the  former  he  made  constable,  and  the  latter  chancellor  of 
France.  His  mother,  Louise  of  Savoy,  was  not  unconcerned,  it  is 
said,  in  both  promotions ; she  was  supposed  to  feel  for  the  young 
constable  something  more  than  friendship,  and  she  regarded  the 
veteran  magistrate,  not  without  reason,  as  the  man  most  calculated 
to  unreservedly  subserve  the  interests  of  the  kingly  power  and 
her  own. 

These  measures,  together  with  the  language  and  the  behaviour 
of  Francis  I.  and  the  care  he  took  to  conciliate  all  who  approached 
him,  made  a favourable  impression  on  France  and  on  Europe.  In 
Italy,  especially,  princes  as  well  as  people,  and  Pope  Leo  X.  before 
all,  flattered  themselves,  or  were  pleased  to  appear  as  if  they 
flattered  themselves,  that  war  would  not  come  near  them  again, 
and  that  the  young  king  had  his  heart  set  only  on  making 
Burgundy  secure  against  sudden  and  outrageous  attacks  from  the 
Swiss.  The  aged  king  of  Spain,  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  adopting 
the  views  of  his  able  minister,  Cardinal  Ximenes,  alone  showed 
distrust  and  anxiety ; he  urged  the  pope,  the  emperor  Maximilian, 
the  Swiss,  and  Maximilian  Sforza,  duke  of  Milan,  to  form  a league 
for  the  defence  of  Italy  ; but  Leo  X.  persisted  in  his  desire  of 
remaining  or  appearing  neutral,  as  the  common  father  of  the  faithful. 

Neither  the  king  of  France  nor  the  pope  had  for  long  to  take  the 
trouble  of  practising  mutual  deception.  It  was  announced  at  Borne  Francis  I. 
that  Francis  I.,  having  arrived  at  Lyons  in  July,  1515,  had  just in  Italy* 
committed  to  his  mother  Louise  the  regency  of  the  kingdom,  and  was 
pushing  forward  towards  the  Alps  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men 
and  a powerful  artillery.  He  had  won  over  to  his  service 
Octavian  Fregoso,  doge  of  Genoa  ; and  Barthelemy  d’Alviano,  the 
veteran  general  of  his  allies  the  Venetians,  was  encamped  with  his 
troops  within  hail  of  Verona,  ready  to  support  the  French  in  the 


244 


History  of  France. 


struggle  lie  foresaw.  Francis  I.  on  his  side,  was  informed  that 
twenty  thousand  Swiss,  commanded  by  the  Roman,  Prosper 
Colonna,  were  guarding  the  passes  of  the  Alps  in  order  to  shut 
him  out  from  Milaness.  At  the  same  time  he  received  the  news 
that  the  cardinal  of  Sion,  his  most  zealous  enemy  in  connexion 
with  the  Roman  Church,  was  devotedly  employing,  with  the  secret 
support  of  the  emperor  Maximilian,  his  influence  and  his  preaching 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  in  Switzerland  a second  army  of  from 
twenty  to  five-and-twenty  thousand  men  to  he  launched  against 
him,  if  necessary,  in  Italy.  A Spanish  and  Roman  army,  under 
the  orders  of  Don  Raymond  of  Cardone,  rested  motionless  at 
some  distance  from  the  Po,  waiting  for  events  and  for  orders 
prescribing  the  part  they  were  to  take.  It  was  clear  that  Francis 
I.,  though  he  had  been  but  six  months  king,  was  resolved  and 
impatient  to  resume  in  Italy,  and  first  of  all  in  Milaness,  the  war 
of  invasion  and  conquest  which  had  been  engaged  in  by  Charles 
VIII.  and  Louis  XII. : and  the  league  of  all  the  States  of  Italy, 
save  Venice  and  Genoa,  with  the  pope  for  their  half-hearted  patron 
and  the  Swiss  for  their  fighting  men,  were  collecting  their  forces 
to  repel  the  invader. 

A D.  1515.  On  the  13th  of  September,  1515,  the  French  encountered  and 

M^egnano  defeabeci  the  Swiss  at  Melegnano,  a town  about  three  leagues  from 

Sept.  13th.  Milan  , this  victory  was  the  most  brilliant  day  in  the  annals  of  this 
reign.  Old  Marshal  Trivulzio,  who  had  taken  part  in  seventeen 
battles,  said  that  this  was  a strife  of  giants,  beside  which  all  the 
rest  were  but  child’s  play.  On  the  very  battle-field,  before  making 
and  creating  knights  of  those  who  had  done  him  good  service, 
Francis  I.  was  pleased  to  have  himself  made  knight  by  the  hand 
of  Bayard.  The  effect  of  the  battle  was  great,  in  Italy  primarily, 
but  also  throughout  Europe.  It  was,  at  the  commencement  of  a 
new  reign  and  under  the  impulse  communicated  by  a young  king, 
an  event  which  seemed  to  be  decisive  and  likely  to  remain  so  for  a 
long  while.  Of  all  the  sovereigns  engaged  in  the  Italian  league 
against  Francis  I.  he  who  was  most  anxious  to  appear  temperate 
and  almost  neutral,  namely  Leo  X.,  was  precisely  he  who  was 
most  surprised  and  most  troubled  by  it.  He  made  up  his  mind 
without  much  trouble,  however,  to  accept  accomplished  facts. 
When  he  had  been  elected  pope,  he  had  said  to  his  brother,  Julian 
de’  Medici,  “Enjoy  we  the  papacy,  since  God  hath  given  it  us” 
[Godiamoci  il  pajpato,  poiche  Dio  ci  V ha  dato\.  He  appeared  to 
have  no  further  thought  than  how  to  pluck  from  the  event  the 
advantages  he  could  discover  in  it.  His  allies  all  set  him  an  example 
of  resignation.  On  the  14th  of  September,  the  day  after  the  battle, 


Francis  I.  treats  with  his  adversaries.  245 

the  Swiss  took  the  road  hack  to  their  mountains.  Francis  I. 
entered  Milan  in  triumph.  Maximilian  Sforza  took  refuge  in  the 
castle,  and  twenty  days  afterwards,  on  the  4th  of  October,  surren- 
dered, consenting  to  retire  to  France  with  a pension  of  thirty 
thousand  crowns,  and  the  promise  of  being  recommended  for  a car- 
dinal’s hat,  and  almost  consoled  for  his  downfall  “ by  the  pleasure  of 
being  delivered  from  the  insolence  of  the  Swiss,  the  exactions  of 
the  emperor  Maximilian,  and  the  rascalities  of  the  Spaniards.”  Negotia- 
Fifteen  years  afterwards,  in  June,  1530,  he  died  in  oblivion  at  Paris,  tions. 
Francis  I.  regained  possession  of  all  Milaness,  adding  thereto,  with 
the  pope’s  consent,  the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Piacenza,  which  had 
been  detached  from  it  in  1512.  Two  treaties,  one  of  November  7, 

1515,  and  the  other  of  November  29,  1516,  re-established  not  only 
peace  but  perpetual  alliance  between  the  king  of  France  and  the 
thirteen  Swiss  cantons,  with  stipulated  conditions  in  detail.  Whilst 
these  negotiations  were  in  progress,  Francis  I.  and  Leo  X.,  by  a 
treaty  published  at  Viterbo  on  the  13th  of  October,  proclaimed 
their  hearty  reconciliation.  The  pope  guaranteed  to  Francis  I.  the 
duchy  of  Milan,  restored  to  him  those  of  Parma  and  Piacenza,  and 
recalled  his  troops  which  were  still  serving  against  the  Venetians  ; 
being  careful,  however,  to  cover  his  concessions  by  means  of  forms 
and  pretexts  which  gave  them  the  character  of  a necessity  submitted 
to  rather  than  that  of  an  independent  and  definite  engagement. 

Francis  I.  on  his  side,  guaranteed  to  the  pope  all  the  possessions  of 
the  Church,  renounced  the  patronage  of  the  petty  princes  of  the 
ecclesiastical  estate,  and  promised  to  uphold  the  family  of  Medici 
in  the  position  it  had  held  at  Florence,  since,  with  the  king  of  Spain’s 
aid,  in  1512,  it  had  recovered  the  dominion  there  at  the  expense 
of  the  party  of  republicans  and  friends  of  France. 

The  king  of  France  and  the  pope  had  to  discuss  together  ques-  Francis  I. 
tions  far  more  important  on  both  sides  than  those  which  had  just  popethe 
been  thus  settled  by  their  accredited  agents.  In  the  course  of  an 
interview  they  had  at  Bologna,  Leo  X.  obtained  of  Francis  an 
agreement  which  abolished  the  Pragmatic  Sanction.  Thus  sup- 
ported by  the  Holy  See  and  by  the  Venetians,  the  king  of  France 
saw  the  road  to  Naples  once  more  opened  before  his  troops;  for  the 
young  Charles  of  Luxemburg,  who  had  just  succeeded  in  Spain  to 
his  grandfather  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  was  too  busy  entering  upon 
his  inheritance  to  think  of  disturbing  any  plan  of  Italian  conquest 
which  Francis  I.  might  entertain;  but  this  prince  preferred  enjoy- 
ing his  victory  rather  than  completing  it  The  treaty  of  Noyon 
gave,  during  a short  time,  repose  to  Europe,  and  allowed  the  two 
rivals  leisure  for  the  preparing  of  a far  more  terrible  war.  Francis  L 


History  of  France. 


Chancellor 

Duprat. 


Tragiratic 

Sanction. 


246 

returned  to  Milan,  leaving  at  Bologna,  for  the  purpose  of  treating 
in  detail  the  affair  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  his  chancellor,  Duprat, 
who  had  accompanied  him  during  all  this  campaign  as'  his  adviser 
and  negotiator.  In  him  the  king  had,  under  the  name  and  guise 
of  premier  magistrate  of  the  realm,  a servant  whose  bold  and  com- 
plaisant abilities  he  was  not  slow  to  recognize  and  to  put  in  use. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  war  for  the  conquest  of  Milaness 
there  was  a want  of  money,  and  Francis  I.  hesitated  to  so  soon 
impose  new  taxes.  Duprat  gave  a scandalous  extension  to  a practice 
which  had  been  for  a long  while  in  use,  but  had  always  been 
reprobated  and  sometimes  formally  prohibited,  namely,  the  sale  of 
public  appointments  or  offices  : not  only  did  he  create  a multitude 
of  financial  and  administrative  offices,  the  sale  of  which  brought 
considerable  sums  into  the  treasury,  but  he  introduced  the  abuse 
into  the  very  heart  of  the  judicial  body;  the  tribunals  were  encum- 
bered by  newly-created  magistrates.  The  Estates  of  Languedoc 
complained  in  vain.  The  Parliament  of  Paris  was  in  its  turn 
attacked,  and  Duprat  having  resolved  to  strike  a great  blow,  an  edict 
of  January  31,  1522,  created  within  the  Parliament  a fourth 
chamber  composed  of  eighteen  councillors  and  two  presidents,  all  of 
fresh  and,  no  doubt,  venal  appointment,  though  the  edict  dared  not 
avow  as  much.  The  registration  of  this  iniquitous  measure  was 
obtained  by  force,  and  thus  began  to  be  implanted  in  that  which 
should  be  the  most  respected  and  the  most  independent  amongst 
the  functions  of  government,  namely,  the  administration  of  justice, 
not  only  the  practice  but  the  fundamental  maxim  of  absolute  go- 
vernment. Chancellor  Duprat,  if  we  are  not  mistaken,  was,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  first  chief  of  the  French  magistracy  to  make 
use  of  language  despotic  not  only  in  fact  but  also  in  principle ; 
he  was  the  delegate,  the  organ,  the  representative  of  the  king ; it 
was  in  the  name  of  the  king  himself  that  he  affirmed  the  absolute 
power  of  the  kingship  and  the  absolute  duty  of  submission. 
Francis  I.  could  not  have  committed  the  negotiation  with  Leo  X. 
in  respect  of  Charles  VII. ’s  Pragmatic  Sanction  to  a man  with 
more  inclination  and  better  adapted  for  the  work  to  be  accom- 
plished. 

The  Pragmatic  Sanction  had  three  principal  objects  : — 

1.  To  uphold  the  liberties  and  the  influence  of  the  faithful  in 
the  government  of  the  Church,  by  sanctioning  their  right  to  elect 
ministers  of  the  Christian  faith,  especially  parish  priests  and 
bishops ; 

2.  To  guarantee  the  liberties  and  rights  of  the  Church  herself  in 
her  relations  with  her  Head,  the  pope,  by  proclaiming  the  necessity 


The  Pragmatic  Sanction  and  the  Concordat.  247 

for  the  regular  intervention  of  councils  and  their  superiority  in 
regard  to  the  pope ; 

3.  To  prevent  or  reform  abuses  in  the  relations  of  the  papacy  Its  purport 
with  the  State  and  Church  of  France  in  the  matter  of  ecclesiastical 
tribute,  especially  as  to  the  receipt  by  the  pope,  under  the  name  of 
annates,  of  the  first  year’s  revenue  of  the  different  ecclesiastical 
offices  and  benefices. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  the  general  opinion  in  France, 
in  State  and  in  Church,  that  there  was  in  these  dispositions  nothing 
more  than  the  primitive  and  traditional  liberties  and  rights  of  the 
Christian  Church.  There  was  no  thought  of  imposing  upon  the 
papacy  any  new  regimen,  but  only  of  defending  the  old  and  legiti- 
mate regimen,  recognized  and  upheld  by  St.  Louis  in  the  thirteenth 
century  as  well  as  by  Charles  VII.  in  the  fifteenth. 

The  popes,  nevertheless,  had  all  of  them  protested  since  the 
days  of  Charles  VII.  against  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  as  an  attack 
upon  their  rights,  and  had  demanded  its  abolition.  This  important 
edict,  then,  was  still  vigorous  in  1515,  when  Francis  I.,  after  his 
victory  at  Melegnano  and  his  reconciliation  with  the  pope,  left 
chancellor  Duprat  at  Bologna  to  pursue  the  negotiation  reopened 
on  that  subject.  The  compensation,  of  which  Leo  X.,  on  redemand- 
ing the  abolition  of  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  had  given  a peep  to 
Francis  I.,  could  not  fail  to  have  charms  for  a prince  so  little 
scrupulous,  and  for  his  still  less  scrupulous  chancellor.  The  pope 
proposed  that  the  Pragmatic,  once  for  all  abolished,  should  be 
replaced  by  a Concordat  between  the  two  sovereigns,  and  that 
this  Concordat , whilst  putting  a stop  to  the  election  of  the  clergy  The  “ 
by  the  faithful,  should  transfer  to  the  king  the  right  of  nomi-  cardat* 
nation  to  bishoprics  and  other  great  ecclesiastical  offices  and 
benefices,  reserving  to  the  pope  the  right  of  presentation  of 
prelates  nominated  by  the  king.  This,  considering  the  condition 
of  society  and  government  in  the  sixteenth  century,  in  the  absence 
of  political  and  religious  liberty,  was  to  take  away  from  the 
Church  her  own  existence  and  divide  her  between  two  masters, 
without  giving  her,  as  regarded  either  of  them,  any  other  guarantee  of 
independence  than  the  mere  chance  of  their  dissensions  and  quarrels. 

Francis  I.  and  his  chancellor  saw  in  the  proposed  Concordat 
nothing  but  the  great  increment  of  influence  it  secured  to  them, 
by  making  all  the  dignitaries  of  the  Church  suppliants,  at  first,  and 
then,  clients  of  the  kingship.  After  some  difficulties  as  to  points 
of  detail,  the  Concordat  was  concluded  and  signed  on  the  18th  of 
August,  1516.  Seven  months  afterwards  it  was  registered,  notwith- 
standing the  opposition  of  the  parliament  and  the  university  of  Paris. 


248 


History  of  France. 


Then  it  was  that  Francis  I.  and  his  chancellor,  Duprat,  loudly 
proclaimed  and  practised  the  maxims  of  absolute  power  ; in  the 
Church,  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  was  abolished  ; and  in  the  State, 
Francis  I.,  during  a reign  of  thirty-two  years,  did  not  once  convoke 
the  States -general,  and  laboured  only  to  set  up  the  sovereign  right 
of  his  own  sole  will.  The  Church  was  despoiled  of  her  electoral 
autonomy  ; and  the  magistracy,  treated  with  haughty  and  silly 
impertinence,  was  vanquished  and  humiliated  in  the  exercise  of  its 
right  of  remonstrance.  The  Concordat  of  1516  was  not  the  only, 
but  it  was  the  gravest,  pact  of  alliance  concluded  between  the 
papacy  and  the  French  kingship  for  the  promotion  mutually  of 
absolute  power. 

The  death  of  Maximilian  and  the  election  of  a new  emperor  were 
the  proximate  causes  of  the  renewal  of  hostilities  between  Francis  I. 
and  Charles  Y.  ; both  these  princes  were  candidates  ; and  by  be- 
stowing the  imperial  crown  upon  the  latter,  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  electors  adopted  the  safest  course;  but  in  doing  so  they  gave  the 
signal  for  a struggle  of  the  most  desperate  and  protracted  character. 

Charles  V.  Whatever  pains  were  taken  by  Francis  I.  to  keep  up  a good 

Emperor  aPPearance  after  this  heavy  reverse,  his  mortification  was  profound 
and  he  thought  of  nothing  but  getting  his  revenge.  He  flattered 
himself  he  would  find  something  of  the  sort  in  a solemn  interview 
and  an  appearance  of  alliance  with  Henry  VIII.,  king  of  England, 
who  had,  like  himself,  just  undergone  in  the  election  to  the 
empire  a less  flagrant  but  an  analogous  reverse.  It  had  already, 
in  the  previous  year  and  on  the  occasion  of  a treaty  concluded 
between  the  two  kings  for  the  restitution  of  Tournai  to  France, 
been  settled  that  they  should  meet  before  long  in  token  of  recon- 
ciliation. The  interview  took  place  on  the  31st  of  May,  1520, 
between  Ardres  and  Guines,  in  Picardy;  it  has  remained  cele- 
brated in  history  far  more  for  its  royal  pomp,  and  for  the  personal 
incidents  which  were  connected  with  it,  than  for  its  political  results. 

The  Field  It  was  called  The  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold, ; and  the  courtiers 
who  attended  the  two  sovereigns  felt  bound  to  almost  lival  them 
in  sumptuousness,  “ insomuch,”  says  the  contemporary  Martin  du 
Bellay,  “ that  many  bore  thither  their  mills,  their  forests,  and 
their  meadows  on  their  backs.”  The  two  kings  signed  a treaty 
whereby  the  dauphin  of  France  was  to  marry  Princess  Mary,  only 
daughter  at  that  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  to  whom  Francis  I.  under- 
took to  pay  annually  a sum  of  100,000  livres  [2,800,000  francs  or 
£1 12,000  in  the  money  of  our  day]  until  the  marriage  was  cele- 
brated, which  would  not  be  for  some  time  yet,  as  the  English 
princess  was  only  four  years  old. 


249 


Francis  I.  and  Henry  VII I. 

Haying  left  the  Field  of  Cloth  of  Gold  for  Amboise,  his  favour. te  Henry  VIII 
residence,  Francis  I.  discovered  that  Henry  VIII.,  instead  of  Cliarles  v 
returning  direct  to  England,  had  gone,  on  the  10th  of  July,  to 
Gravelines  in  Flanders,  to  pay  a visit  to  Charles  V.,  who  had 
afterwards  accompanied  him  to  Calais.  The  two  sovereigns  had 
spent  three  days  there,  and  Charles  V.,  on  separating  from  the  king 
of  England,  had  commissioned  him  to  regulate,  as  arbiter,  all 
difficulties  that  might  arise  between  himself  and  the  king  of 
France.  Assuredly  nothing  was  less  calculated  to  inspire  Francis  I. 
with  confidence  in  the  results  of  his  meeting  with  Henry  VIII.  and 
of  their  mutual  courtesies.  Though  he  desired  to  avoid  the 
appearance  of  taking  the  initiative  in  war,  he  sought  every  occasion 
and  pretext  for  recommencing  it ; and  it  was  not  long  before  he 
found  them  in  the  Low  Countries,  in  Navarre,  and  in  Italy.  A 
trial  was  made  of  Henry  VIII. ’s  mediation  and  of  a conference  at 
Calais;  and  a discussion  was  raised  touching  the  legitimate  nature 
of  the  protection  afforded  by  the  two  rival  sovereigns  to  their  petty 
allies.  But  the  real  fact  was  that  Francis  I.  had  a reverse  to  make 
up  for  and  a passion  to  gratify ; and  the  struggle  recommenced  in 
April,  1521,  in  the  Low  Countries.  The  campaign  opened  in  the 
north,  to  the  advantage  of  France,  by  the  capture  of  Hesdin  ; 

Admiral  Bonnivet,  who  had  the  command  on  the  frontier  of 
Spain,  reduced  some  small  forts  of  Biscay  and  the  fortress  of  Font- 
arabia ; and  Marshal  de  Lautrec,  governor  of  Milaness,  had  orders 
to  set  out  at  once  to  go  and  defend  it  against  the  Spaniards  and 
Imperialists  who  were  concentrating  for  its  invasion. 

Lautrec  was  but  little  adapted  for  this  important  commission. 

He  had  been  made  governor  of  Milaness  in  August,  1516,  to 
replace  the  constable  de  Bourbon,  whose  recall  to  France  the  Lautrec. 
queen-mother,  Louise  of  Savoy,  had  desired  and  stimulated.  Lau- 
trec had  succeeded  ill  in  his  government.  He  was  active  and 
brave,  but  he  was  harsh,  haughty,  jealous,  imperious,  and  grasping  ; 
and  he  had  embroiled  himself  with  most  of  the  Milanese  lords, 
amongst  others-  with  the  veteran  J.  J.  Trivulzio,  who,  under 
Charles  VIII.  and  Louis  XII.,  had  done  France  such  great  service 
in  Italy.  When  he  set  out  to  go  and  take  the  command  in  Italy, 
he  found  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  numerous  indeed,  but 
badly  equipped,  badly  paid,  and  at  grips  with  Prosper  Colonna,  the 
most  able  amongst  the  chiefs  of  the  coalition  formed  at  this 
juncture  between  Charles  V.  and  Pope  Leo  X.  against  the  French. 

Lautrec  did  not  succeed  in  preventing  Milan  from  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  Imperialists,  and,  after  an  uncertain  campaign  of 
some  months’  duration,  he  lost  at  La  Bicocca,  near  Monza,  on  the 


250 


History  of  France. 


Death  of 
Semblan- 
cay. 


Constable 
de  Bour- 
bon’s 
treachery 


Policy  of 
Francis  I. 


27th  of  April,  1522,  a battle,  which  left  in  the  power  of  Francis  I., 
in  Lombardy,  only  the  citadels  of  Milan,  Cremona,  and  Novara. 
The  funds  for  the  payment  of  the  army  had  been  sent,  but  Louis 
of  Savoy  had  kept  them  back  out  of  hatred  for  Lautrec’s  sister,  the 
Duchess  of  Chateaubriand,  who,  at  that  time,  was  all  powerful  over 
the  mind  of  Francis  I.  The  king  then  allowed  the  surintendant 
Semblan£ay,  who  was  accused  of  that  crime,  to  perish  on  the  gallows. 
The  same  princess  drove  by  her  injustice  and  partiality  the 
Constable  de  Bourbon  to  enter  upon  a plot  against  the  safety  of 
the  State.  As  M.  Michelet  remarks,  the  very  existence  of  France 
as  a kingdom  was  endangered  by  this  conspiracy.  Bourbon  had 
promised  Charles  V.  that  he  would  attack  Burgundy  as  soon  as 
Francis  I.  had  crossed  the  Alps,  and  so  bring  about  the  rebellion  of 
five  provinces  which  he  believed  were  entirely  at  his  discretion  ; 
the  kingdom  of  Provence  was  to  be  re-established  on  his  behallj 
and  France,  divided  between  Spain  and  England,  would  have  lost 
for  ever  its  political  importance. 

According  to  what  appears,  Bourbon  had  harboured  a design  of 
commencing  his  enterprise  with  a very  bold  stroke.  Being 
informed  that  Francis  I.  was  preparing  to  go  in  person  and  wage 
war  upon  Italy,  he  had  resolved  to  carry  him  off  on  the  road  to 
Lyons,  and,  when  once  he  had  the  king  in  his  hands,  he  flattered 
himself  he  would  do  as  he  pleased  with  the  kingdom.  If  his 
attempt  were  unsuccessful,  he  would  bide  his  time  until  Francis  I. 
was  engaged  in  Milaness,  Charles  Y.  had  entered  Guienne  and 
Henry  VIII.  was  in  Picardy  ; he  would  then  assemble  a thousand 
men-at-arms,  six  thousand  foot  and  twelve  thousand  lanzknechts, 
and  would  make  for  the  Alps,  to  cut  the  king  off  from  any  com- 
munication with  France.  This  plan  rested  upon  the  assumption 
that  the  king  would,  as  he  had  announced,  leave  the  constable  in 
France  with  an  honourable  title  and  an  apparent  share  in  the 
government  of  the  kingdom,  though  really  isolated  and  debarred 
from  action.  But  Francis  had  full  cognizance  of  the  details  of 
the  conspiracy  through  two  Norman  gentlemen  whom  the  constable 
had  imprudently  tried  to  get  to  join  in  it,  and  who,  not  content 
with  refusing,  had  revealed  the  matter  at  confession  to  the  bishop 
of  Lisieux,  who  had  lost  no  time  in  giving  information  to  sire  de 
Breze,  grand  seneschal  of  Normandy.  Breze  at  once  reported  it  to 
the  king.  Under  such  grave  and  urgent  circumstances,  Francis  I. 
behaved  on  the  one  hand  with  more  prudence  and  efficiency  than 
he  had  yet  displayed,  and  on  the  other  with  his  usual  levity  and 
indulgence  towards  his  favourites.  Abandoning  his  expedition  in 
person  into  Italy,  he  first  concerned  himself  for  that  internal 


France  threatened  by  the  Imperialists.  251 

security  of  his  kingdom,  which  was  threatened  on  the  east  and 
north  by  the  Imperialists  and  the  English,  and  on  the  south  by  the 
Spaniards,  all  united  in  considerable  force  and  already  in  motion. 

Francis  opposed  to  them  in  the  east  and  north  the  young  Count 
Claude  of  Guise,  the  first  celebrity  amongst  his  celebrated  race, 
the  veteran  Louis  de  la  Tremoille,  the  most  tried  of  all  his 
warriors,  and  the  duke  of  Yendome,  head  of  the  younger  branch 
of  the  House  of  Bourbon.  Into  the  south  he  sent  Marshal  de 
Lautrec,  who  was  more  brave  than  successful,  but  of  proved  fidelity.  Northern 
All  these  captains  acquitted  themselves  honourably.  Claude  of  vlded^  ^ 
Guise  defeated  a body  of  twelve  thousand  lanzknechts  who  had  Guise  and 
already  penetrated  into  Champagne ; he  hurled  them  back  into  ?jj3Tr^m0‘ 
Lorraine  and  dispersed  them  beneath  the  walls  of  the  little  town 
of  Heufchateau,  where  the  princesses  and  ladies  of  Lorraine, 
showing  themselves  at  the  windows,  looked  on  and  applauded 
their  discomfiture.  La  Tremoille’s  only  forces  were  very  inferior  to 
the  thirty-five  thousand  Imperialists  or  English  who  had  entered 
Picardy ; but  he  managed  to  make  of  his  small  garrisons  such 
prompt  and  skilful  use  that  the  invaders  were  unable  to  get  hold 
of  a single  place,  and  advanced  somewhat  heedlessly  to  the  very 
banks  of  the  Oise,  whence  the  alarm  spread  rapidly  to  Paris.  The 
duke  of  Yendome,  whom  the  king  at  once  despatched  thither 
with  a small  body  of  men-at-arms,  marched  night  and  day  to  the 
assistance  of  the  Parisians,  harangued  the  parliament  and  Hotel 
de  Yille  vehemently  on  the  conspiracy  of  the  constable  de  Bourbon, 
and  succeeded  so  well  in  reassuring  them,  that  companies  of  the  city- 
militia  eagerly  joined  his  troops,  and  the  foreigners,  in  dread  of 
finding  themselves  hemmed  in,  judged  it  prudent  to  fall  back, 
leaving  Picardy  in  a state  of  equal  irritation  and  devastation.  In 
the  south,  Lautrec,  after  having  made  head  for  three  days  and 
three  nights  against  the  attacks  of  a Spanish  army  which  had 
crossed  the  Pyrenees  under  the  orders  of  the  constable  of  Castille, 
forced  it  to  raise  the  siege  and  beat  a retreat.  Everywhere,  in  the 
provinces  as  well  as  at  the  court,  the  feudal  nobility,  chieftains  and 
simple  gentlemen,  remained  faithful  to  the  king ; the  magistrates 
and  the  people  supported  the  military  ; it  was  the  whole  nation  that 
rose  against  one  great  lord,  who,  for  his  own  purposes,  was  making 
alliance  with  foreigners  against  the  king  and  the  country. 

In  respect  of  Italy,  Francis  I.  was  less  wise  and  less  successful.  Italian 
Hot  only  did  he  persist  in  the  stereotyped  madness  of  the  conquest  a 
of  Milaness  and  the  kingdom  of  Haples,  but  abandoning  for  the 
moment  the  prosecution  of  it  in  person,  he  entrusted  it  to  his 
favourite,  Admiral  Bonnivet,  a brave  soldier,  alternately  rash  and 


History  of  France. 


backward,  presumptuous  and  irresolute,  who  had  already  lost  credit 
by  the  mistakes  he  had  committed,  and  the  reverses  he  had  experi- 
enced in  that  arena.  The  campaign  of  1524  in  Italy,  brilliant  as 
was  its  beginning,  what  with  the  number  and  the  fine  appearance 
Compaign  of  the  troops  under  Bonnivet’s  orders,  was,  as  it  went  on,  nothing 
Blundersof  a series  °f  hesitations,  contradictory  movements,  blunders,  and 
theFrench.  checks,  which  the  army  itself  set  down  to  its  general’s  account. 

The  situation  of  the  French  army  before  Milan  was  now  becoming 
more  and  more,  not  insecure  only,  but  critical.  Bonnivet  considered 
it  his  duty  to  abandon  it  and  fall  back  towards  Piedmont,  where 
he  reckoned  upon  finding  a corps  of  five  thousand  Swiss  who  were 
coming  to  support  their  compatriots  engaged  in  the  service  of  France. 
Near  Bomagnano,  on  the  banks  of  the  Sesia,  the  retreat  was  hotly 
pressed  by  the  imperial  army,  the  command  of  which  had  been 
ultimately  given  by  Charles  Y.  to  the  constable  de  Bourbon,  with 
whom  were  associated  the  viceroy  of  Naples,  Charles  de  Lannoy, 
and  Ferdinand  d’ Avalos,  marquis  of  Pescara,  the  most  able  amongst 
the  Neapolitan  officers.  On  the  30th  of  April,  1524,  some  disorder 
took  place  in  the  retreat  of  the  French ; and  Bonnivet,  being 
severely  wounded,  had  to  give  up  the  command  to  the  count  of 
St.  Pol  and  to  Chevalier  Bayard.  Bayard,  last  as  well  as  first  in 
the  fight,  according  to  his  custom,  charged  at  the  head  of  some 
men-at-arms  upon  the  Imperialists  who  were  pressing  the  French 
Death  of  too  closely,  when  he  was  himself  struck  by  a shot  from  an  arquebus, 
Bayard  which  shattered  his  reins.  “ Jesus,  my  God,”  he  cried,  “ I am 
(April  30).  then  took  his  sword  by  the  handle,  and  kissed  the 

cross-hilt  of  it  as  the  sign  of  the  cross,  saying  aloud  as  he  did  so  : 
“ Have  pity  on  me,  0 God,  according  to  Thy  great  mercy  ” (. Miserere 
mei,  Deus,  secundum  magnam  misericordiam  tuani).  The  constable 
de  Bourbon,  being  informed  of  his  wmund,  came  to  him,  saying, 
“ Bayard,  my  friend,  I am  sore  distressed  at  your  mishap  : there  is 
nothing  for  it  but  patience  ; give  not  way  to  melancholy  ; I will 
send  in  quest  of  the  best  surgeons  in  this  country,  and,  by  God’s 
help,  you  will  soon  be  healed.”  “My lord,”  answered  Bayard,  “there 
is  no  pity  for  me  ; I die,  having  done  my  duty ; but  I have  pity  for 
you,  to  see  you  serving  against  your  king,  your  country,  and  your 
oath.”  Bourbon  withdrew  without  a word. 

The  French  army  continued  its  retreat  under  the  orders  of  the 
count  of  St.  Pol,  and  re-entered  France  by  wav  of  Suza  and  Brian- 
9on.  It  was  Francis  I.’s  third  time  of  losing  Milanese.  Charles  V., 
enchanted  at  the  news,  wrote  on  the  24th  of  May  to  Henry  VIII.  : 
“I  keep  you  advertised  of  the  good  opportunity  it  has  pleased  God 
to  offer  us  of  giving  a full  account  of  our  common  enemy.  I pray 


Invasion  of  Provence. 


253 


you  to  carry  into  effect  on  your  side  that  which  you  and  I have  for 
a long  while  desired,  wherein  I for  my  part  will  exert  myself  with 
all  my  might.  According  to  a plan  settled  by  him  with  Henry 
VIII.  and  Charles  V.,  Bourbon  entered  Provence  on  the  7th  of  July,  ^ j)  1524, 
1524,  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  eighteen  thousand  men,  which  was  Bourbon 
to  be  joined  before  long  by  six  or  seven  thousand  more.  He  had 
no  difficulty  in  occupying  Antibes,  Prejus,  Draguignan,  Brignoles, 
and  even  Aix ; and  he  already  began  to  assume  the  title  of  count 
of  Provence,  whilst  preparing  for  a rapid  march  along  by  the  Rhone 
and  a rush  upon  Lyons,  the  chief  aim  of  the  campaign ; but  the 
Spanish  generals  whom  Charles  V.  had  associated  with  him,  and 
amongst  others  the  most  eminent  of  them,  the  marquis  of  Pescara, 
peremptorily  insisted  that,  according  to  their  master’s  order,  he 
should  besiege  and  take  Marseilles.  Charles  V.  cared  more  for  the 
coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  than  for  those  of  the  Channel ; he  flat- 
tered himself  that  he  would  make  of  Marseilles  a southern  Calais, 
which  should  connect  Germany  and  Spain,  and  secure  their  com- 
munications, political  and  commercial.  Bourbon  objected  and 
resisted ; it  was  the  abandonment  of  his  general  plan  for  this  war, 
and  a painful  proof  how  powerless  he  was  against  the  wishes  of  the 
two  sovereigns  of  whom  he  was  only  the  tool,  although  they  called 
him  their  ally.  Being  forced  to  yield,  he  began  the  siege  of  Mar- 
seilles on  the  19th  of  August.  The  place,  though  but  slightly 
fortified  and  ill  supplied,  made  an  energetic  resistance;  the  name 
and  the  presence  of  Bourbon  at  the  head  of  the  besiegers  excited 
patriotism ; the  burgesses  turned  soldiers ; the  cannon  of  the 
besiegers  laid  open  their  walls,  but  they  threw  up  a second  line,  an 
earthen  rampart,  called  the  ladies'  rampart,  because  all  the  women 
in  the  city  had  worked  at  it.  The  siege  was  protracted  ; the  rein- 
forcements expected  by  Bourbon  did  not  arrive ; a shot  from 
Marseilles  penetrated  into  Pescara’s  tent,  and  killed  his  almoner 
and  two  of  his  gentlemen.  Bourbon  rushed  up.  “ Don’t  you  see  % ” 
said  Pescara  to  him  ironically  : “ here  are  the  keys  sent  to  you  by 
the  timid  consuls  of  Marseilles.”  Bourbon  resolved  to  attempt  an 
assault ; the  lanzknechts  and  the  Italians  refused ; Bourbon  asked 
Pescara  for  his  Spaniards,  but  Pescara  would  only  consent  on 
condition  that  the  breach  was  reconnoitred  afresh.  Seven  soldiers 
were  told  off  for  this  duty ; four  were  killed  and  the  other  three 
returned  wounded,  reporting  that  between  the  open  breach  and  the 
intrenchment  extended  a large  ditch  filled  with  fireworks  and  de-  Defeate<l 
fended  by  several  batteries.  The  assembled  general  officers  looked  before 
at  one  another  in  silence.  “ Well,  gentlemen,”  said  Pescara,  “ you  ^arsehlea 
see  that  the  folks  of  Marseilles  keep  a table  well  spread  for  our 


254 


History  of  France. 


reception ; if  you  like  to  go  and  sup  in  paradise,  you  are  your  own 
masters  so  far ; as  for  me,  who  have  no  desire  to  go  thither  just 
yet,  I am  off.  But  believe  me,”  he  added  seriously,  “ we  had  best 
return  to  Milaness  ; we  have  left  that  country  without  a soldier ; 
we  might  possibly  find  our  return  cut  off.”  Whereupon- Pescara 
got  up  and  went  out;  and  the  majority  of  the  officers  followed 
him.  Bourbon  remained  almost  alone,  divided  between  anger  and 
shame.  Almost  as  he  quitted  this  scene  he  heard  that  Francis  I. 
was  advancing  towards  Provence  with  an  army.  The  king  had 
suddenly  decided  to  go  to  the  succour  of  Marseilles,  which  was 
making  so  good  a defence.  Nothing  could  be  a bitterer  pill  for 
Bourbon  than  to  retire  before  Francis  I.,  -whom  he  had  but  lately 
promised  to  dethrone ; but  his  position  condemned  him  to  suffer 
every  thing,  without  allowing  him  the  least  hesitation;  and  on  the 
The  siege  of  28th  of  September,  1524,  he  raised  the  siege  of  Marseilles  and 
is^raTsed68  resume(^  the  road  to  Italy,  harassed  even  beyond  Toulon,  by  the 
(Sept.  28).  French  advance-guard,  eager  in  its  pursuit  of  the  traitor  even  jnore 
than  of  the  enemy. 

After  Bourbon’s  precipitate  retreat,  the  position  of  Francis  I. 
was  a good  one.  He  had  triumphed  over  conspiracy  and  invasion ; 
the  conspiracy  had  no’t  been  catching,  and  the  invasion  had  failed 
on  all  the  frontiers.  If  the  king,  in  security  within  his  kingdom, 
had  confined  himself  to  it,  whilst  applying  himself  to  the  task  of 
governing  it  well,  he  would  have  obtained  all  the  strength  he 
required  to  make  himself  feared  and  deferred  to  abroad.  For  a 
while  he  seemed  to  have  entertained  this  design  : on  the  25th  of 
September,  1523,  he  published  an  important  ordinance  for  the 
repression  of  disorderliness  and  outrages  on  the  part  of  the  soldiery 
in  France  itself ; and,  on  the  28th  of  December  following,  a regu- 
lation as  to  the  administration  of  finances  established  a control 
Financial  over  various  exchequer-officers,  and  announced  the  king’s 
regula-  intention  of  putting  some  limits  to  his  personal  expenses,  “ not 
the  including,  however,”  said  he,  “the  ordinary  run  of  our  little 
necessities  and  pleasures.”  This  singular  reservation  was  the 
faithful  exponent  of  his  character ; he  was  licentious  at  home  and 
adventurous  abroad, being  swayed  by  his  coarse  passions  and  his  war- 
like fancies.  When  Bourbon  and  the  imperial  army  had  evacuated 
Provence,  the  king  loudly  proclaimed  his  purpose  of  pursuing  them 
into  Italy,  and  of  once  more  going  forth  to  the  conquest  of 
Milaness,  and  perhaps  also  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  that  incurable 
craze  of  French  kings  in  the  sixteenth  century.  In  vain  did  his 
most  experienced  warriors,  La  Tremoille  and  Chabannes,  exert 
themselves  to  divert  him  from  such  a campaign,  for  which  he  was 


Francis  /.  crosses  the  Alps . 


255 


not  prepared ; in  vain  did  his  mother  herself  write  to  him,  begging 
him  to  wait  and  see  her,  for  that  she  had  important  matters  to 
impart  to  him.  He  answered  hy  sending  her  the  ordinance  which 
conferred  upon  her  the  regency  during  his  absence  ; and,  at  the 
end  of  October,  1524,  he  had  crossed  the  Alps,  anxious  to  go  and 
risk  in  Milaness  the  stake  he  had  just  won  in  Provence  against 
Charles  Y. 

Arriving  speedily  in  front  of  Milan,  he  there  found  the  imperial 
army  which  had  retired  before  him  ; there  was  a fight  in  one  of  the 
outskirts  ; but  Bourbon  recognized  the  impossibility  of  maintaining  Francis  I. 
a siege  in  a town  of  which  the  fortifications  were  in  ruins,  and  with  invades 
disheartened  troops.  On  the  line  of  march  which  they  had  pursued,  once 
from  Lodi  to  Milan,  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen  but  cuirasses,  (October), 
arquebuses  tossed  hither  and  thither,  dead  horses,  and  men  dying 
of  fatigue  and  scarcely  able  to  drag  themselves  along.  Bourbon 
evacuated  Milan  and,  taking  a resolution  as  bold  as  it  was  singular, 
abruptly  abandoned,  so  far  as  he  was  personally  concerned,  that 
defeated  and  disorganized  army,  to  go  and  seek  for  and  reorganize 
another  at  a distance.  Francis  I.’s  veteran  generals,  Marshals  la 
Tremoille  and  Chabannes,  had  advised  him  to  pursue  without 
pause  the  beaten  and  disorganized  imperial  army,  but  Admiral 
Bonnivet,  “ whose  counsel  the  king  made  use  of  more  than  of 
any  other,”  says  Du  Bellay,  pressed  Francis  1.  to  make  himself 
master,  before  every  thing,  of  the  principal  strong  places  in  Lom- 
bardy, especially  of  Pavia,  the  second  city  in  the  duchy  of  Milan. 

Francis  followed  this  counsel,  and  on  the  26th  of  August,  1524, 
twenty  days  after  setting  out  from  Aix  in  Provence,  he  appeared  Battle  of 
writh  his  army  in  front  of  Pavia.  On  learning  this  resolution,  Pavia. 
Pescara  joyously  exclaimed,  “We  were  vanquished;  a little  while  (0ct-  28). 
and  we  shall  be  vanquishers.”  Pavia  had  for  governor  a Spanish 
veteran,  Antony  de  Leyva,  who  had  distinguished  himself  at  the 
battle  of  Ravenna,  in  1512,  by  his  vigilance  and  indomitable 
tenacity:  and  he  held  out  for  nearly  four  months,  first  against 
assaults  and  then  against  investment  by  the  French  army.  Francis  I. 
decided  to  accept  battle  as  soon  as  it  should  be  offered  him.  The 
imperial  leaders,  at  a council  held  on  the  23rd  of  February,  deter- 
mined to  offer  it  next  day. 

The  two  armies  were  of  pretty  equal  strength  : they  had  each 
from  twenty  to  five  and  twenty  thousand  infantry,  French, 

Germans,  Spaniards,  lanzknechts,  and  Swiss.  Francis  I.  had  the 
advantage  in  artillery  and  in  heavy  cavalry,  called  at  that  time  the 
gendarmerie,  that  is  to  say,  the  corps  of  men-at-arms  in  heavy 
armour  with  their  servants ; but  his  troops  were  inferior  in 


255 


History  of  France. 


effectives  to  the  Imperialists,  and  Charles  Y.’s  two  generals, 
Bourbon  and  Pescara,  were,  as  men  of  war,  far  superior  to 
Francis  I.  and  his  favourite  Bonnivet.  After  a desperate  struggle 
the  French  were  defeated ; the  gendarmerie  gave  way,  and  the 
German  lanzknechts  cut  to  pieces  the  Swiss  auxiliaries.  One  of 
Bourbon’s  most  intimate  confidants,  the  lord  of  Pomperant,  who, 
in  1523,  had  accompanied  the  constable  in  his  flight  through 
France,  came  up  at  this  critical  moment,  recognized  the  king, 
and,  heating  off  the  soldiers  with  his  sword,  ranged  himself  at  the 
king’s  side,  represented  to  him  the  necessity  of  yielding,  and  pressed 
him  to  surrender  to  the  duke  of  Bourbon,  who  was  not  far  off. 
“ Ho,”  said  the  king,  “ rather  die  than  pledge  my  faith  to  a traitor  : 
where  is  the  viceroy  of  Naples  h ” It  took  some  time  to  find 
Lannoy ; hut  at  last  he  arrived  and  put  one  knee  on  the  ground 
before  Francis  I.,  who  handed  his  sword  to  him.  Lannoy  took 
it  with  marks  of  the  most  profound  respect,  and  immediately 

Francis  I.  gave  him  another.  The  battle  was  over,  and  Francis  I.  was 

Chafes1  V Charles  V.’s  prisoner.  , 

He  had  shown  himself  an  imprudent  and  unskilful  general,  hut 
at  the  same  time  a hero.  His  conquerors,  both  officers  and  privates, 
could  not  help,  whilst  they  secured  his  person,  showing  their  admi- 
ration for  him.  When  he  sat  down  to  table,  after  having  had  his 
wounds,  which  were  slight,  attended  to,  Bourbon  approached  him 
respectfully  and  presented  him  with  a dinner-napkin ; and  the  king 
took  it  without  embarrassment,  and  with  frigid  and  curt  politeness. 
He  next  day  granted  him  an  interview,  at  which  an  accommodation 
took  place  with  due  formalities  on  both  sides,  hut  nothing  more. 
Francis  asked  to  he  excused  from  entering  Pavia,  that  he  might  not  he 
a gazing-stock  in  a town  that  he  had  so  nearly  taken.  He  was, 
accordingly,  conducted  to  Pizzighittone,  a little  fortress  between 
Milan  and  Cremona.  He  wrote  thence  two  letters,  one  to  his 
mother  the  regent,  and  the  other  to  Charles  V.,  which  are  here 
given  word  for  word,  because  they  so  well  depict  his  character  and 
the  state  of  his  mind  in  his  hour  of  calamity  : — 

“ 1.  To  the  regent  of  Frame:  Madame,  that  you  may  know  how 
mother,  stands  the  rest  of  my  misfortune  : there  is  nothing  in  the  world  left  to 
me  but  honour  and  my  life , which  is  safe.  And  in  order  that,  in 
your  adversity,  this  news  might  bring  you  some  little  comfort,  I 
prayed  for  permission  to  write  you  this  letter,  which  was  readily 
granted  me ; entreating  you,  in  the  exercise  of  your  accustomed 
prudence,  to  be  pleased  not  to  do  any  thing  rash,  for  I have  hope 
after  all  that  God  will  not  forsake  me.  Commending  to  you  my 
children  your  grandchildren,  and  entreating  you  to  give  the  hearer 


257 


Treaty  of  Madrid . 

a free  passage,  going  and  returning,  to  Spain,  for  he  is  going  to  the 
emperor  to  learn  how  it  is  his  pleasure  that  I should  be  treated.” 

2.  “ To  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  : If  liberty  had  been  sooner  an)j  tk9 
granted  me  by  my  cousin  the  viceroy,  I should  not  have  delayed  emperor, 
so  long  to  do  my  duty  towards  you,  according  as  the  time  and 
circumstances  in  which  I am  placed  require ; having  no  other 
comfort  under  my  misfortune  than  a reliance  on  your  goodness, 
which,  if  it  so  please,  shall  employ  the  results  of  victory  with 
honourableness  towards  me  ; having  steadfast  hope  that  your  virtue 
would  not  willingly  constrain  me  to  anything  that  was  not  honour- 
able ; entreating  you  to  consult  your  own  heart  as  to  what  you 
shall  be  pleased  to  do  with  me  ; feeling  sure  that  the  will  of  a 
prince  such  as  you  are  cannot  be  coupled  with  aught  but  honour 
and  magnanimity.  Wherefore,  if  it  please  you  to  have  so  much 
honourable  pity  as  to  answer  for  the  safety  which  a captive  king 
of  France  deserves  to  find,  whom  there  is  a desire  to  render  friendly 
and  not  desperate,  you  may  be  sure  of  obtaining  an  acquisition 
instead  of  a useless  prisoner,  and  of  making  a king  of  France  your 
slave  for  ever.” 

The  former  of  these  two  letters  has  had  its  native  hue  somewhat 
altered  in  the  majority  of  histories,  in  which  it  has  been  compressed 
into  those  eloquent  words,  “ All  is  lost  save  honour.”  The  second 
needs  no  comment  to  make  apparent  what  it  lacks  of  kingly  pride 
and  personal  dignity.  Beneath  the  warrior’s  heroism  there  was  in 
the  qualities  of  Francis  I.  more  of  what  is  outwardly  brilliant  and 
winning  than  of  real  strength  and  solidity. 

Taken  prisoner  to  Spain,  the  unfortunate  monarch  was  restored  to  Treaty  of 
liberty  only  on  conditions  of  his  signing  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  by  Madrid, 
which  he  abandoned  Italy,  Burgundy,  Artois,  Flanders,  besides 
restoring  to  the  constable  of  Bourbon  his  confiscated  estates.  Ho 
likewise  promised  to  marry  the  sister  of  Charles  V.,  and  gave  both 
his  sons  as  hostages. 

On  becoming  king  again  he  fell  under  the  dominion  of  three 
personal  sentiments,  which  exercised  a decisive  influence  upon  his 
conduct  and,  consequently,  upon  the  destiny  of  France : joy  at  his 
liberation,  a thirsting  for  revenge,  we  will  not  say  for  vengeance 
to  be  wreaked  on  Charles  V.,  and  the  burden  of  the  engagement 
he  had  contracted  at  Madrid  in  order  to  recover  his  liberty,  alter- 
nately swayed  him.  The  envoys  of  Charles  V.,  with  Lannoy,  the  Meeting  at 
viceroy  of  Naples  at  their  head,  went  to  Cognac  to  demand  execu-  Cognao. 
tion  of  the  treaty  of  Madrid.  Francis  waited,  ere  he  gave  them 
an  answer,  for  the  arrival  of  the  delegates  from  the  estates  of  Bur- 
gundy, whom  he  had  summoned  to  have  their  opinion  as  to  the 


253 


History  of  France . 


The  dele- 
gates from 
Burgundy 
repudiate 
the  cession 
of  the 
duchy. 


A.D.  1527. 
Meeting  of 
the  Parlia- 
ment in 
Pari3. 


cession  of  the  duchy.  These  delegates,  meeting  at  Cognac  in  June, 
1527,  formally  repudiated  the  cession,  being  opposed,  they  said,  to 
the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  to  the  righ's  of  the  king,  who  could  not 
by  his  sole  authority  alienate  any  portion  of  his  dominions,  and  to 
his  coronation-oath,  which  superseded  his  oaths  made  at  Madrid. 
Francis  invited  the  envoys  of  Charles  V.  to  a solemn  meeting  of 
his  court  and  council  present  at  Cognac,  at  which  the  delegates 
from  Burgundy  repeated  their  protest.  Whilst  availing  himself  of 
this  declaration  as  an  insurmountable  obstacle  to  the  complete  exe- 
cution of  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  Francis  offered  to  give  two  million 
crowns  for  the  redemption  of  Burgundy,  and  to  observe  the  other 
arrangements  of  the  treaty,  including  the  relinquishment  of  Italy 
and  his  marriage  with  the  sister  of  Charles  Y.  Charles  formally 
rejected  this  proposal,  and  required  of  him  to  keep  his  oath. 

However  determined  he  was,  at  bottom,  to  elude  the  strict  exe- 
cution of  the  treaty,  of  Madrid,  Francis  was  anxious  to  rebut  the 
charge  of  perjury  by  shifting  the  responsibility  on  to  the  shoulders 
of  the  people  themselves  and  their  representatives.  He  did  not 
like  to  summon  the  states  general  of  the  kingdom  and  recognize 
their  right  as  well  as  their  power  ; but,  after  the  meeting  at  Cognac, 
he  went  to  Paris,  and,  on  the  12th  of  December,  1527,  the  parlia- 
ment met  in  state  with  the  adjunct  of  the  princes  of  the  blood,  a 
great  number  of  cardinals,  bishops,  noblemen,  deputies  from  the 
parliaments  of  Toulouse,  Bordeaux,  Rouen,  Dijon,  Grenoble  and 
Aix,  and  the  municipal  body  of  Paris.  In  presence  of  this  assem- 
bly the  king  went  over  the  history  of  his  reign,  his  expeditions  in 
Italy,  his  alternate  successes  and  reverses  and  his  captivity.  “ If 
my  subjects  have  suffered,”  he  said,  “ I have  suffered  with  them.” 
He  then  caused  to  be  read  the  letters  patent  whereby  he  had  abdi- 
cated and  transferred  the  crown  to  his  son  the  dauphin,  devoting 
himself  to  captivity  for  ever.  He  explained  the  present  condition 
of  the  finances,  and  what  he  could  furnish  for  the  ransom  of  his 
sons  detained  as  hostages ; and  he  ended  by  offering  to  return  as  a 
prisoner  to  Spain  if  no  other  way  could  be  found  out  of  a difficult 
position,  for  he  acknowledged  having  given  his  word,  adding, 
however,  that  he  had  thought  it  pledged  him  to  nothing  since  it 
had  not  been  given  freely. 

This  last  argument  was  of  no  value  morally  or  diplomatically;  but 
in  his  bearing  and  his  language  Francis  I.  displayed  grandeur  and 
emotion.  The  assembly  also  showed  emotion ; they  were  four  days 
deliberating ; with  some  slight  diversity  of  form  the  various  bodies 
present  came  to  the  same  conclusion ; and,  on  the  16th  of  December, 
1627,  the  parliament  decided  that  the  king  was  not  bound  either 


259 


The  Holy  League. 

to  return  to  Spain  or  to  execute,  as  to  that  matter,  the  treaty  of 
Madrid,  and  that  he  might  with  full  sanction  and  justice  levy  on  his 
subjects  two  millions  of  crowns  for  the  ransom  of  his  sons  and  the 
other  requirements  of  the  State. 

Before  inviting  such,  manifestations  Francis  I.  had  taken  measures 
to  prevent  them  from  being  in  vain.  As  early  as  the  22nd  of  May,  A.D.  1526 
1526,  whilst  he  was  still  deliberating  with  his  court  and  parliament  Jhe  Holy 
as  to  how  he  should  behave  towards  Charles  V.  touching  the  treaty 
of  Madrid,  Francis  I.  entered  into  the  Holy  League  with  the  pope, 
the  Venetians  and  the  duke  of  Milan  for  the  independence  of  Italy; 
and  on  the  8th  of  August  following  Francis  I.  and  Henry  VIII. 
undertook,  by  a special  treaty,  to  give  no  assistance  one  against  the 
other  to  Charles  V.,  and  Henry  VIII.  promised  to  exert  all  his 
efforts  to  get  Francis  I.’s  two  sons,  left  as  hostages  in  Spain,  set  at 
liberty.  Thus  the  war  between  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.,  after 
fifteen  months’  suspension,  resumed  its  course. 

It  lasted  three  years  in  Italy,  from  1526  to  1529,  without  inter-  1526-1529. 
ruption,  but  also  without  result : it  was  one  of  those  wars  which  Tiie  wa5 
are  prolonged  from  a difficulty  of  living  in  peace  rather  than  from 
any  serious  intention,  on  either  side,  of  pursuing  a clear  and  definite 
object.  The  chief  events  connected  with  this  period  are  the  syste- 
matic pillage  of  Italy  by  a lawless  soldiery  led  on  by  Leyva, 

Bourbon  and  the  Lutheran  George  Frondsberg,  who  w~ore  habitually 
round  his  neck  a gold  chain,  destined,  he  said,  to  strangle  the  pope. 

Bourbon  was  killed  whilst  leading  on  that  rabble  to  the  storming 
of  Borne ; the  captivity  of  the  pope  and  the  horrors  of  which  the 
eternal  city  was  the  scene,  excited  universal  indignation,  and 
Francis  I.  thought  the  moment  favourable  to  march  into  Italy 
troops  which,  a few  months  before,  would  have  saved  both  Borne 
and  Milan.  Hampered  for  want  of  money,  Lautrec  could  do 
nothing,  and  the  plague  moreover  decimated  his  army.  Nothing, 
however,  would  have  been  lost  if  the  communications  between  Italy 
and  France  had  remained  open.  But  Francis  committed  the  signal 
blunder  of  offending  the  Genoese  Doiia,  who  was  admiral  of  the 
French  fleet  and  who  was  considered  as  the  first  sailor  of  the  age. 

The  engagement  of  that  foreigner  had  just  terminated,  and,  of 
course,  instead  of  renewing  it,  Doria  employed  against  France  his 
influence  and  his  personal  courage.  Charles  having  accused  the 
king  of  France  of  treachery,  the  latter,  in  his  turn,  called  his  rival 
a liar,  challenged  him  to  single  combat,  and  allowed  him  the  choice 
of  weapons.  But  the  era  of  great  nations  and  great  contests  was 
beginning,  and  one  is  inclined  to  believe  that  Francis  I.  and  Charles 
V.  were  themselves  aware  that  their  mutual  challenges  would  not 

s 2 


26o 


A.D.  1529. 
Peace  of 
Cambrai. 


A.D.  1534. 
Death  of 
Pope  Cle- 
ment VII. 


A.D.  1532. 
Interview 
between 
Francis  I. 
and  Henry 
VIII. 


History  of  France . 

come  to  any  personal  encounter.  The  war  which  continued  bet  ween 
them  in  Italy  was  not  much  more  serious  or  decisive ; both  sides 
were  weary  of  it,  and  neither  one  nor  the  other  of  the  two  sovereigns 
espied  any  great  chances  of  success.  The  Trench  army  was  wasting 
itself,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  upon  petty  inconclusive  engage- 
ments; its  commander,  Lautrec,  died  of  the  plague  on  the  15th  of 
August,  1528  ; a desire  for  peace  became  day  by  day  stronger  ; it 
was  made,  first  of  all,  at  Barcelona,  on  the  20th  of  June,  1529, 
between  Charles  V.  and  Pope  Clement  VII. ; and  then  a conference 
was  opened  at  Cambrai  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  it  about  between 
Charles  Y.  and  Trancis  I.  likewise.  Two  women,  Francis  I.’s 
mother  and  Charles  V.’s  aunt,  Louise  of  Savoy  and  Margaret  of 
Austria,  had  the  real  negotiation  of  it,  and  it  was  called  accordingly 
the  ladies'  peace.  Though  morally  different  and  of  very  unequal 
worth,  they  both  had  minds  of  a rare  order  and  trained  to  recognize 
political  necessities  and  not  to  attempt  any  but  possible  successes. 
They  did  not  long  survive  their  work : Margaret  of  Austria  died  on 
the  1st  of  December,  1530,  and  Louise  of  Savoy  on  the  22nd  of 
September,  1531.  All  the  great  political  actors  seemed  hurrying 
away  from  the  stage,  as  if  the  drama  were  approaching  its  end. 
Pope  Clement  VII.  died  on  the  26th  of  September,  1534.  He  was 
a man  of  sense  and  moderation  ; he  tried  to  restore  to  Italy  her 
independence,  but  he  forgot  that  a moderate  policy  is,  above  all, 
that  which  requires  most  energy  and  perseverance.  These  two 
qualities  he  lacked  totally ; he  oscillated  from  one  camp  to  the 
other  without  ever  having  any  real  influence  anywhere.  A little 
before  his  death  he  made  France  a fatal  present ; for,  on  the  28th 
of  October,  1533,  he  married  his  niece  Catherine  de’  Medici  to 
Francis  I.’s  second  son,  Prince  Henry  of  Valois,  who  by  the  death 
of  his  elder  brother,  the  dauphin  Francis,  soon  afterwards  became 
heir  to  the  throne.  The  chancellor,  Anthony  Duprat,  too,  the 
most  considerable  up  to  that  time  amongst  the  advisers  of  Francis  I., 
died  on  the  9th  of  July,  1535.  In  the  civil  as  well  as  in  the 
military  class,  for  his  government  as  well  as  for  his  armies,  Francis  I. 
had,  at  this  time,  to  look  out  for  new  servants. 

The  ladies'  peace , concluded  at  Cambrai  in  1529,  lasted  up  to 
1536  ; incessantly  troubled,  however,  by  far  from  pacific  symptoms, 
proceedings,  and  preparations.  In  October,  1532,  Francis  I.  had, 
at  Calais,  an  interview  with  Henry  VIII.,  at  which  they  contracted 
a private  alliance  and  undertook  “ to  raise  between  them  an  army 
of  80,000  men  to  resist  the  Turk,  as  true  zealots  for  the  good  of 
Christendom .”  The  Turks,  in  fact,  under  their  great  sultan 
Soliman  II.,  were  constantly  threatening  and  invading  eastern 


Invasion  of  Provence . 


261 

Europe.  Charles  V.,  as  emperor  of  Germany,  was  far  more  exposed 
to  their  attacks  and  far  more  seriously  disquieted  by  them  than 
Francis  I.  and  Henry  VIII.  were  ; but  the  peril  that  hung  over 
him  in  the  East  urged  him  on  at  the  same  time  to  a further  deve- 
lopment of  ambition  and  strength ; in  order  to  defend  eastern 
Europe  against  the  Turks,  he  required  to  be  dominant  in  western 
Europe ; and  in  that  very  part  of  Europe  a large  portion  of  the 
population  were  disposed  to  wish  for  his  success,  for  they  required 
it  for  their  own  security. 

In  1536  all  the  combustibles  of  war  exploded;  in  the  month  of  A.D.  1536. 
February,  a French  army  entered  Piedmont  and  occupied  Turin ; provence°f 
and,  in  the  month  of  July,  Charles  V.  in  person  entered  Provence  by 
at  the  head  of  50,000  men.  Anne  de  Montmorency,  having  Charles  V. 
received  orders  to  defend  southern  France,  began  by  laying  it 
waste  in  order  that  the  enemy  might  not  be  able  to  live  in  it ; 
officers  had  orders  to  go  everywhere  and  “break  up  the  bake-houses 
and  mills,  burn  the  wheat  and  forage,  pierce  the  wine-casks  and 
ruin  the  wells  by  throwing  the  wheat  into  them  to  spoil  the  water.” 

In  certain  places  the  inhabitants  resisted  the  soldiers  charged  with 
this  duty ; elsewhere,  from  patriotism,  they  themselves  set  fire  to 
their  corn-ricks  and  pierced  their  casks.  Montmorency  made  up 
his  mind  to  defend,  on  the  whole  coast  of  Provence,  only  Marseilles 
and  Arles ; he  pulled  down  the  ramparts  of  the  other  towns,  which 
were  left  exposed  to  the  enemy.  For  two  months  Charles  V. 
prosecuted  this  campaign  without  a fight,  marching  through  the 
whole  of  Provence  an  army  which  fatigue,  shortness  of  provisions, 
sickness  and  ambuscades  were  decimating  ingloriously.  At  last  he 
decided  upon  retreating. 

On  returning  from  his  sorry  expedition,  Charles  V.  learned  that 
those  of  his  lieutenants  whom  he  had  charged  with  the  conduct  of 
a similar  invasion  in  the  north  of  France,  in  Picardy,  had  met  with 
no  greater  success  than  he  himself  in  Provence.  Queen  Mary  of 
Himgary,  his  sister  and  deputy  in  the  government  of  the  Low 
Countries,  advised  a local  truce  ; his  other  sister,  Eleanor,  the  queen 
of  France,  was  of  the  same  opinion ; Francis  I.  adopted  it ; and  the 
truce  in  the  north  was  signed  for  a period  of  three  months. 
Montmorency  signed  a similar  one  for  Piedmont.  It  was  agreed 
that  negotiations  for  a peace  should  be  opened  at  Locate,  in 
Roussillon,  and  that,  to  pursue  them,  Francis  should  go  and  take 
up  his  quarters  at  Montpellier  and  Charles  V.  at  Barcelona.  Pope 
Paul  III.  (Alexander  Farnese),  who,  on  the  13th  of  October,  1531, 
had  succeeded  Clement  VII.,  came  forward  as  mediator.  One  Interview 
month  afterwards,  Charles  and  Francis  met  at  Aigues-Mortes,  and  Mortes!66" 


262 


History  of  France, 


A.D.  1543. 
Alliance 
between 
Francis  I. 
and  Sultan 
Solimanll. 


A.D.  1544. 
Battle  of 
Ceresole. 


these  two  princes  who  had  treated  one  another  in  so  insulting  a 
manner,  exchanged  protestations  of  the  warmest  friendship.  The 
peace  lasted  six  years. 

Francis  I.  was  not  willing  to  positively  renounce  his  Italian 
conquests,  and  Charles  Y.  was  not  willing  to  really  give  them  up 
to  him.  Milaness  was  still,  in  Italy,  the  principal  object  of 
their  mutual  ambition.  Navarre,  in  the  south-east  of  France, 
and  the  Low  Countries  in  the  north,  gave  occasion  for  incessantly 
renewed  disputes  between  them.  The  two  sovereigns  sought 
for  combinations  which  would  allow  them  to  make,  one  to 
the  other,  the  desired  concessions,  whilst  still  preserving  pretexts 
for,  and  chances  of,  recovering  them.  Divers  projects  of  marriage 
between  their  children  or  near  relatives  were  advanced  with  that 
object,  but  nothing  came  of  them ; and,  after  two  years  and  a 
half  of  abortive  negotiations,  another  great  war,  the  fourth,  broke 
out  between  Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.,  for  the  same  causes  and 
with  the  same  by-ends  as  ever.  It  lasted  two  years,  from  1542  to 
1544,  with  alternations  of  success  and  reverse  on  either  side,  and 
several  diplomatic  attempts  to  embroil  in  it  the  different  European 
powers.  Francis  I.  concluded  an  alliance  in  1543  with  Sultan 
Soliman  II.,  and,  in  concert  with  French  vessels,  the  vessels  of  the 
pirate  Barbarossa  cruised  about  and  made  attacks  upon  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean.  On  the  other  hand,  on  the  11th  of 
February,  1543,  Charles  Y.  and  Henry  YIII.,  king  of  England, 
concluded  an  alliance  against  Francis  I.  and  the  Turks.  The 
unsuccess  which  had  attended  the  grand  expedition  conducted  by 
Charles  Y.  personally  in  1541,  with  the  view  of  attacking  Bar- 
barossa and  the  Mussulmans  in  Algiers  itself,  had  opened  his  eyes 
to  all  the  difficulty  of  such  enterprises,  and  he  wished  to  secure 
the  co-operation  of  a great  maritime  power  before  engaging  therein 
afresh.  He  at  the  same  time  convoked  a German  diet  at  Spires  in 
order  to  make  a strong  demonstration  against  the  alliance  between 
Francis  I.  and  the  Turks,  and  to  claim  the  support  of  Germany  in 
the  name  of  Christendom.  Ambassadors  from  the  duke  of  Savoy 
and  the  king  of  Denmark  appeared  in  support  of  the  propositions 
and  demands  of  Charles  Y.  The  diet  did  not  separate  until  it  had 
voted  24,000  foot  and  4000  horse  to  be  employed  against  France, 
and  had  forbidden  Germans,  under  severe  penalties,  to  take  service 
with  Francis  I.  In  1544  the  war  thus  became  almost  European, 
and  in  the  early  days  of  April  two  armies  were  concentrated  in 
Piedmont,  near  the  little  town  of  Ceresole,  the  Spanish  20,000 
strong  and  the  French  19,000 ; the  former  under  the  orders  of  the 
marquis  del  Guasto,  the  latter  under  those  of  the  count  d’Enghien  : 


The  Imperialists  and  the  English  in  France.  2 63 

both  ready  to  deliver  a battle  which  was,  according  to  one  side,  to 
preserve  Europe  from  the  despotic  sway  of  a single  master,  and, 
according  to  the  other,  to  protect  Europe  against  a fresh  invasion 
of  Mussulmans. 

The  battle  was  bravely  disputed  and  for  some  time  indecisive, 
even  in  the  opinion  of  the  anxious  Count  D’Enghien,  who  was  for 
a while  in  an  awkward  predicament ; but  the  ardour  of  the  Gascons 
and  the  firmness  of  the  Swiss  prevailed,  and  the  French  army  was 
victorious.  This  success,  however,  had  not  the  results  that  might 
have  been  expected.  The  war  continued  ; Charles  V.  transferred  The  Ger- 
his  principal  efforts  therein  to  the  north,  on  the  frontiers  of  the  J^gJ^giish 
Low  Countries  and  France,  having  concluded  an  alliance  with  invade 
Henry  VIII.  for  acting  in  concert  and  on  the  offensive.  Champagne  France, 
and  Picardy  were  simultaneously  invaded  by  the  Germans  and  the 
English  ; Henry  VIII.  took  Boulogne  ; Charles  V.  advanced  as 
far  as  Chateau- Thierry  and  threatened  Paris.  Great  was  the  con- 
sternation there;  Francis  I.  hurried  up  from  Fontainebleau  and 
rode  about  the  streets,  accompanied  by  the  duke  of  Guise  and 
everywhere  saying,  “ If  I cannot  keep  you  from  fear,  I will  keep 
you  from  harm.”  “ My  God,”  he  had  exclaimed  as  he  started  from 
Fontainebleau,  “how  dear  Thou  sellest  me  my  kingdom  !”  Tho 
people  recovered  courage  and  confidence ; they  rose  in  a body ; 

40,000  armed  militiamen  defiled,  it  is  said,  before  the  king.  The 
army  arrived  by  forced  marches,  and  took  post  between  Paris  and 
Chateau-Thierry.  Charles  V.  was  not  rash  ; he  fell  back  to  Crespy 
in  Laonness,  some  few  leagues  from  his  Low  Countries.  Negotia- 
tions were  opened  ; and  Francis  I.,  fearing  lest  Henry  VIII.,  being 
master  of  Boulogne,  should  come  and  join  Charles  V.,  ordered  his 
negotiator,  Admiral  d’Annebaut,  to  accept  the  emperor’s  offers, 

“ for  fear  lest  he  should  rise  higher  in  his  demands  when  he  knew 
that  Boulogne  was  in  the  hands  of  the  king  of  England.”  Tho 
demands  were  hard,  but  a little  less  so  than  those  made  in  1540 ; 

Charles  V.  yielded  on  some  special  points,  being  possessed  beyond 
everything  with  the  desire  of  securing  Francis  L’s  co-operation  in 
the  two  great  contests  he  was  maintaining,  against  the  Turks  in 
eastern  Europe  and  against  the  Protestants  in  Germany.  Francis  I. 
conceded  everything  in  respect  of  the  European  policy  in  order  to 
retain  his  rights  over  Milaness  and  to  recover  the  French  towns  on 
the  Somme.  Peace  was  signed  at  Crespy  on  the  18th  of  Sep-AD 
tember,  1544;  and  it  was  considered  so  bad  a one  that  the  Peace  of 
dauphin  thought  himself  bound  to  protest,  first  of  all  secretly  /ges?y18\ 
before  notaries  and  afterwards  at  Fontainebleau,  on  the  12th  01 
December,  in  the  presence  of  three  princes  of  the  royal  house. 


264 


History  of  France, 


The  Re- 
naissance, 
its  antece- 
dents. 


Vincent  of 
Beauvais. 


This  feeling  was  so  general  that  several  great  bodies,  amongst 
others  the  parliament  of  Toulouse  (on  the  22nd  of  January,  1545), 
followed  the  dauphin’s  example. 

Francis  I.,  in  his  life  as  a king  and  a soldier,  had  two  rare  pieces 
of  good  fortune : two  great  victories,  Melegnano  and  Ceresole, 
stand  out  at  the  beginning  and  the  end  of  his  reign  ; and  in  his 
direst  defeat,  at  Pavia,  he  was  personally  a hero.  In  all  else,  as 
regards  his  government,  his  policy  was  neither  an  able  nor  a suc- 
cessful one;  for  two  and  thirty  years  he  was  engaged  in  plans, 
attempts,  wars,  and  negotiations ; he  failed  in  all  his  designs ; he 
undertook  innumerable  campaigns  or  expeditions  that  came  to 
nothing  ; he  concluded  forty  treaties  of  war,  peace,  or  truce,  inces- 
santly changing  aim  and  cause  and  allies ; and,  for  all  this  inco- 
herent activity,  he  could  not  manage  to  conquer  either  the  empire 
or  Italy  ; he  brought  neither  aggrandizement  nor  peace  to  France. 

Outside  of  the  political  arena,  in  quite  a different  field  of  ideas 
and  facts,  that  is,  in  the  intellectual  field,  Francis  I.  did  better  and 
succeeded  better.  In  this  region  he  exhibited  an  instinct  and  a 
taste  for  the  grand  and  the  beautiful ; he  had  a sincere  love  for 
literature,  science,  and  art ; he  honoured  and  protected,  and 
effectually  too,  their  works  and  their  representatives.  His  reign 
occupies  the  first  half  of  the  century  (the  sixteenth)  which  has  been 
called  the  age  of  Renaissance.  Taken  absolutely,  and  as  implying 
a renaissance,  following  upon  a decay  of  science,  literature,  and  art, 
the  expression  is  exaggerated;  it  is  not  true  that  the  five  centuries 
which  rolled  by  between  the  establishment  of  the  Capetians  and  the 
accession  of  Francis  I.  (from  987  to  1615),  were  a period  of  intel- 
lectual barrenness  and  decay.  It  is  in  the  thirteenth  century,  for 
instance,  that  we  meet  for  the  first  time  in  Europe  and  in  France 
with  the  conception  and  the  execution  of  a vast  repertory  of  different 
scientific  and  literary  works  produced  by  the  brain  of  man,  in  fact 
with  a veritable  Encyclopaedia.  Vincent  of  Beauvais,  born  at 
Beauvais  between  1184  and  1194,  who  died  at  his  native  place  in 
1 264,  collected  and  edited  what  he  called  Bibliotheca  Mundi, 
Speculum  majus  {Library  of  the  World,  an  enlarged  Mirror),  an 
immense  compilation,  the  first  edition  of  which,  published  at  Stras- 
bourg in  1473,  comprises  ten  volumes  folio,  and  would  comprise  fifty 
or  sixty  volumes  octavo.  The  work  contains  three,  and,  according 
to  some  manuscripts,  foui!  parts,  entitled  Speculum  naturale  (. Mirror 
of  Natural  Science),  Speculum  historiale  {IfLirror  of  Historical 
Science ),  Speculum  doctrinale  {Mirror  of  Metaphysical  Science), 
and  Speculum  morale.  {Mirror  of  Moral  Science).  Each  of  these 
Specula  contains  a summary,  extracted  from  th?  various  writings 


Literature — The  Schoolmen . 265 

which  have  reference  to  the  subject  of  it,  and  the  authors  of  which. 

Vincent  of  Beauvais  takes  care  to  name. 

After  the  encyclopaedist  of  the  middle  ages  come,  naturally,  their 
philosophers.  They  were  numerous ; and  some  of  them  have 
remained  illustrious,  such  as  Gerbert  of  Aurillac,  who  became  Pope 
Sylvester  II.,  St.  Anselm,  Abelard,  St.  Bernard,  Robert  of  Sorbon, 
founder  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  To  these 
names,  known  to  every  enlightened  man,  might  be  added  many 
others  less  familiar  to  the  public,  but  belonging  to  men  who  held 
a high  place  in  the  philosophical  contests  of  their  times,  such  as 
John  Scot  Erigena,  Birenger,  Roscelin,  William  of  Champeaux, 

Gilbert  de  la  Poree,  &c.  The  questions  which  always  have  taken 
and  always  will  take  a passionate  hold  of  men’s  minds,  in  respect 
of  God,  the  universe  and  man,  in  respect  of  our  origin,  our  nature 
and  our  destiny,  were  raised  and  discussed,  from  the  eleventh  to 
the  fifteenth  century,  if  not  with  so  much  brilliancy,  at  any  rate 
with  as  much  boldness  and  earnest  thought  as  at  any  other  period. 

God,  creator,  lawgiver  and  preserver  of  the  universe  and  of  man,  character 
everywhere  and  always  present  and  potent,  in  permanent  con-  of  their 
nexion,  nay,  communication,  with  man,  at  one  time  by  natural  and  teaclling. 
at  another  by  supernatural  means,  at  one  time  by  the  channel  of 
authority  and  at  another  by  that  of  free-agency,  this  is  the  point  of 
departure,  this  the  fixed  idea  of  the  philosopho-theologians  of  the 
middle  ages.  There  are  great  gaps,  great  diversities,  and  great  in- 
consistencies in  their  doctrines  ; they  frequently  made  unfair  use  of 
the  subtle  dialectics  called  scholastics  (la  scolastique),  and  they  fre- 
quently assigned  too  much  to  the  master’s  authority  (V autorite  du 
maitre) ; but  Christian  faith,  more  or  less  properly  understood  and 
explained,  and  adhesion  to  the  facts,  to  the  religious  and  moral  pre- 
cepts, and  to  the  primitive  and  essential  testimonies  of  Christianity, 
are  always  to  be  found  at  the  bottom  of  their  systems  and  their 
disputes.  Whether  they  be  pantheists  even  or  sceptics,  it  is  in  an 
atmosphere  of  Christianity  that  they  live  and  that  their  thoughts 
are  developed.  On  the  other  hand,  speaking  from  the  religious  point 
of  view,  the  Renaissance  was  but  a resurrection  of  paganism  dying 
out  before  the  presence  of  the  Christian  world,  which  was  troubled 
and  perplexed  but  full  of  life  and  futurity. 

The  religious  question  thus  set  'on  one  side,  the  Renaissance  was 
a great  and  happy  thing,  which  restored  to  light  and  honour  the 
works  and  glories  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  communities.  The 
memorials  and  monuments  of  classical  civilization,  which  were  sud- 
denly removed,  at  the  fall  of  the  Greek  empire,  to  Italy  first  and  then 
from  Italy  to  France  and  throughout  the  whole  of  Western  Europe, 


The  French 
language. 


Prose 

writers 


266  History  of  France . 

impressed  with  just  admiration  people  as  well  as  princes,  and 
inspired  them  with  the  desire  of  marching  forward  in  their  turn  in 
this  attractive  and  glorious  career. 

It  was  not  only  in  religious  questions  and  by  their  philosopho- 
theologians  that  the  middle  ages,  before  the  Renaissance,  displayed 
their  activity  and  fecundity.  In  literature  and  in  art,  in  history 
and  in  poesy,  in  architecture  and  in  sculpture,  they  had  produced 
great  and  beautiful  works  which  were  quite  worthy  of  surviving 
and  have,  in  fact,  survived  the  period  of  their  creation.  Here  too 
the  Renaissance  of  Greek  and  Roman  antiquity  came  in  and 
altered  the  originality  of  the  earliest  productions  of  the  middle 
ages  and  gave  to  literature  and  to  art  in  France  a new  direction. 

The  first  amongst  the  literary  creations  of  the  middle  ages  is 
that  of  the  French  language  itself.  When  we  pass  from  the  ninth 
to  the  thirteenth  century,  from  the  oath  of  Charles  the  Bald  and 
Louis  the  Germanic  at  Strasbourg  in  842,  to  the  account  of  the 
conquest  of  Constantinople  in  1203,  given  by  Geoffrey  de  Ville- 
hardouin,  seneschal  of  Champagne,  what  a space  has  been  tra- 
versed, what  progress  accomplished  in  the  language  of  France  ! 
When  the  thirteenth  century  begins,  the  French  language,  though 
still  rude  and  somewhat  fluctuating,  appears  already  rich,  varied 
and  capable  of  depicting  with  fidelity  and  energy  events,  ideas,  cha- 
racters, and  the  passions  of  men.  There  we  have  French  prose  and 
French  poesy  in  their  simple  and  lusty  youth ; the  Conquest  of 
Constantinople  by  Goeffrey  de  Villehardouin,  and  the  Song  of 
Roland  by  the  unknown  poet  who  collected  and  put  together  in 
the  form  of  an  epopee  the  most  heroic  amongst  the  legends  of  the 
reign  of  Charlemagne,  are  the  first  great  and  beautiful  monuments 
of  French  literature  in  the  middle  ages. 

The  words  are  French  literature  ; and  of  that  alone  is  there  any 
intention  of  speaking  here.  It  is  with  the  reign  of  Francis  I.  that, 
to  bid  a truce  to  further  interruption,  we  commence  the  era  of  the 
real  grand  literature  of  France,  that  which  has  constituted  and  still 
constitutes  the  pride  and  the  noble  pleasure  of  the  French  public  ; 
several  of  the  most  illustrious  of  French  writers,  in  poesy  and  prose, 
Ronsard,  Montaigne,  Bodin,  and  Stephen  Pasquier,  were  born  dur- 
ing that  king’s  lifetime  and  during  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth 
qentury  ; but  it  is  to  the  second  half  of  that  century  and  to  the 
first  of  the  seventeenth  that  they  belong  by  the  glory  of  their  works 
and  of  their  influence. 

The  middle  ages  bequeathed  to  French  literature  four  prose- 
writers  whom  we  cannot  hesitate  to  call  great  historians : Viilehar- 
douin,  Joinville,  Froissart,  and  Commyncs.  Geoffrey  de  Villehar- 


Historians — Poetry . 


2 67 


douin , after  having  taken  part,  as  negotiator  and  soldier,  in  tlio 
crusade  which  terminated  in  the  capture  of  Constantinople,  and 
having  settled  in  Thessaly,  at  Messinopolis,  as  holder  of  conside- 
rable fiefs,  with  the  title  of  marshal  of  Romania  (Roumelia),  em- 
ployed his  leisure  in  writing  a history  of  this  great  exploit.  Ha 
wrote  with  a dignified  simplicity,  epic  and  at  the  same  time  prac- 
tical, speaking  but  little  of  himself,  narrating  facts  with  the  preci- 
sion of  one  who  took  part  in  them  and  yet  without  useless  detail 
or  personal  vanity.  Joinville  wrote  his  History  of  St.  Louis  at  the  Joinville. 
request  of  Joan  of  Navarre,  wife  of  Philip  the  Handsome,  and  five 
years  after  that  queen’s  death ; he  was  then  eighty-five,  and  he 
dedicated  his  book  to  Louis  le  Hutin  (the  quarreller ),  great  grand- 
son of  St.  Louis.  More  lively  and  more  familiar  in  style  than  Ville- 
liardouin,  he  combines  the  vivid  and  natural  impressions  of  youth 
with  an  old  man’s  fond  clinging  to  the  memories  of  his  long  life  ; his 
narrative  is  at  one  and  the  same  time  very  full  of  himself,  without 
any  pretension  and  very  spirited  without  any  show  of  passion,  and 
fraught  with  a graceful  and  easy  carelessness  which  charms  the 
reader  and  all  the  while  inspires  confidence  in  the  author’s  veracity.  Froissart. 
Froissart  is  an  insatiable  pry  who  revels  in  all  the  sights  of  his 
day,  events  and  personages,  wars  and  galas,  adventures  of  heroism 
or  gallantry,  and  who  is  incessantly  gadding  about  through  all  the 
dominions  and  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  everywhere  seeking  his 
own  special  amusement  in  the  satisfaction  of  his  curiosity.  Philip  de  Commynes. 
Commynes  is  quite  another  affair  and  far  more  than  Eroissart,  nay 
than  Joinville  and  Villehardouin.  He  is  a politician  proficient  in 
the  understanding  and  handling  of  the  great  concerns  and  great 
personages  of  his  time.  With  the  recital  of  events  as  well  as  the 
portrayal  of  character,  he  mingles  here  and  there  the  reflections, 
expressed  in  precise,  firm  and  temperate  language,  of  a profound 
moralist,  who  sets  before  himself  no  other  aim  but  that  of  giving 
his  thoughts  full  utterance. 

Setting  aside  the  language  and  poems  of  the  troubadours  of  Poetry, 
southern  France,  we  shall  find,  in  French  poesy  previous  to  the 
Renaissance,  only  three  works  which,  through  their  popularity  .in 
their  own  time,  still  live  in  the  memory  of  the  erudite,  and  one  only 
which,  by  its  grand  character  and  its  superior  beauties,  attests  the 
poetical  genius  of  the  middle  ages  and  can  claim  national  rights  in 
the  history  of  France.  The  Romance  of  the  Rose  in  the  erotic  and 
allegorical  style,  the  Romances  of  Renart  in  the  satirical,  and  the 
Farce  of  Patelin , a happy  attempt  in  the  line  of  comedy,  though 
but  little  known  now-a-days  to  the  public,  are  still  and  will  remain 
subjects  of  literary  study.  The  Song  of  Roland  alone  is  an  admi- 
rable sample  of  epic  poesy  in  France,  and  the  only  monument 


268 


History  of  France . 


Marot. 


Mar- 

guerite  de 
Navarre. 


of  poetical  genius  in  the  middle  ages  which  can  have  a claim  to 
national  appreciation  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Such,  in  its  chief  works,  philosophical,  historical,  and  poetical, 
was  the  literature  which  the  middle  ages  bequeathed  to  the  reign  of 
Francis  I.  In  history  only,  and  in  spite  of  the  new  character  as- 
sumed afterwards  by  the  French  language,  this  literature  has  had 
the  honour  of  preserving  its  nationality  and  its  glory.  Villehar- 
douin,  Joinville,  Froissart,  and  Commynes  have  remained  great 
writers.  In  philosophy  and  in  poesy  a profound  revolution  was 
approaching ; the  religious  reform  and  the  fine  literary  genius,  as 
well  as  the  grand  French  language  of  the  seventeenth  century,  were 
preparing  to  rise  above  the  intellectual  horizon.  But  between  the 
moment  when  such  advances  dawn,  and  that  when  they  burst  forth 
there  is  nearly  always  a period  of  uncertain  and  unfruitful  transi- 
tion : and  such  was  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  that  is 
to  say,  the  actual  reign  of  Francis  I. ; it  is  often  called  the  reign  of 
the  Renaissance,  which  certainly  originated  in  his  reign,  but  it  did 
not  grow  and  make  any  display  until  after  him  ; the  religious, 
philosophical,  and  poetical  revolution,  Calvin,  Montaigne,  and 
Ronsard,  born  in  the  earlier  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  did 
not  do  anything  that  exercised  any  power  until  the  later.  One 
single  poet,  a third-rate  one,  Clement  Marot,  attained  lustre  under 
Francis  I.  Rabelais  is  the  only  great  prose  writer  who  belongs 
strictly  to  that  period.  The  scholars,  the  learned  critics  of  what 
had  been  left  by  antiquity  in  general  and  by  Greek  and  Roman 
antiquity  in  particular,  Bude  (Budaeus),  J.  C.  Scaliger,  Muretus, 
Danes  (Danesius),  Amyot,  Ramus  (Peter  la  Ram ee),  Robert  Estienne 
(Stephanus),  Yatable  (Watebled),  Cujas,  and  Turnebius  make  up 
the  tale  of  literature  specially  belonging  to  and  originating  in  the 
reign  of  Francis  I.,  just  as  the  foundation  of  the  College  Royal , 
which  became  the  College  de  France,  is  his  chief  personal  claim  to 
renown  in  the  service  of  science  and  letters. 

Coming  between  Villon  and  Ronsard,  Clement  Marot  rendered 
to  the  French  language,  then  in  labour  of  progression  and,  one 
might  say,  of  formation,  eminent  service  : he  gave  it  a naturalness, 
a clearness,  an  easy  swing,  and,  for  the  most  part,  a correctness 
which  it  had  hitherto  lacked.  It  was  reserved  for  other  writers, 
in  verse  and  prose,  to  give  it  boldness,  the  richness  that  comes  of 
precision,  elevation  and  grandeur. 

During  the  reign  of  Francis  I.  and  after  the  date  of  Clement 
Marot,  there  is  no  poet  of  any  celebrity  to  speak  of,  unless  we 
except  Francis  I.  himself  and  his  sister ; and  it  is  only  in  compli- 
ment to  royalty’s  name  that  they  need  be  spoken  of.  We  have 
three  collections  of  Marguerite’s  writings  : 1.  the  Hejotameron,  ou 


Marguerite  de  Valois — Rabelais.  269 

les  Sept  Journees  de  la  Reine  de  Navarre , a collection  of  sixty-eight 
tales  more  or  less  gallant,  published  for  the  first  time  in  1558, 
without  any  author’s  name  ; 2.  her  (Euvres  poetiques,  which  ap- 
peared at  Lyons  in  1547  and  1548,  in  consequence  of  her  being 
alive,  under  the  title  of  Les  Marguerites  de  la  Marguerite  des  Prin- 
cesses {the  Pearls  of  the  Pearl  of  Princesses'),  and  of  which  one  of  her  He*^orkp« 
grooms-of-the-chamber  was  editor ; in  addition  to  which  there  is  a ^er 
volume  of  Poesies  inedites , collected  by  order  of  Marguerite  herself,  brother, 
but  written  by  the  hand  of  her  secretary,  John  Frette,  and  preserved 
at  Paris  amongst  the  manuscripts  of  the  Bibliotheque  nationale 
3.  the  Collection  of  her  Letters,  published  in  1841,  by  M.  F.  Genin. 

This  last  collection  is,  morally  as  well  as  historically,  the  most 
interesting  of  the  three.  As  for  Francis  I.  himself,  there  is  little, 
if  anything,  known  of  his  'poesies  beyond  those  which  have  been 
inserted  in  the  Documents  relatifs  a sa  Captivite  a Madrid,  pub-, 
lished  in  1847  by  M.  Champollion-Figeac ; some  have  an  historical 
value,  either  as  regards  public  events  or  Francis  I.’s  relations 
towards  his  mother,  his  sister,  and  his  mistresses  ; the  most  impor- 
tant is  a long  account  of  his  campaign,  in  1525,  in  Italy,  and  of 
the  battle  of  Pavia  ; but  the  king’s  verses  have  even  less  poetical 
merit  than  his  sister’s. 

Francis  L’s  goodwill  did  more  for  learned  and  classical  litera- 
ture than  for  poesy.  He  contributed  to  this  progress,  first  by 
the  intelligent  sympathy  he  testified  towards  learned  men  of  letters, 
and  afterwards  by  the  foundation  of  the  College  Royal,  an  estab- 
lishment of  a special,  an  elevated  and  an  independent  sort,  where 
professors  found  a liberty  protected  against  the  routine,  jealousy, 
and  sometimes  intolerance  of  the  University  of  Paris  and  the 
6orbonne. 

We  will  not  quit  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  the 
literary  and  philosophical  Eenaissance  which  characterizes  that 
period,  without  assigning  a place  therein  at  its  proper  date  and  in 
his  proper  rank  to  the  name,  the  life,  and  the  works  of  the  man  who 
was  not  only  its  most  original  and  most  eminent  writer,  but  its 
truest  and  most  vivid  representative,  Rabelais  (born  at  Chinon  in  Rabelais. 
1495,  died  at  Paris  in  1553),  Francis  Rabelais,  the  jolly  vicar  of 
Meudon,  Alcofribas  Nasier,  abstracteur  de  quintessence,  as  he  styled 
himself.  There  is  scarcely  a question  of  importance  that  is  not 
touched  upon  in  his  book  (“  La  vie  tres-horrifique  du  grand  Gar- 
gantua,  pere  de  Pantagruel  ”).  The  corruption  of  the  clergy  is 
denounced  in  the  strongest  terms ; the  rights  of  conscience,  the 
futility  of  those  logomachies  to  which  scholasticism  had  finally  de- 
graded itself,  the  defects  of  absolute  government,''  the  necessity  of 
educational  reforms  — all  these  points  are  discussed  by  Rabelais  with 


The  Refor- 
mation. 


Its  pecu- 
liar fea- 
tures in 
France. 


270  History  of  France. 

an  amount  of  common  sense  which  is  only  equalled  by  the  origi- 
nality of  his  style  and  the  genial  character  of  his  wit.  La  Bruyere 
was  quite  right  when  he  gave  of  the  Gargantua  his  famous  appre- 
ciation : — “ ou  il  est  mauvais,  il  passe  bien  loin  au-dela  du  pire, 
c’est  le  charme  de  la  canaille;  ou  il  est  bon,  il  va  jusqu’a  l’exquis  et 
a l’excellent,  il  peut  etre  le  mets  des  plus  delicats.” 

Nearly  half  a century  before  the  Reformation  made  any  noise  in 
France,  it  had  burst  out  with  great  force  and  had  established  its 
footing  in  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  England.  John  Huss  and 
Jerome  of  Prague,  both  born  in  Bohemia,  one  in  1373  and  the 
other  in  1378,  had  been  condemned  as  heretics  and  burnt  at  Con- 
stance, one  in  1415  and  the  other  in  1416,  by  decree  and  in  the 
presence  of  the  council  which  had  been  there  assembled.  But,  at 
the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Luther  in  Germany 
and  Zwingle  in  Switzerland  had  taken  in  hand  the  work  of  the 
Reformation,  and  before  half  that  century  had  rolled  by  they  had 
made  the  foundations  of  their  new  Church  so  strong  that  their 
powerful  adversaries,  with  Charles  V.  at  their  head,  felt  obliged  to 
treat  with  them,  and  recognize  their  position  in  the  European 
world,  though  all  the  while  disputing  their  right.  In  England 
Henry  VIII.,  under  the  influence  of  an  unbridled  passion,  as  all 
his  passions  were,  for  Anna  Boleyn,  had,  in  1531,  broken  with  the 
Church  of  Rome,  whose  pope,  Clement  VII.,  refused  very  properly 
to  pronounce  him  divorced  from  his  wife  Catherine  of  Aragon,  and 
the  king  had  proclaimed  himself  the  spiritual  head  of  the  English 
Church,  without  meeting  either  amongst  his  clergy  or  in  his  king- 
dom with  any  effectual  opposition.  Thus  in  these  three  States  of 
Western  Europe  the  reformers  had  succeeded,  and  the  religious 
revolution  was  in  process  of  accomplishment.  The  nascent 
Reformation  did  not  meet  in  France  with  either  of  the  two 
important  circumstances,  politically  considered,  which  in  Germany 
and  in  England  rendered  its  first  steps  more  easy  and  more  secure. 
It  was  in  the  cause  of  religious  creeds  alone,  and  by  means  of 
moral  force  alone,  that  she  had  to  maintain  the  struggles  in  which 
she  engaged.  The  questions  raised  by  the  councils  of  Bale  and 
Florence  and  by  the  semi -political,  semi-ecclesiastical  assembly  at 
Tours,  which  had  been  convoked  by  Louis  XII.,  the  instruction  at 
the  Parisian  LTniversity,  and  the  attacks  of  the  Sorbonne  on  the 
study  of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  branded  as  heresy,  were  producing  a 
lively  agitation  in  the  public  mind.  Professors  and  pupils,  scholars 
grown  old  in  meditation,  such  as  Lefevre  of  Staples,  and  young 
folks  eager  for  truth,  liberty,  action,  and  renown,  such  as  William 
Farel,  welcomed  passionately  those  boundless  and  undefined  hopes, 
those  yearnings  towards  a brilliant  and  at  the  same  time  a vague 


The  Reformation . 


271 


future,  at  which  they  looked  forward.  Men,  too,  holding  a social 
position  very  different  from  that  of  the  philosophers,  men  with 
minds  formed  on  an  acquaintance  with  facts  and  in  the  practice 
of  affairs  took  part  in  this  intellectual  and  religious  ferment,  and 
protected  and  encouraged  its  fervent  adherents.  William  Bri^on- 
net,  bishop  of  Meaux,  a prelate  who  had  been  Louis  XII. ’s  ambas- 
sador to  Pope  Julius  II.,  and  one  amongst  the  negotiators  of 
Francis  I.’s  Concordat  with  Leo  X.,  opened  his  diocese  to  the 

preachers  and  writers  recommended  to  him  by  his  friend  Lefevre  Is  helped 
^ 11 0« 

of  Etaples,  and  supported  them  in  their  labours  for  the  transla-  rjte 

tion  and  propagation,  amongst  the  people,  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Valois. 

They  had  at  court,  and  near  the  king’s  own  person,  the  avowed 

support  of  his  sister,  Princess  Marguerite,  who  was  beautiful, 

sprightly,  affable,  kind,  disposed  towards  all  lofty  and  humane 

sentiments  as  well  as  all  intellectual  pleasures,  and  an  object  of  the 

sometimes  rash  attentions  of  the  most  eminent  and  most  different 

men  of  her  time,  Charles  Y.,  the  constable  De  Bourbon,  Admiral 

Bonnivet,  and  Clement  Marot.  Marguerite,  who  was  married  to 

the  Duke  d’Alen^on,  widowed  in  1525,  and  married  a second  time, 

in  1527,  to  Henry  d’Albret,  king  of  Navarre,  was  all  her  life,  at 

Pau  and  at  Nerac,  as  well  as  at  Paris,  a centre,  a focus  of  social, 

literary,  religious,  and  political  movement.  Luther  and  Zwingle 

had  distinctly  declared  war  on  the  papacy ; Henry  VIII.  had  with 

a flourish  separated  England  from  the  Pomish  Church  ; Marguerite 

de  Valois  and  Bishop  Briponnet  neither  wished  nor  demanded  so 

much ; they  aspired  no  further  than  to  reform  the  abuses  of  the  wanted. 

Romish  Church  by  the  authority  of  that  Church  itself,  in  concert 

with  its  heads,  and  according  to  its  traditional  regimen ; they  had 

no  idea  of  more  than  dealing  kindly  and  even  sympathetically  with 

the  liberties  and  the  progress  of  science  and  human  intelligence. 

Confined  within  these  limits,  the  idea  was  legitimate  and  honest 

enough,  but  it  showed  want  of  foresight  and  was  utterly  vain. 

During  the  first  years  of  Francis  l.’s  reign  (from  1515  to  1520) 
young  and  ardent  reformers,  such  as  William  Farel  and  his  friends, 
were  but  isolated  individuals,  eager  after  new  ideas  and  studies, 
very  favourable  towards  all  that  came  to  them  from  Germany,  but 
without  any  consistency  yet  as  a party,  and  without  having  com- 
mitted any  striking  act  of  aggression  against  the  Roman  Church. 
Nevertheless  they  were  even  then,  so  far  as  the  heads  and  the 
devoted  adherents  of  that  Church  were  concerned,  objects  of  serious 
disquietude  and  jealous  supervision.  The  Sorbonne,  in  particu-  The  Sor- 
lar  pronounced  vehemently  against  them.  The  syndic  of  that  bonne. 


2/2 


History  of  France. 


learned  society,  Noel  Bedier  or  Beda,  of  whom  Erasmus  used  to 
say,  “ in  a single  Beda  there  are  3000  monks,”  had  at  court  two 
powerful  patrons,  the  king’s  mother,  Louise  of  Savoy,  and  the 
chancellor,  Duprat,  both  decided  enemies  of  the  reformers : 
Louise  of  Savoy,  in  consequence  of  her  licentious  morals  and  her 
thirst  for  riches  ; Duprat,  by  reason  of  the  same  thirst,  and  of  his 
ambition  to  become  an  equally  great  lord  in  the  Church  as  in  the 
State;  and  he  succeeded,  for  in  1525  he  was  appointed  arch- 
bishop of  Sens.  They  were,  moreover,  both  of  them,  opposed  to 
any  liberal  reform,  and  devoted,  in  any  case,  to  absolute  power. 
Beaucaire  dePeguilhem,  a contemporary  and  most  Catholic  historian, 
for  he  accompanied  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine  to  the  Council  of 
Trent,  calls  Duprat  “ the  most  vicious  of  bipeds.” 

Attitude  of  Against  such  passions  the  reformers  found  Erancis  I.  a very 
Francis  I.  indecisive  and  very  inefficient  protector.  “ I wish,”  said  he,  “ to 
give  men  of  letters  special  marks  of  my  favour.”  When  deputies 
from  the  Sorbonne  came  and  requested  him  to  put  down  the  publi- 
cation of  learned  works  taxed  with  heresy,  “ I do  not  wish,”  he 
replied,  11  to  have  those  folks  meddled  with ; to  persecute  those  who 
instruct  us  would  be  to  keep  men  of  ability  from  coming  to  our 
country.”  But,  in  spite  of  his  language,  orders  were  given  to  the 
bishops  to  furnish  the  necessary  funds  for  the  prosecution  of  here- 
tics, and,  when  the  charge  of  heresy  became  frequent,  Francis  I. 
no  longer  repudiated  it : “ Those  people,”  he  said,  “ do  nothing 
but  bring  trouble  into  the  State.” 

Persecu-  The  defeat  at  Pavia  and  the  captivity  of  the  king  at  Madrid 
tions.  placed  the  governing  power  for  thirteen  months  in  the  hands  of 
the  most  powerful  foes  of  the  Eeformation,  the  Eegent  Louise  of 
Savoy  and  the  chancellor  Duprat.  They  used  it  unsparingly,  with 
the  harsh  indifference  of  politicians  who  will  have,  at  any  price, 
peace  within  their  dominions  and  submission  to  authority.  It  was 
under  their  regimen  that  there  took  place  the  first  martyrdom 
decreed  and  executed  in  France  upon  a partisan  of  the  Eeformation 
for  an  act  of  aggression  and  offence  against  the  Catholic  Church,  that, 
we  mean,  of  John  Leclerc,  a wool-carder  at  Meaux,  followed,  after  a 
brief  interval,  by  the  burning  of, Louis  de  Berquin,  a gentleman  of 
Artois.  These  two  confessors  of  the  Protestant  faith  were  notable 
and  vivid  representatives  of  the  two  classes  amongst  which,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  Eeformation  took  root  in  France.  This  move- 
ment had  a double  origin,  morally  and  socially,  one  amongst  the 
people,  and  the  other  amongst  the  aristocratic  and  the  learned;  it  was 
not  national,  nor  was  it  embraced  by  the  government  of  the  country. 


Francis  I.  and  the  Protestants. 


27  3 


Persecution  was  its  first  and  its  only  destiny  in  the  reign  of  Francis  I., 
and  it  went  through  the  ordeal  with  admirable  courage  and  patience ; 
it  resisted  only  in  the  form  of  martyrdom. 

.Marguerite  alone  continued  to  protect,  timidly  and  dejectedly, 
those  of  her  friends  amongst  the  reformers  whom  she  could  help  or 
to  whom  she  could  offer  an  asylum  in  Bearn  without  embroiling 
herself  with  the  king  her  brother  and  with  the  parliaments. 

During  the  long  truce  which  succeeded  the  peace  of  Cambrai,  Francis  I. 
from  1532  to  1536,  it  might  have  been  thought  for  a while  that  selfTo^the" 
the  persecution  in  France  was  going  to  be  somewhat  abated.  Protestants 
Policy  obliged  Francis  I.  to  seek  the  support  of  the  protestants  ofGeimaiiy‘ 
of  Germany  against  Charles  Y. ; he  wTas  incessantly  fluctuating 
between  that  policy  and  a strictly  catholic  and  papal  policy  ; by 
marrying  his  son  Henry,  on  the  28th  of  October,  1533,  to  Catherine 
de’  Medici,  niece  of  Pope  Clement  VII.,  he  seemed  to  have  decided 
upon  the  latter  course ; but  he  had  afterwards  made  a movement 
in  the  contrary  direction ; Clement  VII.  had  died  on  the  26th  of 
September,  1524;  Paul  III.  had  succeeded  him;  and  Francis  I. 
again  turned  towards  the  protestants  of  Germany ; he  entered  into 
relations  with  the  most  moderate  amongst  their  theologians,  with 
Melanctlion,  Bucer,  and  Sturm  ; there  was  some  talk  of  conciliation, 
of  a re-establishment  of  peace  and  harmony  in  the  Church;  nor 
did  the  king  confine  himself  to  speaking  by  the  mouth  of  diploma- 
tists ; he  himself  wrote  to  Melancthon.  But  whilst  making  all 
these  advances  to  the  protestants  of  Germany,  he  was  continuing 
to  proceed  against  their  brother- Christians  in  France  more  bitterly 
and  more  flagrantly  than  ever.  The  last  and  most  atrocious  act  of  The  Vau- 
persecution  which  occurred  in  his  reign  was  directed  not  against 
isolated  individuals  but  against  a harmless  population,  the  Vaudois,  atCabrieres 
who  had  for  three  centuries  maintained  religious  doctrines  of  a Merin- 
strictly  Evangelical  character.  In  1540,  they  had  been  condemned 
as  heretics,  but  their  peaceful  habits,  the  purity  of  their  manners, 
and  the  regularity  with  which  they  paid  the  taxes,  had  induced  the 
king  to  countermand  the  execution  of  the  sentence.  In  April 
1545,  however,  precise  and  rigorous  orders  were  transmitted  from 
the  court  to  the  parliament  of  Aix.  Baron  de  la  Garde,  assisted 
by  President  d’Oppede  and  by  the  advocate-general  Guerin, 
invaded  suddenly  at  the  head  of  an  army  the  districts  of  Cabrieres 
and  Merindol,  chiefly  inhabited  by  the  Vaudois.  3000  of  these 
unhappy  men  were  massacred  or  burnt  in  their  dwellings ; 660 
were  sent  to  the  hulks,  and  the  rest,  dispersed  throughout  the 
woods  and  mountains,  perished  of  want  and  of  fatigue.  Within  a 
radius  of  fifteen  leagues  not  one  tree,  not  one  house  "was  left 

T 


274  History  of  France . 

standing.  It  is  said  that  Francis  I.,  when  near  his  end,  repented  of 
this  odions  extermination  of  a small  population,  which,  with  his 
usual  fickleness  and  carelessness,  he  had  at  one  time  protected,  and 
at  another  abandoned  to  its  enemies.  Amongst  his  last  words  to 
his  son  Henry  II.  was  an  exhortation  to  cause  an  inquiry  to  he 
made  into  the  iniquities  committed  by  the  parliament  of  Aix  in 
this  instance.  It  will  be  seen,  at  the  opening  of  Henry  II.’s 
reign,  what  was  the  result  of  this  exhortation  of  his  father’s. 

It  was  quite  clear  that  the  reformation  of  the  Church  could  he 
brought  about  only  by  a return  to  Gospel  Christianity,  and  with 
Calvin,  his  this  great  movement  the  name  of  Calvin  must  ever  be  associated  in 
and'his68  France,  as  that  of  Luther  is  in  Germany,  and  that  of  Zwingli  in 
work.  Switzerland.  John  Calvin,  or  Chauvin,  was  born  at  Noyon  in  1509. 

He  received  at  Orleans  lessons  in  Greek  from  the  Lutheran  Melchior 
Wolmar,  who  impressed  him  with  his  own  views  of  the  errors  of 
the  Romish  Church.  The  publication  of  a treatise  On  Clemency 
shortly  after  his  conversion  (1532),  and  in  the  midst  of  the  per- 
secutions ordered  by  Francis  I.  against  the  first  Huguenots,  drew 
upon  him  some  amount  of  notice.  Shortly  after  he  was  publicly 
censured  by  the  Sorbonne  on  account  of  a speech  which  he  had 
composed  for  Nicolas  Cop,  rector  of  the  University  of  Paris. 
Obliged  to  leave  the  metropolis,  he  found  a refuge  at  Nerac.  From 
thence  he  went  first  to  Basle,  where  he  published  his  great  work 
“ Institution  Chretienne ” (1535);  then  to  Geneva,  where Farcl detained 
him ; afterwards  to  Strasburg ; in  that  city  he  remained  till  the 
year  1541,  when  the  inhabitants  of  Geneva  recalled  him  in  con- 
sequence of  the  defeat  of  his  adversaries,  who,  under  the  name  of 
Libertines , wanted  to  oppose  the  establishment  of  a severe  form 
of  ecclesiastical  and  political  government.  Calvin  remained  at 
Geneva  till  his  death  (1564),  exercising  unlimited  authority,  and 
displaying  all  the  qualities  not  only  of  a divine  and  a pastoral 
adviser,  but  also  of  a stern  civil  ruler.  As  a reformer  and  a 
Source  of  legislator,  Calvin  owed  his  power  to  the  energy  of  his  mind,  and 
his  power,  to  the  manner  in  which  he  interpreted  the  two  conflicting  prin- 
ciples— liberty  and  authority.  Liberty  is  the  form  proposed  by 
Calvin  and  the  Reformers ; religion,  that  is  to  say,  legitimate 
obedience,  is  the  substance.  The  Reformation  might  have  dwindled 
into  a negative  protest ; it  became  a positive  movement : instead  of 
being  a mere  outburst  of  liberalism,  it  claimed  a hearing  as  the 
pure  exponent  of  Christianity,  or,  rather,  this  was  its  first  character, 
and  it  steadfastly  resisted  every  effort  made  to  draw  it  away  from 
this  safe  course.  There  were,  during  the  sixteenth  century,  two 
classes  of  Reformers.  Some,  whilst  professing  the  utmost  regard 


Calvin . 


2/5 

for  all  the  externals  of  religion  (viz.,  Roman  Catholicism),  were 
busily  but  stealthily  engaged  in  destroying  Christianity;  the 
others  determined  upon  following  the  opposite  direction.  With 
them,  forms  were  nothing;  nay,  they  had  become  worse  than 
nothing ; for  they  had  accumulated  like  a mass  of  corrupt  rubbish 
over  the  fair  superstructure  raised  by  Christ  in  the  Gospel ; at  any 
cost  these  excrescences  must  be  cleared  away.  The  war  raged  quite 
as  fiercely  between  both  classes  of  reformers,  as  between  the 
reformers  properly  so  called  and  the  supporters  of  the  hierarchy ; 
it  was  a struggle  for  life  and  death,  and  when  we  consider  the 
issue,  we  may  boldly  affirm  that  Protestantism,  in  a certain  sense, 
saved  Christianity.  We  go  even  farther  than  that — the  seventeenth 
century  is  indebted  to  the  Reformation  for  Pascal,  Fenelon, 

Rossuet ; and  Port-Royal  is  connected  with  Geneva. 

In  1547,  when  the  death  of  Francis  I.  was  at  hand,  that  eccle-  Catholics 
siastical  organization  of  protestantism  which  Calvin  had  instituted  tan^r°teS 
at  Geneva  was  not  even  begun  in  France.  The  French  protestants 
were  as  yet  but  isolated  and  scattered  individuals,  without  any  bond 
of  generally  accepted  and  practised  faith  or  discipline,  and  without 
any  eminent  and  recognised  heads.  The  Reformation  pursued  its 
course ; but  a reformed  Church  did  not  exist.  And  this  confused 
mass  of  reformers  and  reformed  had  to  face  an  old,  a powerful,  and 
a strongly-constituted  Church,  which  looked  upon  the  innovators  as 
rebels  over  whom  it  had  every  right  as  much  as  against  them  it  had 
every  arm.  In  each  of  the  two  camps  prevailed  errors  of  enormous 
magnitude  and  fruitful  of  fatal  consequences  ;— catholics  and  pro- 
testants both  believed  themselves  to  be  in  exclusive  possession  of 
the  truth,  of  all  religious  truth,  and  to  have  the  right  of  imposing  it  Liberty  of 
by  force  upon  their  adversaries  the  moment  they  had  the  power.  conscience 
Both  were  strangers  to  any  respect  for  human  conscience,  human 
thought,  and  human  liberty.  Those  who  had  clamoured  for  this  on 
their  own  account  when  they  were  weak  had  no  regard  for  it  in 
respect  of  others,  when  they  felt  themselves  to  be  strong.  On  the 
side  of  the  protestants  the  ferment  was  at  full  heat,  but  as  yet 
vague  and  unsettled ; on  the  part  of  the  catholics  the  persecution 
was  unscrupulous  and  unlimited.  Such  was  the  position  and  such 
the  state  of  feeling  in  which  Francis  I.,  at  his  death  on  the  31st  of 
March,  1547,  left  the  two  parties  that  had  already  been  at  grips 
during  his  reign.  He  had  not  succeeded  either  in  reconciling  them 
or  in  securing  the  triumph  of  that  which  had  his  favour,  and  the 
defeat  of  that  which  he  would  have  liked  to  vanquish.  That  wa9 
in  nearly  all  that  he  undertook,  his  fate  ; he  lacked  the  spirit  of 
sequence  and  steady  persistence,  and  his  merits  as  well  as  his  defects 

t 2 


History  of  France . 


Death  of 
Louise  of 
Savoy— 
Duprat — 
Mar- 
guerite. 


A.D.  1547. 
Accession 
of 

Henry  II. 


276 

almost  equally  urged  him  on  to  rashly  attempt  that  which  he  ouly 
incompletely  executed.  He  was  neither  prudent  nor  persevering, 
and  he  may  he  almost  said  to  have  laid  himself  out  to  please  every- 
body rather  than  to  succeed  in  one  and  the  same  great  purpose. 

It  is  said  that  at  the  close  of  his  reign  Francis  I.,  in  spite  of  all 
the  resources  of  his  mind  and  all  his  easy-going  qualities,  was  much 
depressed,  and  that-  he  died  in  sadness  and  disquietude  as  to  the 
future.  One  may  be  inclined  to  think  that,  in  his  egotism,  he  was 
more  sad  on  his  own  account  than  disquieted  on  that  of  his  succes- 
sors and  of  France.  However  that  may  he,  he  was  assuredly  far 
from  foreseeing  the  terrible  civil  war  which  began  after  him  and  the 
crimes  as  well  as  disasters  which  it  caused.  Hone  of  his  more 
intimate  circle  was  any  longer  in  a position  to  excite  his  solicitude  : 
his  mother,  Louise  of  Savoy,  had  died  sixteen  years  before  him 
[September  22,  1531]  ; his  most  able  and  most  wicked  adviser, 
Chancellor  Duprat,  twelve  years  [July  29,  1535].  His  sister  Mar- 
guerite survived  him  two  years  [she  died  December  21,  1549], 
“ disgusted  with  everything,”  say  the  historians,  and  “ weary  of 
life,”  said  she  herself. 

And  yet  Marguerite  was  loth  to  leave  this  world.  She  had  always 
been  troubled  at  the  idea  of  death ; when  she  was  spoken  to  about 
eternal  life  she  would  shake  her  head  sometimes,  saying:  “All  that 
is  true ; but  we  remain  a mighty  long  while  dead  underground  before 
arriving  there.”  When  she  was  -told  that  her  end  was  near,  she 
considered  “ that  a very  bitter  word,  saying  that  she  was  not  so  old 
but  that  she  might  still  live  some  years.”  She  had  been  the  most 
generous,  the  most  affectionate  and  the  most  lovable  person  in  a 
family  and  a court  which  were  both  corrupt  and  of  which  she  only 
too  often  acquiesced  in  the  weaknesses  and  even  vices,  though  she 
always  fought  against  their  injustice  and  their  cruelty.  She  had 
the  honour  of  being  the  grandmother  of  Henry  IV. 

Henry  II.  had  all  the  defects  and,  with  the  exception  of  personal 
bravery,  not  one  amongst  the  brilliant  and  amiable  qualities  of  the 
king  his  father.  Like  Francis  I.,  he  was  rash  and  reckless  in  his 
resolves  and  enterprises,  but  without  having  the  promptness,  the 
fertility  and  the  suppleness  of  mind  which  Francis  I.  displayed  in 
getting  out  of  the  awkward  positions  in  which  he  had  placed  him- 
self and  in  stalling  off  or  mitigating  the  consequences  of  them. 
Henry  was  as  cold  and  ungenial  as  Francis  had  been  gracious  and 
able  to  please  : and  whilst  Francis  I.,  even  if  he  were  a bad  master 
to  himself,  was  at  any  rate  his  own  master,  Henry  II.  submitted, 
without  resistance  and  probably  without  knowing  itj  to  the  influence 
of  the  favourite  who  reigned  in  his  house  as  well  as  in  his  court, 


2/7 


Rebellion  against  the  salt- tax. 

and  of  the  advisers  who  were  predominant  in  his  government.  Two 
fa,cts  will  suffice  to  set  in  a clear  light,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
new  reign,  this  regrettable  analogy  in  the  defects  and  this  profound 
diversity  in  the  mind,  character  and  conduct  of  the  two  kings. 

Towards  the  close  of  1542,  a grievous  aggravation  of  the  tax  upon 
salt,  called  gabel , caused  a violent  insurrection  in  the  town  of 
Rochelle,  which  was  exempted,  it  was  said,  by  its  traditional  privi- 
leges from  that  impost.  Not  only  was  payment  refused,  but  the 
commissioners  were  maltreated  and  driven  away.  Francis  I.  con- 
sidered the  matter  grave  enough  to  require  his  presence  for  its 
repression.  He  repaired  to  Rochelle  with  a numerous  body  of 
lanzknechts.  The  terrified  population  appeared  to  have  determined 
upon  submission,  and  they  were  let  off  for  a fine  of  200,000  francs, 
which  the  king  gave  to  his  keeper  of  the  seals,  Francis  de  Montho- 
lon,  whom  he  wished  to  compensate  for  his  good  service.  The 
keeper  of  the  seals  in  his  turn  made  a present  of  them  to  the  town 
of  Rochelle  to  found  a hospital.  But  the  ordinances  as  to  the  salt- 
tax  were  maintained  in  principle,  and  their  extension  led,  some 
years  afterwards,  to  a rising  of  a more  serious  character  and  very 
differently  repressed. 

In  1548,  hardly  a year  after  the  accession  of  Henry  II.  and  in  A.D,  1548. 
the  midst  of  the  rejoicings  he  had  gone  to  be  present  at  in  the  north 
of  Italy,  he  received  news  at  Turin  to  the  effect  that  in  Guienne,  South  of 
Angoumois  and  Saintonge  a violent  and  pretty  general  insurrection  France° 
had  broken  out  against  the  salt-tax,  which  Francis  I.,  shortly  before 
his  death,  had  made  heavier  in  these  provinces.  The  local  authorities 
in  vain  attempted  to  repress  the  rising,  and  it  was  put  down  in  the 
most  terrible  manner  by  constable  de  Montmorency.  This  insur- 
rection was  certainly  more  serious  than  that  of  Rochelle  in  1542  ; 
but  it  is  also  quite  certain  that  Francis  I.  would  not  hav§  set  about 
repressing  it  as  Henry  II.  did  ; he  would  have  appeared  there  him- 
self and  risked  his  own  person  instead  of  leaving  the  matter  to  the 
harshest  of  his  lieutenants,  and  he  would  have  more  skilfully  inter- 
mingled generosity  with  force  and  kind  words  with  acts  of  severity. 

And  that  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  governing.  In  1549,  scarcely  a 
year  after  the  revolt  at  Bordeaux,  Henry  II.,  then  at  Amiens, 
granted  to  deputies  from  Poitou,  Rochelle,  the  district  of  Aunis, 

Limousin,  Perigord,  and  Saintonge,  almost  complete  abolition  of  the 
gabel  in  Guienne,  which  paid  the  king,  by  way  of  compensation, 
two  hundred  thousand  crowns  of  gold  for  the  expenses  of  war  or  the 
redemption  af  certain  alienated  domains.  We  may  admit  that  on 
the  day  after  the  revolt  the  arbitrary  and  bloody  proceedings  of  the 
constable  de  Montmorency  must  have  produced  upon  the  insurgents 


278 


History  of  France . 


Constable 
de  Mont- 
morency. 
His  cha- 
racter. 


War  with 
Germany. 


of  Bordeaux  the  effect  of  a salutary  fright ; hut  we  may  doubt 
whether  so  cruel  a repression  was  absolutely  indispensable  in  1548, 
when  in  1 549  the  concession  demanded  in  the  former  year  was  to 
be  recognized  as  necessary. 

History  must  do  justice  even  to  the  men  whose  brutal  violence 
she  stigmatizes  and  reproves.  In  the  case  of  Anne  de  Montmo- 
rency it  often  took  the  form  of  threats  intended  to  save  him  from 
the  necessity  of  acts.  When  he  came  upon  a scene  of  any  great 
confusion  and  disorder:  “Go  hang  me  such  an  one,”  he  would 
say ; “tie  yon  fellow  to  that  tree ; despatch  this  fellow  with  pikes 
and  arquebuses,  this  very  minute,  right  before  my  eyes ; cut  me 
in  pieces  all  those  rascals  who  chose  to  hold  such  a clockcase  as 
this  against  the  king ; burn  me  yonder  village ; light  me  up  a blaze 
everywhere,  for  a quarter  of  a mile  all  round.”  The  same  man 
paid  the  greatest  attention  to  the  discipline  and  good  condition  of  * 
his  troops,  in  order  to  save  the  populations  from  their  requisitions 
and  excesses.  A nephew  of  the  constable  de  Montmorency,  a 
young  man  of  twenty-three,  who  at  a later  period  became  Admiral 
de  Coligny,  was  ordered  to  see  to  the  execution  of  these  protective 
measures,  and  he  drew  up,  between  1550  and  1552,  at  first  for  his 
own  regiment  of  foot  and  afterwards  as  colonel-general  of  this 
army,  rules  of  military  discipline  which  remained  for  a long  while 
in  force. 

There  was  war  in  the  atmosphere.  The  king  and  his  advisers, 
the  court  and  the  people,  had  their  minds  almost  equally  full  of  it, 
some  in  sheer  dread,  and  others  with  an  eye  to  preparation.  The 
reign  of  Erancis  I.  had  ended  mournfully ; the  peace  of  Crespy  had 
hurt  the  feelings  both  of  royalty  and  of  the  nation ; Henry,  now 
king,  had,  as  dauphin,  felt  called  upon  to  disavow  it.  It  had  left 
England  in  possession  of  Calais  and  Boulogne  and  confirmed  the 
dominion  or  ascendancy  of  Charles  Y.  in  Germany,  Italy  and  Spain, 
on  all  the  Erench  frontiers.  How  was  the  struggle  to  be  recom- 
menced? Two  systems  of  policy  and  warfare,  moreover,  divided 
the  king’s  council  into  two : Montmorency,  now  old  and  worn  out 
in  body  and  mind  [he  was  born  in  1492  and  so  was  sixty  in  1552], 
was  for  a purely  defensive  attitude,  no  adventures  or  battles  to  be 
sought,  but  victuals  and  all  sorts  of  supplies  to  be  destroyed  in  the 
provinces  which  might  be  invaded  by  the  enemy,  so  that  instead 
of  winning  victories  there  he  might  not  even  be  able  to  live  there. 

In  1536  this  system  had  been  found  successful  by  the  constable  in 
causing  the  failure  of  Charles  Y.  ’s  invasion  of  Provence ; but  in 
1550  a new  generation  had  come  into  the  world,  the  court,  and  the 
army;  it  comprised  young  men  full  of  ardour  and  already  dis- 


New  generation  of  warriors  and  politicians . 279 

tinguished  for  their  capacity  and  valour ; Francis  de  Lorraine,  duke 
of  Guise  [born  at  the  castle  of  Bar,  February  17,  1519],  was  thirty- 
one  ; his  brother,  Charles  de  Guise,  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  was  only 
six-and-twenty  [he  was  born  at  Joinville,  February  17,  1524]; 

Francis  de  Scepeaux  [born  at  Duretal,  Anjou,  in  1510],  who  after- 
wards became  Marshal  de  Yieilleville,  was  at  this  time  nearly  forty ; 
but  he  had  contributed  in  1541  to  the  victory  of  Ceresole,  and 
Francis  I.  had  made  so  much  of  it  that  he  had  said  on  presenting 
him  to  his  son  Henry : “ He  is  no  older  than  you,  and  see  what  he 
has  done  already ; if  the  wars  do  not  swallow  him  up,  you  will  The  new 
some  day  make  him  constable  or  marshal  of  France.”  Gaspard  de  of  ^rendi^ 
Coligny  [born  at  Chatillon-sur-Loing,  February  16,  1517],  was  warriors, 
thirty-three ; and  his  brother,  Francis  d’Andelot  [born  at  Chatillon 
in  1521],  twenty-nine.  These  men,  warriors  and  politicians  at  one 
and  the  same  time,  in  a high  social  position  and  in  the  flower  of 
their  age,  could  not  reconcile  themselves  to  the  constable  de  Mont- 
morency’s system,  defensive  solely  and  prudential  to  the  verge  of 
inertness;  they  thought  that,  in  order  to  repair  the  reverses  of 
France  and  for  the  sake  of  their  own  fame,  there  was  something 
else  to  be  done,  and  they  impatiently  awaited  the  opportunity. 

It  was  not  long  coming.  At  the  close  of  1551,  a deputation  of 
the  protestant  princes  of  Germany  came  to  Fontainebleau  to  ask  for 
the  king’s  support  against  the  aggressive  and  persecuting  despotism 
of  Charles  Y.  Their  request  having  been  granted,  the  place  of 
meeting  for  the  army  was  appointed  at  Chalons-sur- Marne,  March 
10,  1552;  more  than  a thousand  gentlemen  flocked  thither  as 
volunteers ; peasants  and  mechanics  from  Champagne  and  Picardy 
joined  them  ; the  war  was  popular;  “ the  majority  of  the  soldiers,” 
says  Rabutin,  a contemporary  chronicler,  “ were  young  men  whose 
brains  were  on  fire.”  Francis  de  Guise  and  Gaspard  de  Coligny 
were  their  chief  leaders.  The  king  entered  Lorraine  from  Cham- 
pagne by  Joinville,  the  ordinary  residence  of  the  dukes  of  Guise. 

He  carried  Pont-a-Mousson ; Toul  opened  its  gates  to  him  on  the  French. 
13th  of  April ; he  occupied  Nancy  on  the  14th,  and  on  the  18th 
he  entered  Metz,  not  without  some  hesitation  amongst  a portion  of 
the  inhabitants  and  the  necessity  of  a certain  show  of  military  force 
on  the  part  of  the  leaders  of  the  royal  army.  At  that  time  the 
emperor  was  lying  ill  at  Inspruck,  where  he  had  gone  for  the  pur- 
pose of  watching  more  closely  the  deliberations  of  the  council  of 
Trent.  On  the  point  of  being  surprised  in  that  city  by  Maurice  of 
Saxony  at  the  head  of  the  Protestants,  he  signed  with  these  the 
treaty  of  Passau,  afterwards  ratified  at  Augsburg  (1552-55).  Then, 
he  came  to  besiege  Metz,  which  the  Duke  of  Guise  successfully 
defended,  displaying  as  much  true  courage  as  greatness  of  soul. 


28  o 


History  of  France . 


Abdication 

of 

Charles  V. 


Philip  II., 
Hs  suc- 
cessor in 
Spain, 
marries 
Mary 
Tudor. 


AD.  1558. 
Mary 
Smart 
m ^rries 
the  Dau- 
phin. 


During  the  next  year  (1553),  Charles  Y,  anxious  to  avenge  the 
cheek  which  his  forces  had  met  with,  invaded  Artois,  and  burnt 
down  the  city  of  Therouanne,  which  has  never  since  been  rebuilt. 
A short  time  after,  his  army  was  defeated  at  Renty  by  Guise  and 
Tuvannes.  In  the  meanwhile,  marshal  Brissac  was  holding  his 
ground  in  Piedmont ; Strozzi,  a Florentine  in  the  service  of  France, 
and  Montluc,  defended  in  turns  the  town  of  Sienna  which,  at  last, 
was  obliged  to  capitulate  to  the  fierce  Medichino ; the  French  fleet, 
commanded  by  Baron  de  la  Garde,  and  combined  with  that  of  the 
Turks  under  the  orders  of  Dragut,  threatened  the  coasts  of  Calabria 
and  of  Sicily,  ravaged  the  island  of  Elba,  and  captured  some  towns 
in  Corsica,  then  belonging  to  the  Genoese. 

These  events  decided  Charles  Y.  to  abdicate.  On  the  25th  of 
October,  1555,  and  the  1st  of  January,  1556,  he  gave  over  to  his 
son  Philip  the  kingdom  of  Spain,  with  the  sovereignt)”  of  Burgundy 
and  the  Low  Countries,  and  to  his  younger  brother  Ferdinand  the 
empire,  together  with  the  original  heritage  of  the  House  of  Austria ; 
he  then  retired  personally  to  the  monastery  of  Yuste,  in  Estrama- 
dura,  there  to  pass  the  last  years  of  his  life,  distracted  with  gout, 
at  one  time  resting  from  the  world  and  its  turmoil,  at  another 
vexing  himself  about  what  was  doing  there  now  that  he  was  no 
longer  in  it.  Before  abandoning  it  for  good,  he  desired  to  do  his 
son  Philip  the  service  of  leaving  him,  if  not  in  a state  of  definite 
peace,  at  any  rate  in  a condition  of  truce  with  France.  Henry  II. 
also  desired  rest ; and  the  constable  de  Montmorency  wished  above 
everything  for  the  release  of  his  son  Francis,  who  had  been  a 
prisoner  since  the  fall  of  Therouanne.  A truce  for  five  years  was 
signed  at  Yaucelles  on  the  5th  of  February,  1556;  and  Coligny, 
quite  young  still,  but  already  admiral  and  in  high  esteem,  had  the 
conduct  of  the  negotiation. 

Philip  II.  continued  his  father’s  policy,  and  took  measures  for 
promptly  entering  upon  a fresh  campaign.  By  his  marriage  with 
Mary  Tudor,  queen  of  England,  he  had  secured  for  himself  a 
powerful  ally  in  the  North  ; the  English  parliament  were  but  little 
disposed  to  compromise  themselves  in  a war  with  France ; but  in 
March,  1557,  Philip  went  to  London ; the  queen’s  influence  and 
the  distrust  excited  in  England  by  Henry  II.  prevailed  over  the 
pacific  desires  of  the  nation ; and  Mary  sent  a simple  herald  to 
carry  to  the  king  of  France  at  Rheims  her  declaration  of  war. 
Henry  accepted  it  politely  but  resolutely.  A negotiation  was  com- 
menced for  accomplishing  the  marriage,  long  since  agreed  upon, 
between  the  young  queen  of  Scotland,  Mary  Stuart,  and  Henry  II.’s 
son,  Francis,  dauphin  of  France.  Mary,  who  was  born  on  the  8th 
of  December,  1542,  at  Falkland  Castle  in  Scotland,  had,  since 


Treaty  of  Cateaa-Cambresis . 


281 


1548,  lived  and  received  her  education  at  the  court  of  France, 
whither  her  mother,  Mary  of  Lorraine,  eldest  sister  of  Francis  of 
Guise  and  queen-dowager  of  Scotland,  had  lost  no  time  in  sending 
her  as  soon  as  the  future  union  between  the  two  children  had  been 
agreed  upon  between  the  two  courts.  The  dauphin  of  France  was 
r a year  younger  than  the  Scottish  princess;  on  the  19  th  of  April, 
1558,  the  espousals  took  place  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Louvre,  and 
the  marriage  was  celebrated  in  the  church  of  Notre-Dame.  From 
that  time  Mary  Stuart  was  styled  in  France  queen-dauphiness,  and 
her  husband,  with  the  authorization  of  the  Scottish  commissioners, 
took  the  title  of  king-dauphin. 

In  the  meanwhile  Henry  II.  made  an  alliance  with  Pope  Paul  IY. 
and  sent  two  armies,  one  into  the  Netherlands,  under  the  command 
of  Montmorency,  the  other  into  Italy,  under  that  of  the  duke  of 
Guise.  Montmorency  was  thoroughly  defeated  at  Saint-Quentin 
by  the  duke  of  Savoy,  Philibert  Emmanuel  (1557),  and  the  French 
general  himself  remained  in  the  power  of  the  enemy.  Fortunately, 
admiral  Coligny  held  in  check  for  seventeen  days  the  victor  before 
that  town ; a circumstance  which  enabled  the  king  to  organise  re- 
inforcements, and  the  duke  of  Guise  to  return  from  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  where  the  duke  of  Alva  had  resisted  him  with  success. 
Guise  saved  France,  not  by  attacking  the  Spaniards  but  by  sur- 
prising Calais,  which  was,  after  eight  days’  siege,  taken  from  the 
English,  who  had  occupied  it  for  the  space  of  two  hundred  and 
eleven  years.  The  news  of  this  event  was  a death  blow  for  Mary. 

Several  other  acts  of  hostility  of  not  much  moment  took  place  in 
the  Northern  provinces;  the  Duke  de  Guise  made  himself  master 
of  a few  small  towns,  but  on  the  other  hand,  the  French  general 
Thermes  was  defeated  at  Gravelines  by  the  count  of  Egmont.  At 
last,  a treaty  was  signed  at  Cateau-Cambresis  (1559)  between 
Henry  II.  and  Elizabeth,  who  had  become  queen  of  England  at 
the  death  of  her  sister  Mary  [November  17th,  1558]  ; and  next 
day,  April  3rd,  between  Henry  II.,  Philip  II.  and  the  allied  princes 
of  Spain,  amongst  others  the  prince  of  Orange,  William  the  Silent , 
who,  whilst  serving  in  the  Spanish  army,  was  fitting  himself  to 
become  the  leader  of  the  reformers  and  th.e  liberator' of  the  Low 
Countries.  By  the  treaty  with  England,  France  was  to  keep  Calais 
for  eight  years  in  the  first  instance,  and  on  a promise  to  pay 
500,000  gold  crowns  to  queen  Elizabeth  or  her  successors.  The 
money  was  never  paid  and  Calais  was  never  restored,  and  this 
without  the  English  government’s  having  considered  that  it  could 
make  the  matter  a motive  for  renewing  the  war.  By  the  treaty 
with  Spain,  France  was  to  keep  Metz,  Toul,  and  Yerdun,  and  have 


A.D. 1557. 
Battle  of 
Saint- 
Quentin. 


A.D.  1559. 
Treaty  of 
Cateau- 
Cambresis. 


282 


History  of  France . 


Opposition 
which  it 
creates. 


TheProtes- 
tants. — 
Develop- 
ment of  the 
Deforma- 
tion. 


back  Saint-Quentin,  le  Catelet  and  Ham  ; but  she  was  to  restore  to 
Spain  or  her  allies  a hundred  and  eighty-nine  places  in  Flanders, 
Piedmont,  Tuscany,  and  Corsica.  The  malcontents,  for  the  absence 
of  political  liberty  does  not  suppress  them  entirely,  raised  their 
voices  energetically  against  this  last  treaty  signed  by  the  king, 
with  the  sole  desire,  it  was  supposed,  of  obtaining  the  liberation  of 
his  two  favourites,  the  constable  De  Montmorency  and  marshal  de 
Saint- Andre,  who  had  been  prisoners  in  Spain  since  the  defeat  at 
Saint  Quentin.  “Their  ransom,”  it  was  said,  “has  cost  the  kingdom 
more  than  that  of  Francis  I.”  Guise  himself  said  to  the  king, 
“A  stroke  of  your  Majesty’s  pen  costs  more  to  France  than  thirty 
years  of  war  cost.”  Ever  since  that  time  .the  majority  of  his- 
torians, even  the  most  enlightened,  have  joined  in  the  censure  that 
was  general  in  the  sixteenth  century ; but  their  opinion  will  not 
be  endorsed  here : the  places  which  France  had  won  during  the 
war,  and  which  she  retained  by  the  peace,  Metz,  Toul,  and  Verdun 
on  her  frontier  in  the  north-east,  facing  the  imperial  or  Spanish 
possessions,  and  Boulogne  and  Calais  on  her  coasts  in  the  north- 
west, facing  England,  were,  as  regarded  the  integrity  of  the  State 
and  the  security  of  the  inhabitants,  of  infinitely  more  importance 
than  those  which  she  gave  up  in  Flanders  and  Italy.  The  treaty 
of  Cateau-Cambresis,  too,  marked  the  termination  of  those  wars  of 
ambition  and  conquest  which  the  kings  of  France  had  waged 
beyond  the  Alps  : an  injudicious  policy  which,  for  four  reigns,  had 
crippled  and  wasted  the  resources  of  France  in  adventurous  expe- 
ditions, beyond  the  limits  of  her  geographical  position  and  her 
natural  and  permanent  interests. 

France  was  once  more  at  peace  with  her  neighbours,  and  seemed 
to  have  nothing  more  to  do  than  to  gather  in  the  fruits  thereof. 
But  she  had  in  her  own  midst  questions  far  more  difficult  of  solu- 
tion than  those  of  her  external  policy,  and  these  perils  from  within 
were  threatening  her  more  seriously  than  any  from  without.  Since 
the  death  of  Francis  I.,  the  religious  ferment  had  pursued  its  course, 
becoming  more  general  and  more  fierce  ; the  creed  of  the  reformers 
had  spread  very  much ; their  number  had  very  much  increased ; 
permanent  churches,  professing  and  submitting  to  a fixed  faith  and 
discipline,  had  been  founded ; that  of  Paris  was  the  first,  in  1555  ; 
and  the  example  had  been  followed  at  Orleans,  at  Chartres,  at 
Lyons,  at  Toulouse,  at  Rochelle,  in  Normandy,  in  Touraine,  in 
Guienne,  in  Poitou,  in  Dauphiny,  in  Provence,  and  in  all  the  pro- 
vinces, more  or  less  Id  1561,  it  was  calculated  that  there  were 
2150  reformed,  or,  as  the  expression  then  was,  rectified  ( dressees ), 
churches.  It  is  clear  that  the  movement  of  the  Beformation  in  the 


The  principles  of  the  Reformation  spread.  283 

sixteenth  century  was  one  of  those  spontaneous  and  powerful  move- 
ments which  have  their  source  and  derive  their  strength  from  the 
condition  of  men’s  souls  and  of  whole  communities,  and  not  merely 
from  the  personal  ambitions  and  interests  which  soon  come  and  mingle 
with  them,  whether  it  be  to  promote  or  to  retard  them.  One  thing 
has  been  already  here  stated  and  confirmed  by  facts  : it  was  specially  Special 
in  France  that  the  Keformation  had  this  truly  religious  and  sincere  Jj* ^cter 
character;  very  far  from  supporting  or  tolerating  it,  the  sovereign  French Re- 
and  public  authorities  opposed  it  from  its  very  birth ; under  formation. 
Francis  I.  it  had  met  with  no  real  defenders  but  its  martyrs ; and 
it  was  still  the  same  under  Henry  II.  During  the  reign  of 
Francis  I.,  within  a space  of  twenty-three  years,  there  had  been 
eighty-one  capital  executions  for  heresy ; during  that  of  Henry  II., 
twelve  years,  there  were  ninety-seven  for  the  same  cause,  and  at 
one  of  these  executions  Henry  II.  was  present  in  person  on  the 
space  in  front  of  Notre-Dame  : a spectacle  which  Francis  I.  had 
always  refused  to  see.  In  1551,  1557  and  1559  Henry  II.,  by 
three  royal  edicts,  kept  up  and  added  to  all  the  prohibitions  and 
penalties  in  force  against  the  reformers.  All  the  resources  of 
French  civil  jurisdiction  appeared  to  be  insufficient  against  them. 

They  held  at  Paris,  in  May,  1559,  their  first  general  synod;  and 
eleven  fully  established  churches  sent  deputies  to  it.  This  synod 
drew  up  a form  of  faith  called  the  Gallican  Confession , and  like- 
wise a form  of  discipline.  The  king  of  Navarre,  Anthony  de  Protestant 
Bourbon,  Prince  Louis  de  Conde,  his  brother,  and  many  other  lords  chieftains, 
had  joined  the  new  faith;  the  queen  of  Navarre,  Jeanne  d’Albret, 
in  her  early  youth  “ was  as  fond  of  a ball  as  of  a sermon,”  says 
Brantome,  “ and  she  had  advised  her  spouse,  Anthony  de  Bourbon, 
who  inclined  towards  Calvinism,  not  to  perplex  himself  with  all 
these  opinions.”  In  1559  she  was  passionately  devoted  to  the  faith 
and  the  cause  of  the  Reformation.  With  more  levity  but  still  in 
sincerity  her  brother-in-law,  Louis  de  Conde,  put  his  ambition  and 
his  courage  at  the  service  of  the  same  cause.  Admiral  de  Coligny’s 
younger  brother,  Francis  d’Andelot,  declared  himself  a reformer  to 
Henry  II.  himself,  who,  in  his  wrath,  threw  a plate  at  his  head  and 
sent  him  to  prison  in  the  castle  of  Melun.  Coligny  himself,  who 
had  never  disguised  the  favourable  sentiments  he  felt  towards  the 
reformers,  openly  sided  with  them  on  the  ground  of  his  own  per- 
sonal faith  as  well  as  of  the  justice  due  to  them.  At  last  the 
Reformation  had  really  great  leaders,  men  who  had  power  and  were 
experienced  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  ; it  was  becoming  a political 
party  as  well  as  a religious  conviction ; and  the  French  reformers 
were  henceforth  in  a condition  to  make  war  as  well  as  die  at  the 


284 


History  of  France. 


AD.  1559. 
Henry  II. 
killed  in  a 
tourna- 
ment. 


stake  for  their  faith.  Hitherto  they  had  been  only  believers  and 
martyrs ; they  became  the  victors  and  the  vanquished,  alternately, 
in  a civil  war.  A new  position  for  them  and  as  formidable  as  it 
was  grand. 

On  the  29th  of  June,  1559,  a brilliant  tournament  was  cele- 
brated in  lists  erected  at  the  end  of  the  street  of  Saint- Antoine, 
almost  at  the  foot  of  the  Bastille.  Henry  II.,  the  queen,  and  the 
whole  court  had  been  present  at  it  for  three  days.  The  entertain- 
ment was  drawing  to  a close.  The  king,  who  had  run  several  tilts 
“ like  a sturdy  and  skilful  cavalier,”  wished  to  break  yet  another 
lance,  and  bade  the  count  de  Montgomery,  captain  of  the  guards, 
to  run  against  him.  Montgomery  excused  himself ; but  the  king 
insisted.  The  tilt  took  place.  The  two  jousters,  on  meeting, 
broke  their  lances  skilfully ; but  Montgomery  forgot  to  drop  at 
once,  according  to  usage,  the  fragment  remaining  in  his  hand  j he 
unintentionally  struck  the  king’s  helmet  and  raised  the  visor,  and 
a splinter  of  wood  entered  Henry’s  eye,  who  fell  forward  upon  his 
horse’s  neck.  He  languished  for  eleven  days  and  expired  on  the 
10th  of  July,  1559,  aged  forty  years  and  some  months. 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

THE  WAES  OE  EELIGION. 

FRANCIS  II.  1559 HENRY  TII.  1589. 

During  the  course,  and  especially  at  the  close  of  Henry  II.  *s  reign,  Persecu* 

two  rival  matters,  on  the  one  hand  the  numbers,  the  quality,  and  t*0113 

■ ’ ',ji  ^ 7 against 

the  zeal  oithe  reformers,  and  on  the  other,  the  anxiety,  prejudice,  t pr0_ 

and  power  of  the  catholics,  had  been  simultaneously  advancing  in  testants. 

development  and  growth.  Between  the  16th  of  May,  1558,  and 

the  10th  of  July,  1559,  fifteen  capital  sentences  had  been  executed 

in  Dauphiny,  in  Normandy,  in  Poitou,  and  at  Paris.  Two  royal 

edicts,  one  dated  July  24,  1558,  and  the  other  June  14,  1559,  had 

renewed  and  aggravated  the  severity  of  penal  legislation  against 

heretics.  To  secure  the  registration  of  the  latter,  Henry  II., 

together  with  the  princes  and  the  officers  of  -the  crown,  had 

repaired  in  person  to  parliament ; some  disagreement  had  already 

appeared  in  the  midst  of  that  great  body,  which  was  then  composed 

of  a hundred  and  thirty  magistrates ; the  seniors  who  sat  in  the 

great  chamber  had  in  general  shown  themselves  to  be  more  inclined 

to  severity,  and  the  juniors,  who  formed  the  chamber  called  La 

Tournelle,  more  inclined  to  indulgence  towards  accusations  of 

heresy.  The  disagreement  reached  its  climax  in  the  very  presence 

of  the  king.  Two  councillors,  Dubourg  and  Dufaure,  spoke  so* 


286 


History  of  France . 


TheGuises, 
their  cha- 
racter. 


warmly  of  reforms  which  were,  according  to  them,  necessary  *and 
legitimate,  that  their  adversaries  did  not  hesitate  to  tax  them 
with  being  reformers  themselves.  The  king  had  them  arrested 
and  three  of  their  colleagues  with  them.  Special  commissioners 
were  charged  with  the  preparation  of  the  case  against  them.  It 
has  already  been  mentioned  that  one  of  the  most  considerable 
amongst  the  officers  of  the  army,  Francis  d’Andelot,  brother  of 
Admiral  Coligny,  had,  for  the  same  cause,  been  subjected  to  a 
burst  of  anger  on  the  part  of  the  king.  He  was  in  prison  at  Meaux 
when  Henry  II.  died.  Such  were  the  personal  feelings  and  the 
relative  positions  of  the  two  parties  when  JfrancisJH.  a boy  of 
sixteen,  a p>oor  creature  both  in  mind  and  body,  ascended  the 
throne.  The  constable  de  Montmorency  and  Henry  II. ’s  favourite, 
Diana  de  Poitiers,  were  dismissed,  the  latter  in  a harsh  manner, 
and  the  power  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Queen  mother,  Cathe- 
rine de’  Medici,  advised  by  the  Guises. 

In  order  to  give  a good  notion  of  Duke  Francis  of  Guise  and 
his  brother  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  the  two  heads  of  the  house, 
we  will  borrow  the  very  words  of  one  of  the  men  of  their  age  who 
had  the  best  means  of  seeing  them  close  and  judging  them  correctly, 
the  Venetian  ambassador  John  Micheli.  “The  cardinal,”  he  says, 
“who  is  the  leading  man  of  the  house,  would  be,  by  common 
consent,  if  it  were  not  for  the  defects  of  which  I shall  speak,  the 
greatest  political  power  in IMs  kingdom.  He  has  not  yet  completed 
his  thirty-seventh  year ; he  i's'  endowed  with  a marvellous  intellect, 
which  apprehends  from  half  a word  the  meaning  of  those  who  con- 
verse with  him ; he  has  an  astonishing  memory,  a fine  and  noble 
face,  and  a rare  eloquence  which  shows  itself  freely  on  any  subject, 
but  especially  in  matters  of  politics.  He  is  very  well  versed  in 
letters  : he  knows  Greek,  Latin,  and  Italian.  He  is  very  strong  in 
the  sciences,  chiefly  in  theology.  The  externals  of  his  life  are  very 
proper  and  very  suitable  to  his  dignity,  wThich  could  not  be  said  of 
the  other  cardinals  and  prelates,  whose  habits  are  too  scandalously 
irregular.  But  his  great  defect  is  shameful  cupidity,  which  would 
employ,  to  attain  its  ends,  even  criminal  means,  and  likewise  great 
duplicity,  whence  comes  his  habit  of  scarcely  ever  saying  that 
which  is.  There  is  worse  behind.  He  is  considered  to  be  very 
ready  to  take  offence,  vindictive,  envious,  and  far  too  slow  in 
benefaction.  He  excited  universal  hatred  by  hurting  all  the  world 
as  long  as  it  was  in  his  power  to  do  so.  As  for  Mgr.  de  Guise,  who  is 
the  eldest  of  the  six  brothers,  he  cannot  be  spoken  of  save  as  a man 
of  war,  a good  officer.  Hone  in  this  realm  has  delivered  more 
battles  and  confronted  more  dangers.  Everbody  lauds  his  courage, 


287 


The  Guises  and  their  influence. 


his  vigilance,  his  steadiness  in  war,  and  his  coolness,  a quality 
wonderfully  rare  in  a Frenchman.  His  peculiar  defects  are  first  of 
all  stinginess  towards  soldiers  ; then  he  makes  large  promises,  and 
even  when  he  means  to  keep  his  promise  he  is  infinitely  slow 
about  it.” 

The  Guises  were,  in  the  sixteenthjsentu^ 
and  the  champions  of  the  different  cliques  and  interests,  religious 
or  political,  sincere  in  their  belie  f or  shameless  in  their  avidity,  and 
all  united  under  the  jjag  of  the  catholic  Cliurch.  And  so  when 
they  came  into  power,  “there  was  nothing,”  says  a protestant 


Nature  of 
their 
govern- 
ment. 


/£4>  / 


chronicler,  “ but  fear  and  trembling  at  their  name.”  Their  acts  of 


government  soon  confirmed  the  fears  as  well  as  the  hopes  they  had 
inspired.  During  the  last  six  months  of  1559  the  edict  issued  by 
Henry  II.  from  Ecouen  was  not  only  strictly  enforced  but  aggra- 
vated by  fresh  edicts  : a special  chamber  was  appointed  and  chosen 
amongst  the  parliament  of  Paris,  which  was  to  have  sole  cognizance 
of  crimes  and  offences  against  the  catholic  religion.  A proclamation 


of  the  new  king  Francis  II.  ordained  that  houses  in  which 


assemblies  of  reformers  took  place  should  be  razed  and  demolished. 
It  was  “ death  to  the  promoters  of  unlawful  assemblies  for  purposes 
of  religion  or  for  any  other  cause.”  Another  royal  act  provided 
that  all  persons,  even  relatives,  who  received  amongst  them  any  one 
condemned  for  heresy,  should  seize  him  and  bring  him  to  justice, 
in  default  whereof  they  would  suffer^  the  same  penalty  as  he. 
Individual  condemnations  and  executions  abounded  after  these 
general  measures ; between  the  2nd  of  August  and  the  31st  of 
December,  1559,  eighteen  persons  were  burned  alive  for  open 
heresy,  or  for  having  refused  to  communicate  according  to  the  rites 
of  the  Catholic  Church  or  go  to  mass,  or  for  having  hawked  about 
forbidden  books.  Finally,  in  December,  the  five  councillors  of  the 
parliament  of  Paris  whom,  six  months  previously,  Henry  II.  had 
ordered  to  be  arrested  and  shut  up  in  the  Bastille,  were  dragged 
from  prison  and  brought  to  trial.  The  chief  of  them,  Anne  Dubourg, 
was  condemned  on  the  22nd  of  December,  and  put  to  death  the 
next  day  in  the  Place  de  Greve. 

As  soon  as  the  rule  of  the  catholics,  in  the  persons  and  by  the 
actions  of  the  Guises,  became  sovereign  and  aggressive,  the 
threatened  reformers  assumed  attitude  of  defence.  They  too  ha 
got  for  themselves  great  leaders,  some  valiant  and  ardent,  others 
prudent  or  even  timid,  but  forced  to  declare  themselves  when  the 
common  cause  was  greatly  imperilled.  They  ranged  themselves 
round  the  king  of  Navarre,  the  prince  of  Conde,  and  Admiral  de 
Coligny,  and  became  under  their  direction,  though  in  a minority, 


r 


/ 


,A  A 


The  Hu- 
guenots se- 
verely per- 
secuted. 


History  of  France . 


288 


n 


,p 


a powerful  opposition,  able  and  ready,  on  the  one  hand,  to  narrowly 
watch  and  criticize  the  actions  of  those  who  were  in  power,  and  on 
the  other  to  claim  for  their  own  people,  not  by  any  means  freedom 
as  a general  principle  in  the  constitution  of  the  State,  but  free 
manifestation  of  their  faith  and  free  exercise  of  their  own  form 
of  worship. 

Catherine  Apart  from,  we  do  not  mean  to  say  above,  these  two  great  parties 
de  Medico  which  were  arrayed  in  the  might  and  appeared  as  the  representatives 
of  the  national  ideas  and  feelings,  the  queen  mother,  Catherine  de’ 
Medici  was  quietly  labouring  to  form  another,  more  independent 
of  the  public,  and  more  docile  to  herself,  and,  above  all,  faithful  to 
the  crown  and  to  the  interests  of  the  kingly  house  and  its  servants  ; 
a party  strictly  catholic,  but  regarding  as  a necessity  the  task  of 
humouring  the  reformers  and  granting  them  such  concessions  as 
as  might  prevent  explosions  fraught  with  peril  to  the  State.  The 
constable  De  Montmorency  sometimes  issued  forth  from  Chantilly 
to  go  and  aid  the  queen-mother,  in  whom  he  had  no  confidence,  but 
whom  he  preferred  to  the  Guises.  A former  councillor  of  the  par- 
liament, for  a long  while  chancellor  under  Francis  I.  and  Henry  II. 
and  again  summoned,  under  Francis  II.,  by  Catherine  de’  Medici  to 
the  same  post,  Francis  Olivier,  was  an  honourable  executant  of  the 
party’s  indecisive  but  moderate  policy.  He  died  on  the  15th  of 
March,  1560  ; and  Catherine,  in  concert  with  the  cardinal  of  Lor- 
raine, had  the  chancellorship  thus  vacated  conferred  upon  Michael 
de  l’Hospital,  a magistrate  already  celebrated  and  destined  to  become 
still  more  so. 

A.D.  1560.  A few  months,  and  hardly  so  much,  after  the  accession  of  Francis 
die  ^His**  a ser*ous  ma^er  brought  into  violent  collision  the  three  parties 
attempt,  whose  characteristics  and  dispositions  have  just  been  described. 

The  supremacy  of  the  Guises  was  insupportable  to  the  reformers  and 
irksome  to  many  lukewarm,  or  wavering  members  of  the  catholic 
nobility.  An  edict  of  the  king’s  had  revoked  all  the  graces  and 
alienations  of  domains  granted  by  his  father.  The  crown  refused 
to  pay  its  most  lawful  debts ; and  duns  were  flocking  to  the  court. 
To  get  rid  of  them,  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine  had  a proclamation 
issued  by  the  king,  warning  all  persons,  of  whatever  condition,  who 
had  come  to  dun  for  payment  of  debts,  for  compensations  or  for 
graces,  to  take  themselves  off  within  twenty-four  hours  on  pain  of 
being  hanged  ; and,  that  it  might  appear  how  seriously  meant  the 
threat  was,  a very  conspicuous  gibbet  was  erected  at  Fontainebleau 
close  to  the  palace.  This  affront  led  the  Huguenots,  assisted  by  the 
other  malcontents,  to  form  a scheme  whereby  the  king  should  be 
seized,  placed  under  a kind  of  surveillance,  and  the  power  of  the 


La  Renaudie  s conspiracy. 


2§0 


X 


Tumulte 
d’ Am- 
boise.” 


Lorraine  princes  destroyed  for  ever.  Conde  was  evidently  at  the 
head  of  the  plot,  hut  the  management  of  the  whole  affair  was 
entrusted  to  a Perigord  gentilliomme , Godefroid  de  Barry,  sieur 
de  la  Renaudie.  So  extensive  a conspiracy,  and  necessarily  involv- 
ing the  participation  of  a large  number  of  accomplices,  could  not  long 
remain  secret.  The  court  was  then  at  Blois,  and  on  rumours  being 
spread  abroad  of  the  discovery  of  a plot,  Francois  de  Guise  suddenly 
removed  the  king  to  Amboise,  which  could  more  easily  be  defended 
against  a coup  de  main.  The  prince  of  Conde  himself,  though 
informed  about  the  discovery  of  the  plot,  repaired  to  Amboise 
without  showing  any  signs  of  being  disconcerted  at  the  cold  recep- 
tion offered  him  by  the  Lorraine  princes.  The  duke  of  Guise, 
always  bold,  even  in  his  precautions,  “ found  an  honourable  means 
of  making  sure  of  him,”  says  Castelnau,  “ by  giving  him  the  guard 
at  a gate  of  the  town  of  Amboise,”  where  he  had  him  under  watch 
and  ward  himself.  The  lords  and  gentlemen  attached  to  the  court 
made  sallies  all  around  Amboise  to  prevent  any  unexpected  attack. 

On  the  18th  of  March,  La  Renaudie,  who  was  scouring  the  country, 
seeking  to  rally  his  men,  encountered  a body  of  royal  horse  who 
were  equally  hotly  in  quest  of  the  conspirators ; the  two  detach- 
ments attacked  one  another  furiously  ; La  Renaudie  was  killed,  and 
his  body,  which  was  carried  to  Amboise,  was  strung  up  to  a gallows 
on  the  bridge  over  the  Loire  with  this  scroll : “ This  is  La  Renaudie 
called  La  Forest,  captain  of  the  rebels,  leader  and  author  of  the  sedi- 
tion.” The  important  result  of  the  riot  of  Amboise  ( tumulte 
d’ Amboise),  as  it  was  called,  was  an  ordinance  of  Francis  II.,  who, 
on  the  17th  of  March,  1560,  appointed  Duke  Francis  of  Guise  “his  | 
lieutenant-general,  representing  him  in  person  absent  and  present  | 
in  this  good  town  of  Amboise  and  other  places  of  the  realm,  with  ! 
full  power,  authority,  commission  and  especial  mandate  to  assemble 
all  the  princes,  lords,  and  gentlemen,  and  generally  to  command, 
order,  provide,  and  dispose  of  all  things  requisite  and  necessary.” 

The  Guises  made  a cruel  use  of  their  easy  victory  : “ for  a whole  gjruelty  of 
month,”  according  to  contemporary  chronicles,  “ there  was  nothing  the  Guises 
but  hanging  or  drowning  folks.  The  Loire  was  covered  with 
corpses  strung,  six,  eight,  ten  and  fifteen,  to  long  poles.  . . .”  It 
was  too  much  vengeance  to  take  and  too  much  punishment  to  inflict 
for  a danger  so  short-lived  and  so  strictly  personal.  There  was, 
throughout  a considerable  portion  of  the  country,  a profound  feeling 
of  indignation  against  the  Lorraine  princes.  One  of  their  victims, 
Yillembngey,  just  as  it  came  to  his  turn  to  die,  plunged  his  hands 
into  his  comrades’  blood,  saying,  “ Heavenly  Father,  this  is  the  blood 
of  Thy  children  : Thou  wilt  avenge  it !”  John  d’Aubigne,  a noble- 


290 


History  of  France . 


Feeling  in 
favour  of 
the  states- 
general. 


They  are 
convened. 


A.D.  1560. 
Death  of 
Francis  li- 


man of  Saintonge,  as  he  passed  through  Amboise  one  market-day 
•with  his  son,  a little  boy  eight  years  old,  stopped  before  the  heads 
fixed  upon  the  posts  and  said  to  the  child,  “ My  boy,  spare  not  thy 
head,  after  mine,  to  avenge  these  brave  chiefs ; if  thou  spare  thyself, 
thou  shalt  have  my  curse  upon  thee.”  The  Chancellor  Olivier  him- 
self, for  a long  while  devoted  to  the  Guises,  but  now  seriously  ill 
and  disquieted  about  the  future  of  his  soul,  said  to  himself,  quite 
low,  as  he  saw  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  from  whom  he  had  just 
received  a visit,  going  out,  “ Ah ! cardinal,  you  are  getting  us  all 
damned  ! ” 

On  all  sides  there  was  a deW»d  for  the  convocation  of  the  states- 
general.  The  Guises  and  the  queen-mother,  yho  dreaded  this  great 
and  independent  national  power,  attempted  to  satisfy  public  opinion 
by  calling  an  assembly  of  notables,  not  at  all  numerous,  and  chosen 
by  themselves.  It  was  summoned  to  meet  on  August  21,  1560,  at 
Fontainebleau,  in  the  apartments  of  the  queen-mother.  Some  great 
lords,  certain  bishops,  the  constable  De  Montmorency,  two  marshals 
of  France,  the  privy  councillors,  the  knights  of  the  order,  the  secre- 
taries of  state  and  finance,  Chancellor  de  l’Hospital  and  Coligny 
took  part  in  it ; the  king  of  Navarre  and  the  prince  of  Conde  did 
not  respond  to  the  summons  they  received ; the  constable  rode  up 
with  a following  of  six  hundred  horse.  The  cardinal  of  Lorraine 
having  given  his  consent  to  the  holding  of  the  states-general,  his 
opinion  was  adopted  by  the  king,  the  queen-mother,  and  the 
assemblage.  An  edict  dated  August  26,  convoked  a meeting  of 
the  states-general  at  Meaux  on  the  10th  of  December  following. 
Meanwhile,  it  was  announced  that  the  punishment  of  sectaries 
would,  for  the  present,  be  suspended,  but  that  the  king  reserved  to 
himself  and  his  judges  the  right  of  severely  chastising  those  who 
had  armed  the  populace  and  kindled  sedition. 

The  elections  to  the  states-general  were  very  stormy ; all  parties 
displayed  the  same  ardour  ; jlm  Guises  by  identifying  themselves 
more  and  more  with  the  Catholic  cause,  and  employing,  to  further 
its  triumph,  all  the  resources  of  the  government ; the  reformers  by 
appealing  to  the  rights  of  liberty  and  to  the  passions  bred  of  sect 
and  of  local  independence.  Despite  the  entreaties  of  their  staunchest 
friends,  the  king  of  Navarre  and  Conde  came  to  Orleans.  The 
Guises  who  had  sufficient  proofs  against  the  latter,  caused  him  to 
be  arrested  as  soon  as  he  had  entered  the  town,  and  wished  to 
murder  Navarre  whom  they  could  not  get  rid  of  by  legal  means.  At 
the  appointed  moment,  however,  Francis  refused  to  give  the  signal, 
and  so  this  part  of  the  scheme  failed.  In  the  meanwhile  a special 
commission  had  been  named  to  try  Conde ; his  fate  had  been  sealed 


Protestantism  in  Europe . 


291 


"beforehand  ; he  was  condemned  to  death,  and  would  have  certainly- 
perished,  had  not  the_^ou^  to  sign  the  sen- 

tence. Tims  some  time  was  gained,  and  as  the  king  was  on  his 
death-bed  a short  delay  proved  the  salvation  of  Conde’s  life. 

Francis  II.  died  on  the  5th  of  December;  he  had  reigned  seventeen 
months. 

At  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  and  at  the  commencement  of  the  ^rot.es"  . 
sixteenth  centuries,  religious  questions  had  profoundly  agitated  Europe. 
Christian  Europe ; but  towards  the  middle  of  the  latter  century 
they  had  obtained  in  the  majority  of  European  States  solutions 
which,  however  incomplete,  might  be  regarded  as  definitive. 

Germany  was  divided  into  Catholic  States  and  Protestant  States, 
which  had  established  between  themselves  relations  of  an  almost 
pacific  character.  Switzerland  was  entering  upon  the  same 
course.  In  England,  Scotland,  the  Low  Countries,  the  Scandi- 
navian States,  and  the  free  towns  their  neighbours,  the  Reforma- 
tion had  prevailed  or  was  clearly  tending  to  prevail.  In  Italy, 

Spain,  and  Portugal,  on  the  contrary,  the  Reformation  had  been 
stifled,  and  Catholicism  remained  victorious.  It  was  in  France  / ; 
that,  notwithstanding  the  inequality  of  forces,  the  struggle  between  S' 
Catholicism  and  Protestantism  was  most  obstinately  maintained^! 
and  appeared  for  the  longest  time  uncertain. 

Men  were  wonderfully  far  from  understanding  the  principle  of 
religious  liberty  in  1560,  at  the  accession  of  Charles  IX.,  a child 
ten  years  old ; around  that  royal  child,  and  seeking  to  have  the 
mastery  over  France  by  being  masters  over  him,  were  struggling 
the  three  great  parties  at  that  time  occupying  the  stage  in  the  name 
of  religion  : the  Catholics  rejected  altogether  the  idea  of  religious 
liberty  for  the  Protestants ; the  Protestants  had  absolute  need  of 
it,  for  it  was  their  condition  of  existence ; but  they  did  not  wish  for 
it  in  the  case  of  the  Catholics  their  adversaries.  The  third  party 
( tiers  parti),  as  we  call  it  now-a-days,  wished  to  hold  the  balance 
continually  wavering  between  the  Catholics  and  the  Protestants, 
conceding  to  the  former  and  the  latter,  alternately,  that  measure  of 
liberty  which  was  indispensable  for  most  imperfect  maintenance 
of  the  public  peace  and  reconcilable  with  the  sovereign  power  of 
the  kingship.  On  such  conditions  was  the  government  of 
Charles  IX.  to  establish  its  existence. 

The  new  king,  on  announcing  to  the  parliament  the  death  of  his  Charles IX. 
brother,  wrote  to  them  that  “confiding  in  the  virtues  and  prudence 
of  the  queen-mother,  he  had  begged  her  to  take  in  hand  the 
administration  of  the  kingdom,  with  the  wise  counsel  and  advice 
of  the  king  of  Navarre,  and  the  notables  and  great  personages  of 

u 2 


History  of  France. 


The  Queen 
mother. 
Her  cha- 
racter. 


A.D.  1562. 
Massacre 
of  Vassy. 


292 

the  late  king’s  council.”  A few  months  afterwards  the  states- 
general,  assembling  first  at  Orleans  and  afterwards  at  Pontoise, 
ratified  this  declaration  by  recognizing  the  placing  of  “ the 
young  king  Charles  lX.’s  guardianship  in  the  hands  of  Catherine 
de’  Medici,  his  mother,  together  with  the  principal  direction  of 
affairs,  hut  without  the  title  of  regent.”  The  king  of  .Navarre  was 
to  assist  her  in  the  capacity  of  lieutenant-general  of  the  kingdom. 
Twenty-five  members  specially  designated  were  to  form  the  king’s 
privy  council. 

The  queen-mother  of  France  was,  to  use  the  words  of  the  Vene- 
tian ambassador,  John  Michieli,  who  had  lived  at  her  court,  “a 
woman  of  forty-three,  of  affable  manners,  great  moderation,  superior 
intelligence,  and  ability  in  conducting  all  sorts  of  affairs,  especially 
affairs  of  State.  As  mother,  she  has  the  personal  management  of 
the  king ; she  allows  no  one  else  to  sleep  in  his  room ; she  is  never 
away  from  him.  As  regent  and  head  of  the  government,  she  holds 
everything  in  her  hands,  public  offices,  benefices,  graces,  and  the 
seal  which  hears  the  king’s  signature,  and  which  is  called  the 
cachet  (privy-seal  or  signet).  In  the  council,  she  allows  the  others 
to  speak ; she  replies  to  any  one  who  needs  it ; she  decides  accord- 
ing to  the  advice  of  the  council,  or  according  to  what  she  may  have 
made  up  her  own  mind  to.  She  opens  the  letters  addressed  to  the 
king  by  his  amhassadors  and  by  all  the  ministers.  . . . She  has 

great  designs,  and  does  not  allow  them  to  he  easily  penetrated.” 
The  power  really  belonged  to  Catherine  de’  Medici,  if  shejiadjmly 
known  how  to  keep  it.  She,  however,  merely  took  it  away  from 
the  heads  of  the  Guises,  chiefs  of  the  Catholic  party,  hut  didjnot 
make  any  use  of  it  herself.  That  Italian  woman,  adopting  the 
old  political  principles  of  the  Borgias,  was  incapable  of  holding  the 
jbalance  even  between  the  energetic  men  who  despised  her ; she 
was  out  of  her  place  in  that  epoch  of  strong  persuasion,  and 
jL’Hospital  himself  could  not  carry  out hi'sTd^asof  strict  imparti- 
ality— L’Hospital,  that  noble  embodiment  of  wisdom  which  the 
storms  of  passion  cannot  shake.  Guise  soon  recovered  the  influence 
he  had  lost  at  first,  and  the  court  rendered  this  £asy  for  him  by 
publishing  the  edicts  of  Saint  Germain  favourable  to  the  Huguenots, 
and  by  admitting  the  divines  of  the  Protestant  persuasion  to  a 
solemn  discussion  at  the  colloque  of  Poissy.  Whilst  the  Calvinists 
were  revolting  at  Nismes,  the  followers  of  the  Duke  de  Guise 
massacred  a company  of  Protestants  at  Vassy  in  Champagne  (1562). 
The  civil  war  was  then  begun. 

From  1561  to  1572  there  were  in  France  eighteen  or  twenty 
massacres  of  Protestants,  four  or  five  of  Catholics,  and  thirty  or 


“ The  Triumvirate  ” and  the  Protestant  association.  293 

forty  single  murders  sufficiently  important  to  have  been  kept  in 
remembrance  by  history  ; and  during  that  space  of  time  formal 
civil  war,  religious  and  partisan,  broke  out,  stopped  and  recom- 
menced in  four  campaigns  signalized,  each  of  them,  by  great  battles 
and  four  times  terminated  by  impotent  or  deceptive  treaties  of 
peace,  which,  on  the  24th  of  August,  1572,  ended,  for  their  sole 
result,  in  the  greatest  massacre  of  French  history,  the  St.  Bartho- 
lomew. 

The  first  religious  war,  under  Charles  IX.,  appeared  on  the  The  trium- 
point  of  breaking  out  in  April,  1561,  some  days  after  that  the  duke  virate- 
of  Guise,  returning  from  the  massacre  of  Vassy,  had  entered 
Paris,  on  the  16th  of  March,  in  triumph.  The  queen-mother,  in  dis- 
may, carried  off  the  king  to  Melun  at  first,  and  then  to  Fontaine- 
bleau, whilst  the  prince  of  Conde,  having  retired  to  Meaux,  sum- 
moned to  his  side  his  relatives,  his  friends,  and  all  the  leaders 
of  the  reformers,  and  wrote  to  Coligny  “ that  Ctesar  had  not  only 
crossed  the  Rubicon,  but  was  already  at  Pome,  and  that  his 
banners  were  beginning  to  wave  all  over  the  neighbouring  country.” 

For  some  days  Catherine  and  L’Hospital  tried  to  remain  out  of 
Paris  with  the  young  king,  whom  Guise,  the  constable  De  Mont- 
morency and  the  king  of  Navarre,  the  former  being  members  and 
the  latter  an  ally  of  the  triumvirate,  went  to  demand  back  from 
them.  They  were  obliged  to  submit  to  the  pressure  brought  to  . 
bear  upon  them.  The  constable  was  the  first  to  enter  Paris,  and 
went,  on  the  2nd  of  April,  and  burnt  down  the  two  places  of 
worship  which,  by  virtue  of  the  decree  of  January  17,  1561,  had 
been  granted  to  the  Protestants.  Next  day  the  king  of  Navarre 
and  the  duke  of  Guise,  in  their  turn,  entered  the  city  in  company 
with  Charles  IX.  and  Catherine.  A council  was  assembled  at  the 
Louvre  to  deliberate  as  to  the  declaration  of  war,  which  was 
deferred.  Whilst  the  king  was  on  his  way  back  to  Paris,  Conde 
hurried  off  to  take  up  his  quarters  at  Orleans,  whither  Coligny  asg  ciat]on 
went  promptly  to  join  him.  They  signed  with  the  gentlemen  who  of  the  Pro- 
came  to  them  from  all  parts  a compact  of  association  “ for  the  fief's 1 
honour  of  God,  for  the  liberty  of  the  king,  his  brothers  and  the 
queen-mother,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  decrees ; ” and  Conde, 
in  writing  to  the  protestant  princes  of  Germany  to  explain  to  them 
his  conduct,  took  the  title  of  protector  of  the  house  and  crown  of 
France.  Negotiations  still  went  on  for  nearly  three  months.  The 
chiefs  of  the  two  parties  attempted  to  offer  one  another  generous 
and  pacific  solutions  ; they  even  had  two  interviews  ; but  Catherine 
was  induced  by  the  Catholic  triumvirate  to  expressly  declare  that 
she  could  not  allow  in  France  more  than  one  single  form  of 


294 


History  of  France . 


AD.  1562. 
Battle  of 
Dreux 
(Dec.  19). 


A.D.  1583. 
The  Due 
de  Guise 
shot 


worship.  Conde  and  his  friends  said  that  they  conld  not  lay 
down  their  arms  until  the  triumvirate  was  overthrown,  and  the 
execution  of  decrees  granting  them  liberty  of  worship,  in  certain 
places  and  to  a certain  extent,  had  been  secured  to  them.  Neither 
party  liked  to  acknowledge  itself  beaten  in  this  way,  without  having 
struck  a blow. 

On  both  sides  was  displayed  equal  enthusiasm  ; the  first  armies 
that  were  raised  distinguished  themselves  by  the  utmost  strictness  ; 
no  debauchery,  no  gambling,  no  swearing ; religious  worship  morn- 
ing and  evening.  But  under  these  externals  of  piety  the  hearts 
retained  all  their  cruelty.  Montluc,  governor  of  Guienne,  went 
about  accompanied  by  a band  of  executioners.  He  says  himself  in 
his  memoirs : “ on  pouvoit  cognoistre  par  ou  il  etoit  passe,  car  par 
les  arbres  sur  les  chemins  on  en  trouvoit  les  enseignes.”  In  the  pro- 
vince of  Dauphine,  a Protestant  chieftain,  baron  des  Adrets,  retali- 
ated in  the  most  cruel  manner.  He  obliged  his  prisoners  to  throw 
themselves  down  from  the  top  of  a high  tower  oh  the  pikes  and 
spears  of  his  soldiers. 

Guise  was,  first,  conqueror  at  Dreux;  he  made  a prisoner  of  Conde, 
general  of  the  Protestant  army,  and  gave  on  that  occasion  proofs  of 
a generosity  which  could  scarcely  have  been  expected  under  such 
circumstances.  He  shared  his  bed  with  his  captive,  “ and  so,”  says 
La  Noue,  “ these  two  great  princes,  who  were  like  mortal  foes, 
found  themselves  in  one  bed,  one  triumphant  and  the  other  captive, 
taking  their  repast  together.” 

The  results  of  the  battle  of  Dreux  were  serious,  and  still  more 
serious  from  the  fate  of  the  chiefs  than  from  the  number  of 
the  dead.  The  commanders  of  the  two  armies,  the  constable 
De  Montmorency  and  the  prince  of  Conde,  were  wounded  and 
prisoners.  One  of  the  triumvirs,  Marshal  de  Saint-Audre,  had 
been  killed  in  action.  The  Catholics’  wavering  ally,  Anthony  de 
Bourbon,  king  of  Navarre,  had  died  before  the  battle  of  a wound 
which  he  had  received  at  the  siege  of  Rouen  ; and  on  his  death- 
bed had  resumed  his  protestant  bearing,  saying  that,  if  God 
granted  him  grace  to  get  well,  he  would  have  nothing  but  the 
Gospel  preached  throughout  the  realm.  The  two  staffs  (etats- 
majors),  as  we  should  now  say,  were  disorganized : in  one,  the 
duke  of  Guise  alone  remained  unhurt  and  at  liberty  ; in  the  other, 
Coligny,  in  Conde’s  absence,  was  elected  general-in-chief  of  the 
Protestants.  Orleans  was  at  that  time  the  principal  stronghold  of 
the  Protestant  party  ; it  would  certainly  have  been  taken  but  for 
the  assassination  of  Guise  whom  the  protestant  gentleman  Poltrot 
de  Mere  shot  in  the  most  treacherous  manner  (1563).  Whatever 


Guise  murdered. — Peace  of  Amboist.  295 

may  have  heen  the  ambition  of  that  celebrated  man,  it  is  impossible 

not  to  feel  some  respect  for  him,  who  addressed  to  his  murderer 

the  following  noble  words  : “ Or  9a,  je  veux  vous  montrer  combien 

la  religion  que  je  tiens  est  plus  douce  que  celle  de  quoi  vous  faites 

profession  : la  votre  vous  a conseille  de  me  tuer  sans  m’ou'ir, 

n’ayant  re9u  de  moi  aucune  offense ; et  la  mieune  me  commande 

que  je  vous  pardonne,  tout  convaincu  que  vous  etes  de  m’avoir 

voulu  tuer  sans  raison.”  Arrested,  removed  to  Paris,  put  to  the  Arrest  and 

torture  and  questioned  by  the  commissioners  of  parliament,  Pol- 

trot  at  one  time  confirmed  and  at  another  disavowed  his  original  Pol  trot  de 

assertions.  Coligny,  he  said,  had  not  suggested  the  project  to  Mere° 

him,  but  had  cognizance  of  it,  and  had  not  attempted  to  deter  him. 

The  decree  sentenced  Poltrot  to  the  punishment  of  regicides.  He 
underwent  it  on  the  18th  of  March,  1563,  in  the  Place  de  Greve, 
preserving  to  the  very  end  that  fierce  energy  of  hatred  and  ven- 
geance which  had  prompted  his  deed.  He  was  heard  saying  to 
himself  in  the  midst  of  his  torments  and  as  if  to  comfort  himself, 

“ Por  all  that,  he  is  dead  and  gone — the  persecutor  of  the  faithful, 
and  he  will  not  come  back  again.”  The  angry  populace  insulted 
him  with  yells  ; Poltrot  added,  “ If  the  persecution  does  not  cease, 
vengeance  will  fall  upon  this  city,  and  the  avengers  are  already  at 
hand.” 

Catherine  de’  Medici,  well  pleased,  perhaps,  that  there  was  now 
a question  personally  embarrassing  for  the  admiral  and  as  yet  in 
abeyance,  had  her  mind  entirely  occupied  apparently  with  the 
additional  weakness  and  difficulty  resulting  to  the  position  of  the 
crown  and  the  Catholic  party  from  the  death  of  the  duke  of  Guise  ; 
she  considered  peace  necessary;  and,  for  reasons  of  a different 
nature,  Chancellor  de  l’Hospital  was  of  the  same  opinion : he  drew 
attention  to  “ scruples  of  conscience,  the  perils  of  foreign  influence, 
and  the  impossibility  of  curing  by  an  application  of  brute  force  a 
malady  concealed  in  the  very  bowels  and  brains  of  the  people.” 
Negotiations  were  entered  into  with  the  two  captive  generals,  the  A.D.  1563. 
prince  of  Conde  and  the  constable  De  Montmorency  ; they  assented 
to  that  policy;  and,  on  the  19th  of  March,  peace  was  concluded  at 
Amboise  in  the  form  of  an  edict  which  granted  to  the  Protestants 
the  concessions  recognized  as  indispensable  by  the  crown  itself,  and 
regulated  the  relations  of  the  two  creeds,  pending  “the  remedy  of 
time,  the  decisions  of  a holy  council,  and  the  king’s  majority.” 

Liberty  of  conscience  and  the  practice  of  the  religion  “called 
reformed  ” were  recognized  “ for  all  barons  and  lords  high-justiciary, 
in  their  houses,  with  their  families  and  dependants  ; for  noble3 
having  fiefs  without  vassals  and  living  on  the  king’s  lands,  but  for 


2gO 


History  of  France . 


ooxmon 
amongst 
the  Pro- 
testants. 


Royal  de 
crees. 


them  and  their  families  personally.”  The  burgesses  were  treated 
less  favourably ; the  reformed  worship  was  maintained  in  the 
towns  in  which  it  had  been  practised  up  to  the  7th  of  March  in 
the  current  year ; but  beyond  that  and  noblemen’s  mansions,  this 
worship  might  not  be  celebrated,  save  in  the  faubourgs  of  one 
single  town  in  every  bailiwick  or  seneschalty.  Paris  and  its 
district  were  to  remain  exempt  from  any  exercise  “of  the  said 
reformed  religion.” 

During  the  negotiations,  and  as  to  the  very  basis  of  the  edict  of 
March  19,  1563,  the  Protestants  were  greatly  divided  : the  soldiers 
Division  of  and  the  politicians,  with  Conde  at  their  head,  desired  peace,  and 
thought  that  the  concessions  made  by  the  Catholics  ought  to  be 
accepted.  The  majority  of  the  reformed  pastors  and  theologians 
cried  out  against  the  insufficiency  of  the  concessions,  and  were 
astonished  that  there  should  be  so  much  hurry  to  make  peace 
when  the  Catholics  had  just  lost  their  most  formidable  captain. 
It  was  not  long  before  facts  put  the  malcontents  in  the  right. 
Between  1563  and  1567  murders  of  distinguished  Protestants 
increased  strangely,  and  excited  amongst  their  families  anxiety 
accompanied  by  a thirst  for  vengeance.  The  Guises  and  their 
party,  on  their  side,  persisted  in  their  outcries  for  proceedings 
against  the  instigators,  known  or  presumed,  of  the  murder  of  Duke 
Prancis.  It  was  plainly  against  Admiral  de  Coligny  that  these 
cries  were  directed ; the  king  and  the  queen-mother  could  find  no 
other  way  of  stopping  an  explosion  than  to  call  the  matter  on 
before  the  privy  council  and  cause  to  be  there  drawn  up,  on  the 
29th  of  January,  1566,  a solemn  decree  “declaring  the  admiral’s 
innocence  on  his  own  affirmation,  given  in  the  presence  of  the 
king  and  the  council  as  before  God  himself,  that  he  had  not  had 
anything  to  do  with  or  approved  of  the  said  homicide.”  Silence 
for  all  time  to  come  was  consequently  imposed  upon  the  attorney- 
general  and  everybody  else ; inhibition  and  prohibition  were  issued 
against  the  continuance  of  any  investigation  or  prosecution. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  war  was  proceeding  amongst  the 
provinces  with  this  passionate  doggedness,  royal  decrees  were 
alternately  confirming  and  suppressing  or  weakening  the  securities 
for  liberty  and  safety  which  the  decree  of  Amboise,  on  the  19th  of 
March,  1563,  had  given  to  the  Protestants  by  way  of  re-establishing 
peace.  It  was  a series  of  contradictory  measures  which  were 
sufficient  to  show  the  party-strife  still  raging  in  the  heart  of  the 
government.  Even  Conde  could  not  delude  himself  any  longer : 
the  preparations  were  for  war  against  the  reformers.  He  quitted 
the  court  to  take  his  stand  again  with  his  own  party.  Coligny, 


Second  and  third  religious  wars. 


29; 


D’Andelot,  La  Rochefoucauld,  La  Noue,  and  all  the  accredited 
leaders  amongst  the  Protestants,  whom  his  behaviour,  too  full  of 
confidence  or  of  complaisance  towards  the  court,  had  shocked  or 
disquieted,  went  and  joined  him.  In  September,  1567,  the  second  A D.  1567. 


It  was  short  and  not  decisive  for  either  party.  At  the  outset  of  war. 
the  campaign,  success  was  with  the  Protestants ; forty  towns, 

Orleans,  Montereau,  Lagny,  Montauban,  Castres,  Montpellier, 

Uzes,  &c.,  opened  their  gates  to  them  or  fell  into  their  hands. 

They  were  within  an  ace  of  surprising  the  king  at  Monceaux,  and 
he  never  forgot,  says  Montluc,  that  “the  Protestants  had  made  him 
do  the  stretch  from  Meaux  to  Paris  at  something  more  than  a 
walk.”  Defeated  at  St.  Denis  (November  10,  1567),  but  still 
powerful,  Coligny  and  Conde  imposed  upon  the  court  the  peace 
of  Longjumeau  (1568  ; paix  boiteuse  ou  mal  assise)  confirming  the 
terms  of  that  of  Amboise. 

Scarcely  six  months  having  elapsed,  in  August,  1568,  the  third  A.D.  1568. 

religious  war  broke  out.  The  written  guarantees  given  in  the  Third  reli- 

. gious  war. 

treaty  of  Longjumeau  for  security  and  liberty  on  behalf  of  the 

Protestants  were  misinterpreted  or  violated.  Massacres  and  mur- 
ders of  Protestants  became  more  numerous,  and  were  committed 
with  more  impunity  than  ever:  in  1568  and  1569,  at  Amiens,  at 
Auxerre,  at  Orleans,  at  Rouen,  at  Bourges,  at  Troyes,  and  at  Blois, 
Protestants,  at  one  time  to  the  number  of  140  or  120,  or  53,  or  40, 
and  at  another  singly,  with  just  their  wives  and  children,  were 
massacred,  burnt,  and  hunted  by  the  excited  populace,  without 
any  intervention  on  the  part  of  the  magistrates  to  protect  them  or 
to  punish  their  murderers.  The  contemporary  protestant  chroniclers 
set  down  at  ten  thousand  the  number  of  victims  who  perished  in 
the  course  of  these  six  months  which  were  called  a time  of  peace : 
we  may,  with  De  Thou,  believe  this  estimate  to  be  exaggerated, 
but,  without  doubt,  the  peace  of  Longjumeau  was  a lie,  even 
before  the  war  began  again. 

The  queen-mother  attempted  to  take  possession  of  the  two 
Protestant  leaders  ; Conde,  however,  managed  to  enter  La  Rochelle. 

The  protestant  nobles  of  Saintonge  and  Poitou  flocked  in.  A royal  Jeanne 
ally  was  announced ; the  queen  of  Navarre,  Jeanne  d’Albret,  was 
bringing  her  son  Henry,  fifteen  years  of  age,  whom  she  was  training  Protes- 
up  to  be  Henry  IV.  Conde  went  to  meet  them,  and,  on  the  28th  tants. 
of  September,  1568,  all  this  flower  of  French  Protestantism  was 
assembled  at  La  Rochelle,  ready  and  resolved  to  strike  another 
blow  for  the  cause  of  religious  liberty. 

It  was  the  longest  and  most  serious  of  the  four  wars  of  this  kind 


religious  war  broke  out. 


Second  re- 
ligious 


298 


History  of  France \ 


l’Hospital 
withdraws 
from  pub- 
lic life. 


A.D.  1570. 
Peace  of 
St.  Ger- 
main. 


which  so  profoundly  agitated  France  in  the  reign  of  Charles  IX. 
This  one  lasted  from  the  24th  of  August,  1568,  to  the  8th  of  August, 
1570,  between  the  departure  of  Conde  and  Coligny  for  La 
Bochelle  and  the  treaty  of  peace  of  St.  Germain- en-Laye  : a hollow 
peace,  like  the  rest,  and  only  two  years  before  the  St.  Bartholomew. 
On  starting  from  Noyers  with  Coligny,  Conde  had  addressed  to 
the  king,  on  the  23rd  of  August,  a letter  and  a request  wherein 
“after  having  set  forth  the  grievances  of  the  reformers,  he  attributed 
all  the  mischief  to  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  and  declared  that  the 
protestant  nobles  felt  themselves  constrained,  for  the  safety  of  the 
realm,  to  take  up  arms  against  that  infamous  priest,  that  tiger  of 
France , and  against  his  accomplices.”  He  bitterly  reproached  the 
Guises  “with  treating  as  mere  poli  cists,  that  is,  men  who  sacrifice 
religion  to  temporal  interests,  the  Catholics  inclined  to  make  con- 
cessions to  the  reformers,  especially  the  chancellor  De  1’IIospital 
and  the  sons  of  the  late  constable  De  Montmorency.  The  Guises, 
indeed,  and  their  friends,  did  not  conceal  their  distrust  of  De  l’Hos- 
pital,  any  more  than  he  concealed  his  opposition  to  their  deeds  and 
their  designs.  Convinced  that  he  would  not  succeed  in  preserving 
France  from  a fresh  civil  war,  the  chancellor  made  up  his  mind  to 
withdraw,  and  with  him  all  moderation  departed  from  the  councils 
of  the  king. 

During  the  two  years  that  it  lasted,  from  August,  1568,  to 
August,  1570,  the  third  religious  war  under  Charles  IX.  entailed 
two  important  battles  and  many  deadly  faction-fights  which  spread 
and  inflamed  to  the  highest  pitch  the  passions  of  the  two  parties. 
Notwithstanding  their  defeat  at  Jarnac  and  Moncontour  (1569), 
notwithstanding  the  death  of  Conde  and  the  wound  of  Coligny, 
the  Protestants  were  still  able  to  obtain  from  their  enemies  a favour- 
able peace.  The  negotiations  w^ere  short.  The  war  had  been 
going  on  for  two  years.  The  two  parties,  victorious  and  vanquished 
by  turns,  were  both  equally  sick  of  it.  In  vain  did  Philip  II., 
king  of  Spain,  offer  Charles  IX.  an  aid  of  nine  thousand  men  to 
continue  it.  In  vain  did  Pope  Pius  V.  write  to  Catherine  de’ 
Medici,  “ as  there  can  be  no  communion  between  Satan  and  the 
children  of  the  light,  it  ought  to  be  taken  for  certain  that  there  can 
be  no  compact  between  Catholics  and  heretics,  save  one  full  of 
fraud  and  feint.”  “We  had  beaten  our  enemies,”  says  Montluc, 
“ over  and  over  again  ; but  notwithstanding  that,  they  had  so 
much  influence  in  the  king’s  council,  that  the  decrees  were  always 
to  their  advantage.  We  won  by  arms,  but  they  won  by  those 
devils  of  documents.”  Peace  was  concluded  at  St.  Germain-en-Laye 
on  the  8th  of  August,  1570,  and  it  was  more  equitable  and  better 


Marriage  of  Henry  of  Navarre . 299 

for  the  reformers  than  the  preceding  treaties  ; for,  besides  a pretty- 
large  extension  as  regarded  free  exercise  of  their  worship  and  their 
civil  rights  in  the  State,  it  granted  “ for  two  years,  to  the  princes 
of  Navarre  and  Conde  and  twenty  noblemen  of  the  religion,  who 
were  appointed  by  the  king,  the  wardenship  of  the  towns  of  La 
Rochelle,  Cognac,  Montauban,  and  La  Charite,  whither  those  of  the 
religion  who  dared  not  return  so  soon  to  their  own  homes  might 
retire.”  All  the  members  of  the  parliament,  all  the  royal  and 
municipal  officers  and  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  towns  where 
the  two  religions  existed  were  further  bound  over  on  oath  “ to 
maintenance  of  the  edict.” 

Peace  was  made  ; but  it  was  the  third  in  seven  years,  and  very 
shortly  after  each  new  treaty  civil  war  had  recommenced.  No 
more  was  expected  from  the  treaty  of  St.  Germain-en-Laye  than 
had  been  effected,  by  those  of  Amboise  and  Longjumeau,  and  on 
both  sides  men  sighed  for  something  more  stable  and  definitive. 

By  what  means  to  be  obtained,  and  with  what  pledges  of  dura- 
bility ? 

There  had  already,  thirteen  or  fourteen  years  previously,  been  Henry  cf 

some  talk  about  a marriage  between  Henry  of  Navarre  and  Mar-  Ka\aire 

marriuS 

guerite  de  Yalois,  each  born  in  1553.  This  union  between  the  two  Ma“_ 
branches  of  the  royal  house,  one  catholic  and  the  other  protestant,  guerite  de 
ought  to  have  been  the  most  striking  sign  and  the  surest  pledge  of  Valois* 
peace  between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism.  The  political  expe- 
diency of  such  a step  appeared  the  more  evident  and  the  more 
urgent,  in  proportion  as  the  religious  war  had  become  more  direful, 
and  the  desire  for  peace  more  general.  Charles  IX.  embraced 
the  idea  passionately,  being  the  only  means,  he  said,  of  putting  a 
stop  at  last  to  this  incessantly  renewed  civil  war,  which  was  the 
plague  of  his  life  as  well  as  of  his  kingdom.  A fact  of  a personal  Charles IX 
character  tended  to  mislead  Coligny.  By  his  renown,  by  the  iignyC~ 
loftiness  of  his  views,  by  the  earnest  gravity  of  his  character  and 
his  language,  he  had  produced  a great  effect  upon  Charles  IX.,  a 
young  king  of  warm  imagination  and  impressible  and  sympathetic 
temperament,  but,  at  the  same  time,  of  weak  judgment.  He  readily 
gave  way,  in  Coligny 's  company,  to  outpourings  which  had  all 
the  appearance  of  perfect  and  involuntary  frankness ; and  even 
seemed  to  entertain  seriously  the  idea  of  sending  an  army  to  the 
relief  of  the  persecuted  Protestants  in  the  Netherlands.  This  tone 
of  freedom  and  confidence  had  inspired  Coligny  with  reciprocal 
confidence ; he  believed  himself  to  have  a decisive  influence  over 
the  king’s  ideas  and  conduct ; and  when  the  Protestants  testified 
their  distrust  upon  this  subject,  he  reproached  them  vehemently  lor 


3oo 


History  of  France . 


it ; he  affirmed  tlie  king’s  good  intentions  and  sincerity ; and  he 
considered  himself  in  fact,  said  Catherine  de’  Medici  with  temper, 
“ a second  king  of  France.” 


Was  the 
massacre 
on  St.  Bar 
tholomew’i 
day  pre- 
meditated 
or  not  1 


AD.  1572. 
Coligny 
wounded 
(Aug.  22) 


How  much  sincerity  was  there  about  these  outpourings  of  Charles 
IX.  in  his  intercourse  with  Coligny  and  how  much  reality  in  the 
admiral’s  influence  over  the  king1?  We  are  touching  upon  that 
. great  historical  question  which  has  been  so  much  disputed  : was 
1 the  St.  Bartholomew  a design,  long  ago  determined  upon  and 
prepared  for,  of  Charles  IX.  and  his  government,  or  an  almost 
sudden  resolution,  brought  about  by  events  and  the  situation  of 
the  moment,  to  which  Charles  IX.  was  egged  on,  not  without  diffi- 
culty, by  his  mother  Catherine  and  his  advisers  ? 

Without  giving  either  to  Catherine  de’  Medici  or  to  her  sons  the 
honour  of  either  so  long  a course  of  dissimulation  or  of  so  cunningly 
arranged  a stratagem,  it  is  not  unnatural  to  believe  that  whilst  con- 
ceding the  advantageous  terms  of  the  peace  of  Saint-Germain,  they 
looked  forward  ultimately  to  something  like  the  horrible  tragedy 
of  Saint  Bartholomew’s  day ; and  yet  we  may  reasonably  question 
even  if  the  massacre  would  have  taken  place,  had  not  the  Catholics 
dreaded  the  influence  which  Coligny  seemed  about  to  assume  over 
the  w^eak  mind  of  the  king.  Catherine  and  the  Duke  d’ Anjou  in 
their  turn,  and  as  a last  resource,  worked  upon  the  feelings  of  that 
wretched  monarch,  and  finally  led  him  to  sanction  the  massacre  of 
the  Protestants  just  as  easily  as  he  would  have  done  that  of  the 
principal  Catholic  leaders. 

On  Friday  the  22nd  of  August,  1572,  Coligny  was  returning  on 
foot  from  the  Louvre  to  the  Bue  des  Fosses-St.-Gemiain-l’Auxerrois, 
where  he  lived ; he  was  occupied  in  reading  a letter,  which  he  had 
just  received  ; a shot,  fired  from  the  window  of  a house  in  the 
cloister  of  St.  Germain-1’ Auxerrois,  smashed  two  fingers  of  his  right 
hand  and  lodged  a ball  in  his  left  arm ; he  raised  his  eyes,  pointed 
out  with  his  injured  hand  the  house  whence  the  shot  had  come, 
and  reached  his  quarters  on  foot.  Two  gentlemen  who  were  in 
attendance  upon  him  rushed  to  seize  the  murderer ; it  was  too  late  ; 
Maurevert  had  been  lodging  there,  and  on  the  watch  for  three  days 
at  the  house  of  a canon,  an  old  tutor  to  the  duke  of  Guise ; a horse 
from  the  duke’s  stable  was  waiting  for  him  at  the  back  of  the 


house  ; and,  having  done  his  job,  he  departed  at  a gallop.  He  was 
pursued  for  several  leagues  without  being  overtaken. 

Coligny  sent  to  apprise  the  king  of  what  had  just  happened  to 
him  : “ There,”  said  he,  “ was  a fine  proof  of  fidelity  to  the 
agreement  between  him  and  the  duke  of  Guise.”  “ I shall  never 
have  rest,  then  ! ” cried  Charles,  breaking  the  stick  witn  which  he 


Coligny  murdered.  30 1 

was  playing  tennis  with  the  duke  of  Guise  and  Teligny,  the 
admiral’s  son-in-law  ; and  he  immediately  returned  to  his  room. 

The  duke  of  Guise  took  himself  off  without  a word.  Teligny 
speedily  joined  his  father-in-law.  Ambrose  Pare  had  already 
attended  to  him,  cutting  off  the  two  broken  fingers  ; somebody 
expressed  a fear  that  the  balls  might  have  been  poisoned  ; “ It  will 
be  as  God  pleases  as  to  that,”  said  Coligny  ; and,  turning  towards 
the  minister,  Merlin,  who  had  hurried  to  him,  he  added,  “pray 
that  He  may  grant  me  the  gift  of  perseverance.”  Towards  mid-day,  His  inter- 
Marshals  de  Damville,  De  Cosse,  and  De  Villars  went  to  see  him  Damviil<» 
“out  of  pure  friendship,”  they  told  him,  “ and  not  to  exhort  him  Cosce  and 
to  endure  his  mishap  with  patience  : we  know  that  you  will  not  deVlllars. 
lack  patience.”  “ I do  protest  to  you,”  said  Coligny,  “ that  death 
affrights  me  not  ; it  is  of  God  that  I hold  my  life  ; when  He 
requires  it  back  from  me,  I am  quite  ready  to  give  it  up.  But  I 
should  very  much  like  to  see  the  king  before  I die  ; I have  to  speak 
to  him  of  things  which  concern  his  person  and  the  welfare  of  his 
State,  and  which  I feel  sure  none  of  you  would  dare  to  tell  him  of.” 

“ I will  go  and  inform  his  Majesty,  . . .”  rejoined  Damville ; and 
he  went  out  with  Villars  and  Teligny,  leaving  Marshal  de  Cosse  in 
the  room.  “ Do  you  remember,”  said  Coligny  to  him,  “ the 
warnings  I gave  you  a few  hours  ago  % You  will  do  well  to  take 
your  precautions.” 

About  two  p.m.  the  king,  the  queen-mother,  and  the  dukes  of 
Anjou  and  Alenin,  her  two  other  sons,  with  many  of  their  high 
officers,  repaired  to  the  admiral’s.  “ My  dear  father,”  said  the 
king  as  he  went  in,  “ the  hurt  is  yours ; the  grief  and  the  outrage 
mine ; but  I will  take  such  vengeance  that  it  shall  never  be  for- 
gotten,” to  which  he  added  his  usual  imprecations. 

Saturday  passed  quietly.  On  Sunday,  August  24,  between  two  He  is  killed 
and  three  o’clock  in  the  morning,  (’osseins,  the  commander  of  the  kyEesm9 
king’s  guards,  Besme,  a servant  of  the  duke  de  Guise,  and  several 
others,  broke  open  the  door  of  Coligny’s  house,  and  forced  their 
way  into  his  bedroom,  where  Besme  plunged  a sword  into  his  bosom, 
the  rest  despatched  him  with  their  daggers;  and  Besme  called  out 
of  the  window  to  the  duke  de  Guise,  who,  with  other  Catholics,  was 
waiting  in  the  court  below,  “ It  is  done.”  At  the  command  of  the 
duke,  the  body  was  then  thrown  out  of  the  window  to  him,  when 
having  wiped  away  the  blood  to  see  his  features,  he  said,  “ It  is  he 
himself,”  and  then  gave  a kick  to  “ that  venerable  face,  which  when 
alive  was  dreadful  to  all  the  murderers  of  France.”  Now  the  great 
bell  of  the  palace,  and  the  bell  of  Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois  were 
answered  by  the  bells  of  all  the  churches,  the  Swiss  guards  were 


302 


History  of  France . 


General 
massacre 
(Aug.  24). 


Escape  of 
M.  de 
Ltran. 


under  arms,  and  the  city  militia  poured  through  the  streets.  Once 
let  loose,  the  Parisian  populace  was  eager  indeed,  but  not  alone  in 
its  eagerness,  for  the  work  of  massacre  ; the  gentlemen  ef  the  court 
took  part  in  it  passionately,  from  a spirit  of  vengeance,  from  reli- 
gious hatred,  from  the  effect  of  smelling  blood,  from  covetousness 
at  the  prospect  of  confiscations  at  hand.  Teligny,  the  admiral’s  son- 
in-law,  had  taken  refuge  on  a roof ; the  duke  of  Anjou’s  guards 
made  him  a mark  for  their  arquebuses.  La  Rochefoucauld,  with 
whom  the  king  had  been  laughing  and  joking  up  to  eleven  o’clock 
the  evening  before,  heard  a knocking  at  his  door,  in  the  king’s 
name;  it  is  opened;  enter  six  men  in  masks  and  poniard  him. 
The  new  queen  of  Navarre,  Marguerite  de  Yalois,  had  gone  to  bed 
by  express  order  of  her  mother  Catherine  : ‘‘  Just  as  I was  asleep,” 
says  she,  “ behold  a man  knocking  with  feet  and  hands  at  the 
door  and  shouting,  ‘Navarre  ! Navarre  ! ’ My  nurse,  thinking  it  was 
the  king  my  husband,  runs  quickly  to  the  door  and  opens  it.  It 
was  a gentleman  named  M.  de  Leran,  who  had  a sword-cut  on  the 
elbow,  a gash  from  a halberd  on  the  arm,  and  was  still  pursued  by 
four  archers,  who  all  came  after  him  into  my  bedroom.  He,  wishing 
to  save  himself,  threw  himself  on  to  my  bed ; as  for  me,  feeling 
this  man  who  had  hold  of  me,  I threw  myself  out  of  bed  towards 
the  wall,  and  he  after  me,  still  holding  me  round  the  body.  I did 
not  know  this  man,  and  J could  not  tell  whether  he  had  come 
thither  to  offer  me  violence,  or  whether  the  archers  were  after  him 
in  particular  or  after  me.  We  both  screamed,  and  each  of  us  was 
as  much  frightened  as  the  other.  At  last  it  pleased  God  that  M.  de 
Nan9ay,  captain  of  the  guards,  came  in,  who,  finding  me  in  this 
plight,  though  he  felt  compassion,  could  not  help  laughing ; and, 
flying  into  a great  rage  with  the  archers  for  this  indiscretion,  he 
made  them  begone  and  gave  me  the  life  of  that  poor  man,  who  had 
hold  of  me,  whom  I had  put  to  bed  and  attended  to  in  my  closet, 
until  he  was  well.” 

We  might  multiply  indefinitely  these  anecdotical  scenes  of  the 
massacre,  most  of  them  brutally  ferocious,  others  painfully  pathetic, 
some  generous  and  calculated  to  preserve  the  credit  of  humanity 
amidst  one  of  its  most  direful  aberrations.  We  will  not  pause 
either  to  discuss  the  secondary  questions  which  meet  us  at  the  period 
of  which  we  are  telling  the  story;  for  example,  the  question 
whether  Charles  IX.  fired  with  his  own  hand  on  his  protestant 
subjects,  whom  he  had  delivered  over  to  the  evil  passions  of  the 
aristocracy  and  of  the  populace,  or  whether  the  balcony  from  which 
he  is  said  to  have  indulged  in  this  ferocious  pastime  existed  at  that 
time,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  at  the  palace  of  the  Louvre  and 


St.  Bartholomew' s day . 


303 


overlooking  tlie  Seine.  The  great  historic  fact  of  the  St.  Bartho- 
lomew is  what  we  confine  ourselves  to.  When  he  had  plunged 
into  the  orgies  of  the  massacre,  when,  after  having  said  “ Kill 
them  all  ! ” he  had  seen  the  slaughter  of  his  companions  in 
his  royal  amusements,  Teligny  and  La  Rochefoucauld,  Charles  IX. 
abandoned  himself  to  a fit  of  mad  passion.  He  was  asked  whether 
the  two  young  huguenot  princes,  Henry  of  Navarre  and  Henry  de 
Conde,  were  to  be  killed  also ; Marshal  de  Retx  had  been  in  favour 
of  it ; Marshal  de  Tavannes  had  been  opposed  to  it ; and  it  was 
decided  to  spare  them. 

The  historians,  catholic  or  protestant,  contemporary  or  research- 
ful, differ  widely  as  to  the  number  of  the  victims  in  this  cruel  mas- 
sacre : according  to  I)e  Thou,  there  were  about  2000  persons  killed 
in  Paris  the  first  day ; D’Aubigne  says  3000  ; Brantome  speaks  of 
4000  bodies  that  Charles  IX.  might  have  seen  floating  down  the 
Seine;  la  Popeliniere  reduces  them  to  1000.  The  uncertainty  is  Results  of 
still  greater  when  one  comes  to  speak  of  the  number  of  victims  St.  Bar- 
throughout  the  whole  of  France  ; De  Thou  estimates  it  at  30,000,  jj^0mew  8 
Sully  at  70,000,  Perefixe,  archbishop  of  Paris  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  raises  it  to  100,000  ; Papirius  Masson  and  Davila  reduce 
it  to  10,000,  without  clearly  distinguishing  between  the  massacre 
of  Paris  and  those  of  the  provinces  ; other  historians  fix  upon 
40,000.  Great  uncertainty  also  prevails  as  to  the  execution  of  the 
orders  issued  from  Paris  to  the  governors  of  the  provinces ; the 
names  of  the  viscount  D’Orte,  governor  at  Bayonne,  and  of  John  le 
Hennuyer,  bishop  of  Lisieux,  have  become  famous  from  their  hav- 
ing refused  to  take  part  in  the  massacre  ; but  the  authenticity  of  the 
letter  from  the  viscount  D’Orte  to  Charles  IX.  is  disputed,  though 
the  fact  of  his  resistance  appears  certain.  One  thing  which  is  quite 
true  and  which  it  is  good  to  call  to  mind  in  the  midst  of  so  great  a 
general  criminality  is  that,  at  many  spots  in  France,  it  met  with  a 
refusal  to  be  associated  in  it ; President  Jeannin  at  Dijon,  the  count 
de  Tende  in  Provence,  Philibert  de  la  Guiche  at  Macon,  Tanneguy 
le  Veneur  de  Carrouge  at  Rouen,  the  count  de  Gordes  in  Dauphiny, 
and  many  other  chiefs,  military  or  civil,  openly  repudiated  tho 
example  set  by  the  murderers  of  Paris;  and  the  municipal  body  of 
Nantes,  a very  catholic  town,  took  upon  this  subject  a resolution 
which  does  honour  to  its  patriotic  firmness  as  well  as  to  its  Chris- 
tian loyalty.  A.D.  1573. 

A great,  good  man,  a great  functionary  and  a great  scholar,  in  ^’Hospital 
disgrace  for  six  years  past,  the  chancellor  Michael  de  l’Hospital  gave  office 
in  his  resignation  on  the  1st  of  February,  1573,  and  died  six  weeks  (Fek),and 
afterwards,  on  the  18th  of  March:  “I  am  just  at  the  end  of  my  (Mar.  18). 


304 


History  of  France . 


Attitude 
of  the 
Protes- 
tants. 


A.T).  1572. 
Fourth  re- 
ligious 
war. 

Siege  of 
La  Ro- 
chelle. 


long  journey,  and  shall  have  no  more  business  but  with  God,”  be 
wrote  to  the  king  and  the  queen-mother.  “ I implore  Him  to  give 
you  His  grace  and  to  lead  you  with  His  hand  in  all  your  affairs,  and 
in  the  government  of  this  great  and  beautiful  kingdom  which  He 
hath  committed  to  your  keeping,  with  all  gentleness  and  clemency 
towards  your  good  subjects,  in  imitation  of  Himself,  who  is  good 
and  patient  in  bearing  our  burthens,  and  prompt  to  forgive  you  and 
pardon  you  everything.” 

The  tardy  and  lying  accusations  officially  brought  against  Coligny 
and  his  friends ; the  promises  of  liberty  and  security  for  the  Pro- 
testants, renewed  in  the  terms  of  the  edicts  of  pacification  and,  in 
point  of  fact,  annulled  at  the  very  moment  at  which  they  were  being 
renewed  the  massacre  continuing  here  and  there  in  Prance,  at  one 
time  with  the  secret  connivance  and  at  another  notwithstanding  the 
publicly -given  word  of  the  king  and  the  queen-mother  ; all  this 
policy,  at  one  and  the  same  time  violent  and  timorous,  incoherent 
and  stubborn,  produced  amongst  the  Protestants  two  contrary  effects: 
some  grew  frightened,  others  angry.  At  court,  under  the  direct 
influence  of  the  king  and  his  surroundings,  “submission  to  the 
powers  that  be  ” prevailed  ; many  fled ; others,  without  abjuring 
their  religion,  abjured  their  party.  The  two  reformer-princes,  Henry 
of  Navarre  and  Henry  de  Conde,  attended  mass  on  the  29th  of 
September,  and,  on  the  3rd  of  October,  wrote  to  the  Pope  deploring 
their  errors  and  giving  hopes  of  their  conversion.  Par  away  from 
Paris,  in  the  mountains  of  the  Pyrenees  and  of  Languedoc,  in  the 
towns  where  the  reformers  were  numerous  and  confident,  at  San- 
cerre,  at  Montauban,  at  Nimes,  at  La  Eochelle,  the  spirit  of  resist- 
ance carried  the  day.  An  assembly,  meeting  at  Milhau,  drew  up  a 
provisional  ordinance  for  the  government  of  the  reformed  Church, 
“until  it  please  God,  who  has  the  hearts  of  kings  in  His  keeping, 
to  change  that  of  King  Charles  IX.  and  restore  the  State  of  France 
to  good  order,  or  to  raise  up  such  neighbouring  prince  as  is  mani- 
festly marked  out,  by  his  virtue  and  by  distinguishing  signs  for  to 
be  the  liberator  of  this  poor  afflicted  people.”  In  November,  1572, 
the  fourth  religious  war  broke  out. 

The  siege  of  La  Rochelle  was  its  only  important  event.  Charles 
IX.  and  his  councillors  exerted  themselves  in  vain  to  avoid  it. 
There  was  everything  to  disquiet  them  in  this  enterprise  : so  sudden 
a revival  of  the  religious  war  after  the  grand  blow  they  had  just 
struck,  the  passionate  energy  manifested  by  the  Protestants  in 
asylum  at  La  Rochelle,  and  the  help  they  had  been  led  to  hope  for 
from  Queen  Elizabeth,  whom  England  would  never  have  forgiven 
for  indifference  in  this  cause. 


Death  of  Charles  IX. 


305 


Biron  first,  and  then  the  duke  of  Anjou  in  person  took  the  com- 
mand of  the  siege.  They  brought  up,  it  is  said,  40,000  men  and 
60  pieces  of  artillery.  The  Rochellese,  for  defensive  strength,  had 
but  22  companies  of  refugees  or  inhabitants,  making  in  all  3100 
men.  The  siege  lasted  from  the  26th  of  February  to  the  13th  of 
June,  1573  ; six  assaults  were  made  on  the  place  ; in  the  last,  the 
ladders  had  been  set  at  night  against  the  wall  of  what  was  called 
Gospel  bastion  ; the  duke  of  Guise,  at  the  head  of  the  assailants, 
had  escaladed  the  breach,  but  there  he  discovered  a new  ditch  and 
a new  rampart  erected  inside;  and,  confronted  by  these  unforeseen 
obstacles,  the  men  recoiled  and  fell  back.  La  Rochelle  was  saved. 

Charles  IX.  was  more  and  more  desirous  of  peace  ; his  brother,  the 
duke  of  Anjou,  had  just  been  elected  king  of  Poland  ; Charles  IX. 
was  anxious  for  him  to  leave  France,  and  go  to  take  possession  of 
his  new  kingdom.  Thanks  to  these  complications,  the  Peace  of  La 
Rochelle  was  signed  on  the  6th  of  July,  1573.  Liberty  of  creed 
and  worship  was  recognized  in  the  three  towns  of  La  Rochelle, 
Montauban,  and  Ximes.  They  were  not  obliged  to  receive  any 
royal  garrison,  on  condition  of  giving  hostages  to  be  kept  by  the 
king  for  two  years.  Liberty  of  worship  throughout  the  extent  of 
their  jurisdiction  continued  to  be  recognized  in  the  case  of  lords 
high-justiciary.  Everywhere  else  the  reformers  had  promises  of  not 
being  persecuted  for  their  creed,  under  the  obligation  of  never  hold- 
ing an  assembly  of  more  than  ten  persons  at  a time.  These  were 
the  most  favourable  conditions  they  had  yet  obtained. 

Certainly  this  was  not  what  the  king  had  calculated  upon  when 
he  consented  to  the  massacre  of  the  Protestants:  “Provided,”  he- 
had  said,  “ that  not  a single  one  is  left  to  reproach  me.”  Charles  IX. 
had  not  mind  or  character  sufficiently  sound  or  sufficiently  strong  to 
support,  without  great  perturbation,  the  effect  of  so  many  violent,  re- 
peated and  oflen  contradictory  impressions.  In  the  spring  of  1574,  at  A.D.  1574. 
the  age  of  twenty-three  years  and  eleven  months,  and  after  a reign  ol  JharlesIX 
eleven  years  and  six  months,  Charles  IX.  was  attacked  by  an  in- 
flammatory malady,  which  brought  on  violent  hemorrhage ; he  was 
revisited,  in  his  troubled  sleep,  by  the  same  bloody  visions  about 
which,  a few  days  after  the  St.  Bartholomew,  he  had  spoken  to  his 
physician,  Ambrose  Pare.  He  no  longer  retained  in  his  room  any- 
body but  two  of  his  servants  and  his  nurse,  “ of  whom  he  was  very 
fond,  although  she  was  a huguenot,”  says  the  contemporary  chro- 
nicler Peter  de  l’Estoile.  “ When  she  had  lain  down  upon  a chest 
and  was  just  beginning  to  doze,  hearing  the  king  moaning,  weeping 
and  sighing,  she  went  full  gently  up  to  the  bed : ‘ Ah  ! nurse,  nurse,* 
said  the  king,  ‘ what  bloodshed  and  what  murders ! Ah  ! what 


x 


History  of  France. 


Agony  of 
his  last 
moments. 


A.D.  1573. 
Henry, 
duke  of 
Anjou, 
king  of 
Poland. 


306 

evil  counsel  have  T followed  ! Oh  ! my  God,  forgive  me  them  and 
have  mercy  upon  me,  if  it  may  please  Thee  ! I know  not  what 
hath  come  to  me,  so  bewildered  and  agitated  do  they  make  me. 
What  will  be  the  end  of  it  all  ? What  shall  I do  ? I am  lost ; I see 
it  well.’  Then  said  the  nurse  to  him  : ‘ Sir,  the  murders  be  on  the 
heads  of  those  who  made  you  do  them  ! Of  yourself,  sir,  you  never 
could  ; and  since  you  are  not  consenting  thereto  and  are  sorry 
therefor,  believe  that  God  will  not  put  them  down  to  your  account, 
and  will  hide  them  with  the  cloak  of  justice  of  His  Son,  to  whom 
alone  you  must  have  recourse.  But,  for  God’s  sake,  let  your 
Majesty  cease  weeping !’  And  thereupon,  having  been  to  fetch  him 
a pocket-handkerchief  because  his  own  was  soaked  with  tears,  after 
that  the  king  had  taken  it  from  her  hand,  he  signed  to  her  to  go 
away  and  leave  him  to  his  rest.” 

On  Sunday,  May  30,  1574,  Whitsunday,  about  three  in  the 
afternoon,  Charles  IX.  expired,  after  having  signed  an  ordinance 
conferring  the  regency  upon  his  mother  Catherine,  “ who  accepted 
it,”  was  the  expression  in  the  letters  patent,  “ at  the  request  of 
the  duke  of  Alenin,  the  king  of  Navarre,  and  other  princes  and 
peers  of  France.”  According  to  D’Aubigne,  Charles  often  used  to 
say  of  his  brother  Henry  that,  “ when  he  had  a kingdom  on  his 
hands,  the  administration  would  find  him  out  and  that  he  would 
disappoint  those  who  had  hopes  of  him.”  The  last  words  he  said 
were  “ that  he  was  glad  not  to  have  left  any  young  child  to  succeed 
him,  very  well  knowing  that  France  needs  a man,  and  that,  with  a 
child,  the  king  and  the  reign  are  unhappy.” 

Though  elected  king  of  Poland  on  the  9th  of  May,  1573,  Henry, 
duke  of  Anjou,  had  not  yet  left  Paris  at  the  end  of  the  summer. 
Impatient  at  his  slowness  to  depart,  Charles  IX  said,  with  his 
usual  oath,  “ By  God’s  death  ! my  brother  or  I must  at  once  leave 
the  kingdom ; my  mother  shall  not  succeed  in  preventing  it.” 
“ Go,”  said  Catherine  to  Henry : “ you  will  not  be  away  long.” 
She  foresaw,  with  no  great  sorrow  one  would  say,  the  death  of 
Charles  IX.,  and  her  favourite  son’s  accession  to  the  throne  of 
France.  Having  arrived  in  Poland  on  the  25th  of  January,  1574, 
and  being  crowned  at  Cracow  on  the  24th  of  February,  Henry  had 
been  scarcely  four  months  king  of  Poland  when  he  was  apprised, 
about  the  middle  of  June,  that  his  brother  Charles  had  lately 
died,  on  the  30th  of  May,  and  that  he  was  king  of  France.  “ Do 
not  waste  your  time  in  deliberating,”  said  his  French  advisers  : 
“ you  must  go  and  take  possession  of  the  throne  of  France  without 
abdicating  that  of  Poland  ; go  at  once  and  without  fuss.”  Henry 
followed  this  counsel.  Having  started  from  Cracow  on  the  18th  of 


HENRY  II. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


307 


Henry  III.  King  of  France. 

June,  1574,  he  did  not  arrive  until  the  5th  of  September  at  Lyons,  Returns  to 

whither  the  queen-mother  had  sent  his  brother  the  duke  of  Alenin 

and  his  brother-in-law  the  king  of  Navarre  to  receive  him,  going  the  ihrone. 

herself  as  far  as  Bourgoin  in  Dauphiny  in  order  to  be  the  first  to 

see  her  darling  son  again. 

The  king’s  entry  into  France  caused,  says  De  Thou,  a strange 
revulsion  in  all  minds.  “ During  the  lifetime  of  Charles  IX.  none 
had  seemed  more  worthy  of  the  throne  than  Henry,  and  everybody 
desired  to  have  him  for  master.  But  scarcely  had  he  arrived  when 
disgust  set  in  to  the  extent  of  auguring  very  ill  of  his  reign.  The 
time  was  ill  chosen  by  him  for  becoming  an  indolent  and  volup- 
tuous king,  set  upon  taking  his  pleasure  in  his  court,  and  isolating 
himself  from  his  people.  The  condition  and  ideas  of  France  were 
also  changing,  but  to  issue  in  the  assumption  of  quite  a different 
character,  and  to  receive  development  in  quite  a different  direction. 

Catholics  or  Protestants,  agents  of  the  king’s  government  or  mal- 
contents, all  were  getting  a taste  for,  and  adopting  the  practice  of 
independence,  and  a vigorous  and  spontaneous  activity.  The  bonds  stateoftjie 
of  the  feudal  system  were  losing  their  hold,  and  were  not  yet  country, 
replaced  by  those  of  a hierarchically  organized  administration. 

Religious  creeds  and  political  ideas  were  becoming,  for  thoughtful 
and  straightforward  spirits,  rules  of  conduct,  powerful  motives  of 
action,  and  they  furnished  the  ambitious  with  effective  weapons. 

It  was  in  a condition  of  disorganization  and  red-hot  anarchy 
that  Henry  III , on  his  return  from  Poland,  and  after  the  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, found  Fiance;  it  was  in  the  face  of  all  these  forces, 
full  of  life,  but  scattered  and  excited  one  against  another,  that,  with 
the  aid  of  his  mother  Catherine,  he  had  to  re-establish  unity  in  the 
State,  the  efficiency  of  the  government,  and  the  public  peace. 

It  was  not  a task  for  which  the  tact  of  an  utterly  corrupted 
woman  ancj  an  irresolute  prince  sufficed.  What  could  the  artful 
manoeuvrings  of  Catherine  and  the  waverings  of  Henry  III.  do 
towards  taming  both  Catholics  and  Protestants  at  the  same  time, 
and  obliging  them  to  live  at  peace  with  one  another  under  one 
equitable  and  effective  power? 

Henry  and  Catherine  aspired  to  no  more  than  resuming  their 
policy  of  manoeuvring  and  wavering  between  the  two  parties 
engaged  in  the  struggle  ; but  it  was  not  for  so  poor  a result  that  the 
ardent  Catholics  had  committed  the  crime  of  the  St.  Bartholomew : 
they  promised  themselves  from  it  the  decisive  victory  of  their 
Church  and  of  their  supremacy.  Henry  de  Guise  came  forward  as 
their  leader  in  this  grand  design.  When,  in  1575,  first  the  duke 
of  Anjou  and  after  him  the  king  of  Navarre  were  seen  flying 

x 2 


3oS 


History  of  France . 


“The 
league  ” 


Henry  of 
Guise  (le 
Balafre) 
assumes  its 
leadership. 


A.D.  1576 
—1588. 
Various 
attempts 
to  peace. 


from  the  court  of  Henry  III.  and  commencing  an  insurrection 
with  the  aid  of  a considerable  body  of  German  auxiliaries  and 
French  refugees  already  on  French  soil  and  on  their  way  across 
Champagne,  the  peril  of  the  Catholic  Church  appeared  so  grave 
and  so  urgent  that,  in  the  threatened  provinces,  the  Catholics 
devoted  themselves  with  ardour  to  the  formation  of  a grand  asso- 
ciation for  the  defence  of  their  cause.  Then  and  thus  was  really 
born  the  League , secret  at  first,  but,  before  long,  publicly  and  openly 
proclaimed,  which  held  so  important  a place  in  the  history  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  Henry  de  Guise  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  the 
League  and  labour  to  propagate  it ; he  did  what  was  far  more 
effectual  for  its  success  : he  entered  the  field  and  gained  a victory. 
The  German  allies  and  French  refugees,  who  had  come  to  support 
Prince  Henry  de  Conde  and  the  duke  of  Anjou  in  their  insurrec- 
tion, advanced  into  Champagne.  Guise  had  nothing  ready,  neither 
army  nor  money  ; he  mustered  in  haste  three  thousand  horse  who 
were  to  be  followed  by  a body  of  foot  and  a moiety  of  the  king’s 
guards.  He  set  out  in  pursuit  of  the  Germans,  came  up  with  them 
on  the  10th  of  October,  1575,  at  Port-a-Binson,  on  the  Marne,  and 
ordered  them  to  be  attacked  by  his  brother  the  duke  of  Mayenne, 
whom  he  supported  vigorously.  They  were  broken  and  routed. 
He  had  himself  been  wounded  : he  went  in  obstinate  pursuit  of  a 
mounted  foe  whom  he  had  twice  touched  with  his  sword,  and  who, 
in  return,  had  fired  two  pistol-shots,  of  which  one  took  effect  in  the 
leg,  and  the  other  carried  away  part  of  his  cheek  and  his  left  ear. 
Thence  came  his  name  of  Henry  the  Scarred  (le  Balafre)  which 
has  clung  to  him  in  history. 

Scarcely  four  years  had  rolled  away  since  the  St.  Bartholomew. 
In  vain  had  been  the  massacre  of  10,000  Protestants,  according  to 
the  lowest,  and  of  100,000,  according  to  the  highest  estimates, 
besides  nearly  all  the  renowned  chiefs  of  the  party.  Admiral 
Coligny  was  succeeded  by  the  king  of  Navarre,  who  was  destined 
to  become  Henry  IV. ; and  Duke  Francis  of  Guise  by  his  son 
Henry,  if  not  as  able,  at  any  rate  as  brave  a soldier,  and  a more 
determined  Catholic  than  he.  Amongst  the  Protestants,  Sully  and 
Du  Plessis-Mornay  were  assuming  shape  and  importance  by  the 
side  of  the  king  of  Navarre.  Catherine  de’  Medici  placed  at  her 
son’s  service  her  Italian  adroitness,  her  maternal  devotion  and  an 
energy  rare  for  a woman  between  sixty  and  seventy  years  of  age, 
for  forty-three  years  a queen,  and  worn  out  by  intrigue  and  business 
combined  with  pleasure. 

This  state  of  things  continued  for  twelve  years,  from  1576  to 
1588,  with  constant  alternations  of  war,  truoe,  and  precarious 


309 


Difficult  position  of  Henry  III. 

peace,  and  in  the  midst  of  constant  hesitation  on  the  part  of 
Henry  III.,  between  alliance  with  the  League,  commanded  by  the 
duke  of  Guise,  and  adjustment  with  the  Protestants,  of  whom  the 
king  of  Navarre  was  every  day  becoming  the  more  and  more  avowed 
leader.  Between  1576  and  1580,  four  treaties  of  peace  were  con- 
cluded : in  1576,  the  peace  called  Monsieur' 's,  signed  at  Chastenay 
in  Orleanness;  in  1577,  the  peace  of  Bergerac  or  of  Poitiers;  in 
1579,  the  peace  of  Nerac  ; in  1580,  the  peace  of  Fleix  inPerigord. 

In  November,  1576,  the  states-general  were  convoked  and  assem- 
bled at  Blois,  where  they  sat  and  deliberated  up  to  March,  1577, 
without  any  important  result.  Neither  these  diplomatic  con-  They  a^1 
ventions  nor  these  national  assemblies  had  force  enough  to  esta- 
blish a real  and  lasting  peace  between  the  two  parties,  for  the 
parties  themselves  would  not  have  it ; in  vain  did  Henry  III. 
make  concessions  and  promises  of  liberty  to  the  Protestants  ; he 
was  not  in  a condition  to  guarantee  their  execution  and  make  it 
respected  by  their  adversaries.  At  heart  neither  Protestants  nor 
Catholics  were  for  accepting  mutual  liberty;  not  only  did  they  both 
consider  themselves  in  possession  of  all  religious  truth,  but  they 
also  considered  themselves  entitled  to  impose  it  by  force  upon 
their  adversaries. 

From  1576  to  1588,  Henry  III.  had  seen  the  difficulties  of  his 
government  continuing  and  increasing.  His  attempt  to  maintain 
his  own  independence  and  the  mastery  of  the  situation  between 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  by  making  concessions  and  promises  at 
one  time  to  the  former  and  at  another  to  the  latter,  had  not  suc- 
ceeded ; and,  in  1584,  it  became  still  more  difficult  to  practise. 

On  the  10th  of  June  in  that  year  Henry  III.’s  brother,  the  duke  of 
Anjou,  died  at  Chateau-Thierry.  By  this  death  the  leader  of  the 
Protestants,  Henry,  king  of  Navarre,  became  lawful  heir  to  the 
throne  of  France.  The  Leaguers  could  not  stomach  that  prospect. 

The  Guises  turned  it  to  formidable  account.  They  did  not  hesitate 
to  make  the  future  of  France  a subject  of  negotiation  with  Philip  II. 
of  Spain,  at  that  time  her  most  dangerous  enemy  in  Europe.  By  a a.D.  1584. 
secret  convention  concluded  at  Joinville  on  the  31st  of  December,  The  car- 
1584,  between  Philip  and  the  Guises,  it  was  stipulated  that  at  the  B0urbon 
death  of  Henry  III.  the  crown  should  pass  to  Charles,  cardinal  of  proposed 
Bourbon,  sixty-four  years  of  age,  the  king  of  Navarre’s  uncle,  who,  ^in^of  ^ 
in  order  to  make  himself  king,  undertook  to  set  aside  his  nephew’s  France, 
hereditary  right  and  forbid,  absolutely,  heretical  worship  in  France. 

On  the  7th  of  July,  1585,  a treaty  was  concluded  at  Nemours 
between  Henry  III.  and  the  league,  to  the  effect  “that  by  an 
irrevocable  edict  the  practice  of  the  new  religion  should  be  for- 


3io 


History  of  France . 


bidden,  and  that  there  should  henceforth  he  no  other  practice  of 
religion,  throughout  the  realm  of  France,  save  that  of  the  Catholic, 
Apostolic,  and  Boman  ; that  all  the  ministers  should  depart  from 
A D 1585  kingdom  within  a month  ; that  all  the  subjects  of  his  Majesty 
Treaty  should  be  bound  to  live  according  to  the  catholic  religion  and 
signed  be-  make  profession  thereof  within  six  months,  on  pain  of  confiscation 
HenryeiII  both  of  person  and  goods  ; that  heretics,  of  whatsoever  quality  they 
and  the  might  be,  should  be  declared  incapable  of  holding  benefices,  public 
league.  0fficeSj  positions,  and  dignities ; that  the  places  which  had  been 
given  in  guardianship  to  them  for  their  security  should  be  taken 
back  again  forthwith  ; and,  lastly,  that  the  princes  designated  in  the 
treaty,  amongst  whom  were  all  the  Guises  at  the  top,  should  receive 
as  guarantee  certain  places  to  be  held  by  them  for  five  years.” 

This  treaty  was  signed  by  all  the  negotiators,  and  specially  by 
the  queen-mother,  the  cardinals  of  Bourbon  and  Guise,  and  the 
dukes  of  Guise  and  Mayenne.  It  was  the  decisive  act  which  made 
the  war  a war  of  religion. 


The  king  of  Navarre  left  no  stone  unturned  to  convince  every- 
body, friends  and  enemies,  great  lords  and  commonalty,  Frenchmen 
and  foreigners,  that  this  recurrence  of  war  was  not  his  doing,  and 
that  the  Leaguers  forced  it  upon  him  against  his  wish,  and  despite 
of  the  justice  of  his  cause.  Before  taking  part  in  the  war  which 
was  day  by  day  becoming  more  and  more  clearly  and  explicitly  a 
war  of  religion,  the  protestant  princes  of  Germany  and  the  four 
great  free  cities  of  Strasbourg,  Ulm,  Nuremberg  and  Frankfort 
resolved  to  make,  as  the  king  of  Navarre  had  made,  a striking 
move  on  behalf  of  peace  and  religious  liberty.  They  sent  to 
Henry  III.  ambassadors  who,  on  the  11th  of  October,  1586,  treated 
him  to  some  frank  and  bold  speaking,  but  obtained  no  satisfactory 
answer. 

The  war  Except  some  local  and  short-lived  truces,  war  was  already  blazing 
breaks  out  throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  France,  in  Provence,  in  Dauphiny, 
agam.  jn  Nivernais,  in  Guienne,  in  Anjou,  in  Normandy,  in  Picardy,  in 
Champagne.  The  successes  of  Henry  de  Guise  (Yimory,  October  28  ; 
Auneau,  November  24),  and  of  Henry  de  Bourbon  (Coutras,  Octo- 
ber 20),  were  almost  equally  disagreeable  to  Henry  de  Yalois.  It  is 
probable  that,  if  he  could  have  chosen,  he  would  have  preferred 
those  of  Henry  de  Bourbon  ; if  they  caused  him  like  jealousy,  they 
did  not  raise  in  him  the  same  distrust ; he  knew  the  king  of  Navarre’s 
loyalty  and  did  not  suspect  him  of  aiming  to  become,  whilst  he  him- 
self was  living,  king  of  France.  Besides,  he  considered  the  Protestants 
less  powerful  and  less  formidable  than  the  Leaguers.  Henry  de  Guise, 
on  the  contrary,  was  evidently,  in  his  eyes,  an  ambitious  conspirator, 


The  barricades. — The  States-general.  311 

determined  to  push  his  own  fortunes  on  to  the  very  crown  of  France, 
if  the  chances  were  favourable  to  him,  and  not  only  armed  with  all 
the  power  of  Catholicism,  but  urged  forward  by  the  passions  of  the 
League  perhaps  further  and  certainly  more  quickly  than  his  own 
intentions  travelled.  Since  1584,  the  Leaguers  had,  at  Paris, 
acquired  strong  organization  amongst  the  populace  ; the  city  had 
been  partitioned  out  into  five  districts  under  five  heads,  who, 
shortly  afterwards,  added  to  themselves  eleven  others,  in  order  that, 
in  the  secret  council  of  the  association,  each  amongst  the  sixteen 
quarters  of  Paris  might  have  its  representative  and  director. 

Thence  the  famous  Committee  of  Sixteen , which  played  so  great  and 
so  formidable  a part  in  the  history  of  that  period.  It  was  religious 
fanaticism  and  democratic  fanaticism  closely  united,  and  in  a 
position  to  impose  their  wills  upon  their  most  eminent  leaders, 
upon  the  duke  of  Guise  himself. 

In  vain  did  Henry  III.  attempt  to  resume  some  sort  of  authority 
in  Paris ; Iris  government,  his  public  and  private  life,  and  his  m Paris, 
person  were  daily  attacked,  insulted,  and  menaced  from  the  elevation 
of  the  pulpit  and  in  the  public  thoroughfares  by  qualified  preachers 
or  mob-orators.  The  duke  de  Guise,  whose  courage  rendered  him 
the  favourite  of  the  people,  became  more  and  more  insolent.  In 
defiance  of  a royal  order  he  marched  into  Paris,  and  at  the  head  of 
four  hundred  gentilshommes  set  the  king  at  defiance  in  the 
apartments  of  the  Louvre.  The  party  of  Lorraine  thought  that 
they  had  gained  their  object : they  loudly  declared  their  purpose 
of  confining  Henry  III  to  a monastery,  and  the  duchess  de  Mont- 
pensier,  sister  of  the  duke  de  Guise,  showed  to  everybody  a pair  of 
gold  scissors  with  which  she  intended  to  perform  upon  the  head  of 
the  dethroned  monarch  the  ceremony  of  ecclesiastical  tonsure. 
Barricades  were  raised  throughout  Paris,  and  the  Swiss  guards 
whom  the  king  had  summoned,  disarmed  by  the  populace,  would 
have  been  slaughtered,  but  for  the  interposition  of  Guise  himself. 

At  that  supreme  moment,  the  duke  hesitated  and  recoiled  before 
the  final  step  of  attacking  the  Louvre.  This  wavering  saved  the 
king ; for  Catherine  de’  Medicis  had  time  to  amuse  her  rival  by 
feigned  propositions  of  reconciliation,  and  in  the  meanwhile 
Henry  III.  could  retire  to  Chartres.  There  the  imbecile  monarch, 
forsaken  by  every  one,  was  compelled  to  approve  all  that  had  been  States  of 
done  against  himself ; he  gave  to  the  duke  de  Guise  several Blois* 
powerful  towns,  and  named  him  generalissimo  of  the  French 
forces;  finally  he  convoked  the  States-general  at  Blois.  Guise 
was  not  satisfied  yet,  and  he  insulted  his  king  so  repeatedly  that 
he  drove  the  most  timid  of  men  to  the  boldest  of  all  resolutions, 
that  of  murdering  him. 


312 


History  of  France. 


The  duke 
of  Guise 
cantioned. 


He  is 
murdered 
by  the 
“Forty- 
five” 

guardsmen 


On  the  evening  of  Thursday,  December  the  22nd,  the  duke  of 
Guise,  on  sitting  down  at  table,  found  under  his  napkin  a note  to 
this  effect : “ The  king  means  to  kill  you.”  Guise  asked  for  a pen, 
wrote  at  the  bottom  of  the  note,  “ He  dare  not,”  and  threw  it  under 
the  table.  In  spite  of  this  warning,  he  persisted  in  going,  on  the 
next  day,  to  the  council-chamber.  On  entering  the  room  he  felt 
cold,  asked  to  have  some  fire  lighted,  and  gave  orders  to  his  secre- 
tary, Pericard,  the  only  attendant  admitted  with  him,  to  go  and 
fetch  the  silver-gilt  shell  he  was  in  the  habit  of  carrying  about  him 
with  damsons  or  other  preserves  to  eat  of  a morning.  Pericard  was 
some  time  gone  ; Guise  was  in  a hurry,  and,  “ be  kind  enough,”  he 
said  to  M.  de  Morfontaines,  “ to  send  word  to  M.  de  Saint-Prix 
[first  groom  of  the  chamber  to  Henry  III.]  that  I beg  him  to  let 
me  have  a few  damsons  or  a little  preserve  of  roses,  or  some  trifle 
of  the  king’s.”  Four  Brignolles  plums  were  brought  him  ; and  he 
ate  one.  His  uneasiness  continued ; the  eye  close  to  his  scar 
became  moist ; according  to  M.  de  Thou,  he  bled  at  the  nose.  He 
felt  in  his  pocket  for  a handkerchief  to  use,  but  could  not  find  one. 
“ My  people,”  said  he,  “ have  not  given  me  my  necessaries  this 
morning ; there  is  great  excuse  for  them,  they  were  too  much 
hurried.”  At  his  request,  Saint-Prix  had  a handkerchief  brought 
to  him.  Pericard  passed  his  bonbon-box  to  him,  as  the  guards 
would  not  let  him  enter  again.  The  duke  took  a few  plums  from 
it,  threw  the  rest  on  the  table,  saying,  “ Gentlemen,  who  will  have 
any?”  and  rose  up  hurriedly  upon  seeing  the  secretary  of  state 
Revol,  who  came  in  and  said  to  him,  “ Sir,  the  king  wants  you ; 
he  is  in  his  old  cabinet.” 

The  duke  of  Guise  pulled  up  his  cloak  as  if  to  wrap  himself  well 
in  it,  took  his  hat,  gloves,  and  his  sweetmeat-box  and  went  out  of 
the  room,  saying,  “ Adieu,  gentlemen,”  with  a gravity  free  from  any 
appearance  of  mistrust.  He  crossed  the  king’s  chamber  contiguous 
to  the  council-hall,  courteously  saluted,  as  he  passed,  Loignac  and 
his  comrades  whom  he  found  drawn  up,  and  who,  returning  him  a 
Irigid  obeisance,  followed  him  as  if  to  show  him  respect.  On 
arriving  at  the  door  of  the  old  cabinet,  and  just  as  he  leaned  down 
to  raise  the  tapestry  that  covered  it,  Guise  was  struck  by  five  poniard 
blows  in  the  chest,  neck,  and  reins  : “ God  ha’  mercy  !”  he  cried, 
and,  though  his  sword  was  entangled  in  his  cloak  and  he  was  him- 
self pinned  by  the  arms  and  legs  and  choked  by  the  blood  that 
spurted  from  his  throat,  he  dragged  his  murderers,  by  a supreme 
effort  of  energy,  to  the  other  end  of  the  room,  where  he  fell  down 
backwards  and  lifeless  before  the  bed  of  Henry  III.  who,  coming 
to  the  door  of  his  room  and  asking  “ if  it  was  done,”  contemplated 


Death  of  the  Queen  Mother. 


313 


with  mingled  satisfaction  and  terror  the  inanimate  body  of  his 
mighty  rival,  “ who  seemed  to  be  merely  sleeping,  so  little  was  he 
changed.”  “ My  God  ! how  tall  he  is  !”  cried  the  king ; “ he  looks 
even  taller  than  when  he  was  alive.” 

“They  are  killing  my  brother!”  cried  the  cardinal  of  Guise 
when  he  heard  the  noise  that  was  being  made  in  the  next  room ; 
and  he  rose  up  to  run  thither.  The  archbishop  of  Lyons,  Peter 
d’Espinac,  did  the  same.  The  duke  of  Aumont  held  them  both 
back,  saying,  “ Gentlemen,  we  must  wait  for  the  king’s  orders.” 

Orders  came  to  arrest  them  both  and  confine  them  in  a small  room 
over  the  council  chamber.  They  had  “ eggs,  bread,  wine  from  the 
king’s  cellar,  their  breviaries,  their  night-gowns,  a palliasse,  and  a 
mattress,”  brought  to  them  there  ; and  they  were  kept  under  ocular 
supervision  for  four  and  twenty  hours.  The  cardinal  of  Guise  was 
released  the  next  morning,  but  only  to  be  put  to  death  like  his 
brother.  The  king  spared  the  archbishop  of  Lyons. 

Thirteen  days  after  the  murder  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  on  the  A.D.  1589 
5th  of  January,  1589,  Catherine  de’  Medici  herself  died.  Nor  Catherine 
was  her  death,  so  far  as  affairs  and  the  public  were  concerned,  an  de’  Medici, 
event : her  ability  was  of  the  sort  which  is  worn  out  by  the  fre- 
quent use  made  of  it,  and  which,  when  old  age  comes  on,  leaves 
no  long  or  grateful  reminiscence.  Time  has  restored  Catherine  de’ 

Medici  to  her  proper  place  in  history ; she  was  quickly  forgotten 
by  her  contemporaries. 

It  was  not  long  before  Henry  III.  perceived  that,  to  be  king,  it  Position  of 
was  not  sufficient  to  have  murdered  his  rival.  He  survived  the  ^enry  ***• 
duke  of  Guise  only  seven  months,  and,  during  that  short  period, 
he  was  not  really  king,  all  by  himself,  for  a single  day ; never  had 
his  kingship  been  so  embarrassed  and  impotent ; the  violent  death 
of  the  duke  of  Guise  had  exasperated  much  more  than  enfeebled 
the  League ; the  feeling  against  his  murderer  was  passionate  and 
contagious ; the  catholic  cause  had  lost  its  great  leader ; it  found 
and  accepted  another  in  his  brother  the  duke  of  Mayerme,  far 
inferior  to  his  elder  brother  in  political  talent  and  prompt  energy 
of  character,  but  a brave  and  determined  soldier,  a much  better 
man  of  party  and  action  than  the  sceptical,  undecided,  and  indolent 
Henry  III.  The  majority  of  the  great  towns  of  Prance,  Paris, 

Kouen,  Orleans,  Toulouse,  Lyons,  Amiens,  and  whole  provinces 
declared  eagerly  against  the  royal  murderer.  He  demanded  sup- 
port from  the  states-general,  who  refused  it ; and  he  was  obliged  to 
dismiss  them.  The  parliament  of  Paris,  dismembered  on  the  16th 
of  January,  1589,  by  the  counsel  of  Sixteen,  became  the  instru- 
ment of  the  Leaguers.  The  majority  of  the  other  parliaments 


He  treats 
with  the 
king  of 
Navarre. 


Siege  of 
Paris. 


314  History  of  France. 

followed  the  example  set  by  that  of  Paris.  The  Sorbonne,  consulted 
by  a petition  presented  in  the  name  of  all  Catholics,  decided  that 
Frenchmen  were  released  from  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  Henry  III., 
and  might  with  a good  conscience  turn  their  arms  against  him.  Henry 
made  some  obscure  attempts  to  come  to  an  arrangement  with  certain 
chiefs  of  the  Leaguers  ; but  they  were  rejected  with  violence. 

There  was  clearly  for  him  but  one  possible  ally  who  had  a chance 
of  doing  effectual  service,  and  that  was  Henry  of  Navarre  and  the 
Protestants.  It  cost  Henry  III.  a great  deal  to  have  recourse  to 
that  party ; his  conscience  and  pusillanimity  both  revolted  at  it 
equally  ; in  spite  of  his  moral  corruption,  he  was  a sincere  Catholic, 
and  the  prospect  of  excommunication  troubled  him  deeply.  How- 
ever, on  the  3rd  of  April,  1589,  a truce  for  a year  was  concluded 
between  the  two  kings.  It  set  forth  that  the  king  of  Navarre 
should  serve  fhe  king  of  France  with  all  his  might  and  main; 
that  he  should  have,  for  the  movements  of  his  troops  on  both 
banks  of  the  Loire,  the  place  of  Saumur ; that  the  places  of  which 
he  made  himself  master  should  be  handed  over  to  Henry  III., 
and  that  he  might  not  anywhere  do  anything  to  the  prejudice 
of  the  catholic  religion  ; that  the  Protestants  should  be  no  more 
disquieted  throughout  the  whole  of  France,  and  that,  before  the 
expiration  of  the  truce,  King  Henry  III.  should  give  them  assurance 
of  peace.  This  negotiation  was  not  concluded  without  difficulty, 
especially  as  regarded  the  town  of  Saumur  ; there  was  a general 
desire  to  cede  to  the  king  of  Navarre  only  some  place  of  less  impor- 
tance on  the  Loire;  and  when,  on  the  15th  of  April,  Du  Plessis- 
Mornay,  who  had  been  appointed  governor  of  it,  presented  himself 
for  admittance  at  the  head  of  his  garrison,  the  royalist  commandant 
who  had  to  deliver  the  keys  to  him  limited  himself  to  letting  them 
drop  at  his  feet.  Mornay  showed  alacrity  in  picking  them  up. 

On  arriving  before  Paris  towards  the  end  of  July,  1589,  the  two 
kings  besieged  it  with  an  army  of  42,000  men,  the  strongest  and 
the  best  they  had  ever  had  under  their  orders.  “ The  affairs  of 
Henry  III.,”  says  De  Thou,  “ had  changed  face  ; fortune  was  pro- 
nouncing for  him.”  Quartered  in  the  house  of  Count  de  Eetz, 
at  St.  Cloud,  he  could  thence  see  quite  at  his  ease  his  city  of  Paris. 
“ Yonder,”  said  he,  “ is  the  heart  of  the  League  ; it  is  there  that  the 
blow  must  be  struck.  It  were  great  pity  to  lay  in  ruins  so  beauti- 
ful and  goodly  a city.  Still,  I must  settle  accounts  with  the  rebels 
who  are  in  it  and  who  ignominiously  drove  me  away.”  “ On  Tues- 
day, August  1st,  at  eight  a.m.,  he  was  told,”  says  L’Estoile,  “ that 
a monk  desired  to  speak  with  him,  but  that  his  guards  made  a 
difficulty  about  letting  him  in.  ‘ Let  him  in/  said  the  king : 4 if 


Death  of  Henry  III. 


315 

he  is  refused,  it  will  be  said  that  I drive  monks  away  and  will 
not  see  them.’  Incontinently  entered  the  monk,  having  in  his 
sleeve  a knife  unsheathed.  He  made  a profound  reverence  to  the 
king,  who  had  just  got  np  and  had  nothing  on  but  a dressing- 
gown  about  his  shoulders,  and  presented  to  him  despatches  from 
Count  de  Brienne,  saying  that  he  had  further  orders  to  tell  the 
king  privately  something  of  importance.  Then  the  king  ordered 
those  who  were  present  to  retire,  and  began  reading  the  letter  which  murdered1* 
the  monk  had  brought  asking  for  a private  audience  afterwards ; (Aug  1). 
the  monk,  seeing  the  king’s  attention  taken  up  with  reading,  drew 
his  knife  from  his  sleeve  and  drove  it  right  into  the  king’s  small 
gut,  below  the  navel,  so  home  that  he  left  the  knife  in  the  hole ; 
the  which  the  king  having  drawn  out  with  great  exertion  struck  the 
monk  a blow  with  the  point  of  it  on  his  left  eyebrow,  crying,  ‘Ah  ! 
wicked  monk  ! he  has  killed  me  ; kill  him  ! ’ At  which  cry  run- 
ning quickly  up,  the  guards  and  others,  such  as  happened  to  be 
nearest,  massacred  this  assassin  of  a Jacobin  who,  as  D’Aubigne 
says,  stretched  out  his  two  arms  against  the  wall,  counterfeiting  the 
crucifix,  whilst  the  blows  were  dealt  him.  Having  been  dragged  out 
dead  from  the  king’s  chamber,  he  was  stripped  naked  to  the  waist, 
covered  with  his  gown  and  exposed  to  the  public.”  Henry  III. 
expired  on  the  2nd  of  August,  1589,  between  two  and  three  in  the 
morning.  The  first  persons  Henry  of  Navarre  met  as  he  entered 
the  Hotel  de  Betz  were  the  officers  of  the  Scottish  guard,  who  threw 
themselves  at  his  feet,  saying  : “ Ah  ! sir,  you  are  now  our  king 
and  our  master.” 


CHAPTER  IX. 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  IV.  (1589 1593.) LOUIS  XIII.,  RICHELIEU  AND 

THE  COURT. 


Henry  IV. 
The  'wo 
moving 
principles 
of  his 
policy. 


State  of 
parties  in 
France. 


Henry  IY.  perfectly  understood  and  steadily  took  the  measure 
of  the  situation  in  which  he  was  placed.  He  was  in  a great 
minority  throughout  the  country  as  well  as  the  army,  and  he  would 
have  to  deal  with  public  passions,  worked  by  his  foes  for  their  own 
ends,  and  with  the  personal  pretensions  of  his  partisans.  He  made 
no  mistake  about  these  two  facts,  and  he  allowed  them  great  weight ; 
but  he  did  not  take  for  the  ruling  principle  of  his  policy  and  for 
his  first  rule  of  conduct  the  plan  of  alternate  concessions  to  the  dif- 
ferent parties  and  of  continually  humouring  personal  interests  ; he 
set  his  thoughts  higher,  upon  the  general  and  natural  interests  of 
France  as  he  found  her  and  saw  her.  They  resolved  themselves, 
in  his  eyes,  into  the  following  great  points : maintenance  of  the 
hereditary  rights  of  monarchy,  preponderance  of  Catholics  in  the 
government,  peace  between  Catholics  and  Protestants,  and  religious 
liberty  for  Protestants.  With  him  these  points  became  the  law 
of  his  policy  and  his  kingly  duty  as  well  as  the  nation’s  right.  He 
proclaimed  them  in  the  first  words  that  he  addressed  to  the  lords 
and  principal  personages  of  State  assembled  around  him.  On  the 
4th  of  August,  1589,  in  the  camp  at  St.  Cloud,  the  majority  of  the 
princes,  dukes,  lords,  and  gentlemen  present  in  the  camp  expressed 
their  full  adhesion  to  the  accession  and  the  manifesto  of  the  king, 
promising  him  “ service  and  obedience  against  rebels  and  enemies 
who  would  usurp  the  kingdom.”  Two  notable  leaders,  the  duke  of 


Protestants , Leaguers , and  Po Heists . 317 

• 

Epernon  amongst  the  Catholics  and  the  duke  of  La  Tremoille 
amongst  the  Protestants,  refused  to  join  in  this;  adhesion  ; the 
former  saying  that  his  conscience  would  not  permit  him  to  serve 
a heretic  king,  the  latter  alleging  that  his  conscience  forbade 
him  to  serve  a prince  who  engaged  to  protect  catholic  idolatry. 

They  withdrew,  D’Epernon  into  Angoumois  and  Saintonge,  tak- 
ing with  him  six  thousand  foot  and  twelve  thousand  horse  ; and 
La  Tremoille  into  Poitou,  with  nine  battalions  of  reformers.  They 
had  an  idea  of  attempting,  both  of  them,  to  set  up  for  themselves 
independent  principalities.  Three  contemporaries,  Sully,  La  Force, 
and  the  bastard  of  Angouleme,  bear  witness  that  Henry  IY.  was 
deserted  by  as  many  huguenots  as  Catholics.  The  French  royal 
army  was  reduced,  it  is  said,  to  one  half.  As  a make- weight,  Sancy 
prevailed  upon  the  Swiss,  to  the  number  of  twelve  thousand,  and 
two  thousand  German  auxiliaries,  not  only  to  continue  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  new  king  but  to  wait  six  months  for  their  pay,  as  he  was 
at  the  moment  unable  to  pay  them.  From  the  14th  to  the  20th 
of  August,  in  Ile-de-France,  in  Picardy,  in  Normandy,  in  Auvergne, 
in  Champagne,  in  Burgundy,  in  Anjou,  in  Poitou,  in  Languedoc, 
in  Orleanness  and  in  Touraine,  a great  number  of  towns  and  districts 
joined  in  the  determination  of  the  royal  army. 

There  was,  in  1589,  an  unlawful  pretender  to  the  throne  of 
France ; and  that  was  Cardinal  Charles  de  Bourbon,  younger  Bjurtou* 
brother  of  Anthony  de  Bourbon,  king  of  Navarre,  and  consequently 
uncle  of  Henry  IY.,  sole  representative  of  the  elder  branch.  Under 
Henry  III.,  the  cardinal  had  thrown  in  his  lot  with  the  League ; 
and,  after  the  murder  of  Guise,  Henry  III.  had,  by  way  of  precau- 
tion, ordered  him  to  be  arrested  and  detained  him  in  confinement 
at  Chinon,  where  he  still  was  when  Henry  III.  was  in  his  turn 
murdered.  The  Leaguers  proclaimed  him  king  under  the  name  of 
Charles  X. ; and,  eight  months  afterwards,  on  the  5th  of  March, 

1590,  the  parliament  of  Paris  issued  a decree  “recognizing  Charles  X. 
as  true  and  lawful  king  of  France.”  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  then 
governor  of  Saumur,  had  the  cardinal  removed  to  Fontenay-le- 
Comte  in  Poitou,  “under  the  custody  of  Sieur  de  la  Boulaye, 
governor  of  that  place,  whose  valour  and  fidelity  were  known  to 
him.”  On  the  9th  of  May,  1590,  not  three  months  after  the  decree 
of  the  parliament  of  Paris  which  had  proclaimed  him  true  and  law- 
ful king  of  France,  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  still  a prisoner,  died  at 
Fontenay,  aged  sixty- seven.  A few  weeks  before  his  death  he  had 
written  to  his  nephew  Henry  IY.  a letter  in  which  he  recognized 
him  as  his  sovereign. 

The  League  was  more  than  ever  dominant  in  Paris ; Henry  IY. 


AD.  1589. 

Battle  of 
Arqies 
(Sept.  13— 
28). 


Progress 
of  Hen  , y 
I/. 


318  History  of  France . 

could  not  think  of  entering  there.  He  was  closely  pressed  by 
Mayenne,  who  boasted  that  he  would  very  shortly  bring  him  into 
Paris  bound  hand  and  foot.  Already  windows  were  engaged  on  the 
line  of  streets  through  which  the  procession  was  to  pass.  But 
Mayenne’s  adversary  was  a prince  of  the  utmost  vigilance  as  well  as 
courage,  and  who,  as  the  duke  of  Parma  himself  said,  “ was  accus- 
tomed to  wear  out  more  boots  than  shoes.”  He  awaited  the  attack 
of  Mayenne  at  Arques  in  Normandy,  where  with  three  thousand 
men  alone  he  defeated  an  army  of  thirty  thousand.  Strengthened 
by  the  accession  of  a number  of  gentilshommes , Henry  then  once 
more  attacked  Paris,  and  pillaged  the  faubourg  Saint  Germain. 

He  would  perhaps  have  carried  the  terror-stricken  capital  itself,  if 
the  imperfect  breaking-up  of  the  St.  Maixent  bridge  on  the  Somme 
had  not  allowed  Mayenne,  notwithstanding  his  tardiness  to  arrive  at 
Paris  in  time  to  enter  with  his  army,  form  a junction  with  the 
Leaguers  amongst  the  population,  and  prevail  upon  the  king  to 
carry  his  arms  elsewhither.  Henry  left  some  of  his  lieutenants  to 
carry  on  the  war  in  the  environs  of  Paris,  and  himself  repaired  on 
the  21st  of  November  to  Tours,  where  the  royalist  parliament,  the 
exchequer-chamber,  the  court  of  taxation,  and  all  the  magisterial 
bodies  which  had  not  felt  inclined  to  submit  to  the  despotism  of 
the  League,  lost  no  time  in  rendering  him  homage,  as  the  head  and 
the  representative  of  the  national  and  the  lawful  cause.  He  reigned 
and  ruled,  to  real  purpose,  in  the  eight  principal  provinces  of  the 
North  and  Centre,  lie  de- France,  Picardy,  Champagne,  Normandy, 
Orleanness,  Touraine,  Maine,  and  Anjou;  and  his  authority, 
although  disputed,  was  making  way  in  nearly  all  the  other  part?  of 
the  kingdom.  He  made  war,  not  like  a conqueror,  but  like  a king 
who  wanted  to  meet  with  acceptance  in  the  places  which  he  occupied 
and  which  he  wmild  soon  have  to  govern.  It  was  not  long  before 
Henry  reaped  the  financial  fruits  of  his  protective  equity  ; at  the 
close  of  1589  he  could  count  upon  a regular  revenue  of  more 
than  two  millions  of  crowns,  very  insufficient,  no  doubt,  for  the 
wants  of  his  government,  but  much  beyond  the  official  resources 
of  his  enemies.  He  had  very  soon  taken  his  proper  rank  in 
Europe  : the  Protestant  Powers  which  had  been  eager  to  recog- 
nize him,  England,  Scotland,  the  Low  Countries,  the  Scandina- 
vian States,  and  reformed  Germany,  had  been  joined  by  the 
republic  of  Venice,  the  most  judiciously  governed  State  at  that 
time  in  Europe,  but  solely  on  the  ground  of  political  interests 
and  views,  independently  of  any  religious  question. 

As  the  government  of  Henry  IV.  wrent  on  growing  in  strength 
and  extent,  the  moderate  Catholics  were  beginning,  not  as  yet  to 


319 


Attitude  of  the  Pope . 

make  approaches  towards  him,  hut  to  see  a glimmering  possibility 
of  treating  with  him,  and  obtaining  from  him  such  concessions  as 
they  considered  necessary,  at  the  same  time  that  they  in  their  turn 
made  to  him  such  as  he  might  consider  sufficient  for  his  party  and 
himself. 

Unhappily  the  new  pope,  Gregory  XIY.,  elected  on  the  5th  of  A_B.  1590. 
December,  1590,  was  humbly  devoted  to  the  Spanish  policy,  meekly  xiv.^pope. 
subservient  to  Philip  II.  ; that  is,  to  the  cause  of  religious  persecu-  His  rela- 
tion and  of  absolute  power,  without  regard  for  anything  else.  The  Frauen.1111 
relations  of  France  with  the  Holy  See  at  once  felt  the  effects  of  this ; 

Cardinal  Gaetani  received  from  Rome  all  the  instructions  that  the 
most  ardent  Leagf^rs  could  desire  ; and  he  gave  his  approval  to  a 
resolution  of  the  Sorbonne  to  the  effect  that  Henry  de  Bourbon, 
heretic  and  relapsed,  was^for  ever  excluded  from  the  crown,  whether 
he  became  a Catholic  or  not.  Henry  IY.  had  convoked  the  states- 
general  at  Tours  for  the  month  of  March,  and  had  summoned  to  that 
city  the  archbishops  and  bishops  to  form  a national  council,  and  to 
deliberate  as  to  the  means  of  restoring  the  king  to  the  bosom  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  legate  prohibited  this  council,  declaring, 
beforehand,  the  excommunication  and  deposition  of  any  bishops  who 
should  be  present  at  it.  The  Leaguer  parliament  of  Paris  forebade, 
on  pain  of  death  and  confiscation,  any  connexion,  any  corre- 
spondence with  Henry  de  Bourbon  and  his  partisans.  A solemn 
procession  of  the  League  took  place  at  Paris  on  the  14th  of  March, 
and,  a few  days  afterwards,  the  union  was  sworn  afresh  by  all  the 
municipal  chiefs  of  the  population.  In  view  of  such  passionate 
hostility,  Henry  IY.,  a stranger  to  any  sort  of  illusion,  at  the  same 
time  that  he  was  always  full  of  hope,  saw  that  his  successes  at 
Arques  were  insufficient  for  him,  and  that,  if  he  were  to  occupy 
the  throne  in  peace,  he  must  win  more  victories.  He  recommenced 
the  campaign  by  the  siege  of  Dreux,  one  of  the  towns  which  it  was 
most  important  for  him  to  possess,  in  order  to  put  pressure  on  Paris 
and  cause  her  to  feel,  even  at  a distance,  the  perils  and  evils  of  war. 

On  Wednesday,  the  14th  of  March,  1590,  the  two  armies  met  on  a.D.  1590. 
the  plains  of  Ivry,  a village  six  leagues  from  Evreux,  on  the  left  Battle  of 
bank  of  the  Eure.  A battle  ensued  in  which,  although  the  resources  (^^14) 
of  modern  warfare  were  brought  into  operation,  the  decisive  force 
consisted,  as  of  old,  in  the  cavalry.  It  appeared  as  if  Henry  IY. 
must  succumb  to  the  superior  force  of  the  enemy  : further  and  fur- 
ther backward  was  his  white  banner  seen  to  retire,  and  the  great 
mass  appeared  as  if  they  designed  to  follow  it  At  length  Henry 
cried  out  that  those  who  did  not  wish  to  fight  against  the  enemy 
might  at  least  turn  and  see  him  die,  and  immediately  plunged  into 


320 


History  of  France. 


% 


Generosity 
of  Henry 
IV. 


Famine  in 
Paris. 


The  duke 
of  Parma 
joins 
Mayenne. 


the  thickest  of  the  battle.  It  appeared  as  if  the  royalist  gentry  had 
felt  the  old  martial  fire  of  their  ancestry  enkindled  by  these  words, 
and  by  the  glance  that  accompanied  them.  Kaising  one  mighty 
shout  to  God,  they  threw  themselves  upon  the  enemy,  following 
their  king,  whose  plume  was  now  their  banner.  In  this  there  might 
have  been  some  dim  principle  of  religious  zeal,  but  that  devotion  to 
personal  authority,  which  is  so  powerful  an  element  in  war  and  in 
policy,  was  wanting.  The  royalist  and  religious  energy  of  Henry’s 
troops  conquered  the  Leaguers.  The  cavalry  was  broken,  scattered, 
and  swept  from  the  field,  and  the  confused  manner  of  their  retreat 
so  puzzled  the  infantry  that  they  were  not  able  to  maintain  their 
ground  ; the  German  and  French  were  cut  dow^;  the  Swiss  sur- 
rendered. It  was  a complete  victory  for  Henry  IY. 

It  was  not  only  as  able  captain  and  valiant  soldier  that  Henry 
IY.  distinguished  himself  at  Ivry ; there  the  man  was  as  con- 
spicuous for  the  strength  of  his  better  feelings,  as  generous  and  as 
affectionate  as  the  king  was  far-sighted  and  bold.  When  the  word 
was  given  to  march  from  Dreux,  Count  Schomberg,  colonel  of  the 
German  auxiliaries  called  reiters,  had  asked  for  the  pay  of  his  troops, 
letting  it  be  understood  that  they  would  not  fight,  if  their  claims 
were  not  satisfied.  Henry  had  replied  harshly,  “ People  don’t  ask 
for  money  on  the  eve  of  a battle.”  At  Ivry,  just  as  the  battle  was 
on  the  point  of  beginning,  he  went  up  to  Schomberg : “ Colonel,” 
said  he,  “I  hurt  your  feelings.  This  may  be  the  last  day  of  my 
life.  I can’t  bear  to  take  away  the  honour  of  a brave  and  honest 
gentleman  like  you.  Pray  forgive  me  and  embrace  me.”  “ Sir,” 
answered  Schomberg,  “the  other  day  your  majesty  wounded  me, 
to-day  you  kill  me.”  He  gave  up  the  command  of  the  reiters  in 
order  to  fight  in  the  king’s  own  squadron,  and  was  killed  in  action. 

The  victory  of  Ivry  had  a great  effect  in  France  and  in  Europe, 
though  not  immediately  and  as  regarded  the  actual  campaign  of  1590. 
The  victorious  king  moved  on  Paris  and  made  himself  master  of  the 
little  towns  in  the  neighbourhood  with  a view  of  besieging  the 
capital.  The  investment  became  more  strict;  it  was  kept  up  for 
more  than  three  months,  from  the  end  of  May  to  the  beginning  of 
September,  1590  ; and  the  city  was  reduced  to  a severe  state  of 
famine,  which  would  have  been  still  more  severe  if  Henry  IY.  had 
not  several  times  over  permitted  the  entry  of  some  convoys  of 
provisions  and  the  exit  of  the  old  men,  the  women,  the  children,  in 
fact,  the  poorest  and  weakest  part  of  the  population.  “ Paris  must  not 
be  a cemetery,”  he  said:  “I  do  not  wish  to  reign  over  the  dead.” 
In  the  meantime,  Duke  Alexander  of  Parma,  in  accordance  with 
express  orders  from  Philip  II.,  went  from  the  Low  Countries,  with 


HENRY  IV. 


LIBRARY 
OT  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Strategy  of  the  two  dukes. 


321 


his  army,  to  join  Mayenne  at  Meaux,  aiid  threaten  Henry  IV. 
with  their  united  forces  if  he  did  not  retire  from  the  walls  of  the  capi- 
tal. Henry  IV.  offered  the  two  dukes  battle,  if  they  really  wished  to 
put  a stop  to  the  investment ; hut  “ I am  not  come  so  far,”  answered 
the  duke  of  Parma,  “ to  take  counsel  of  my  enemy  ; if  my  manner 
of  warfare  does  not  please  the  king  of  Navarre,  let  him  force  me  to 
change  it  instead  of  giving  me  advice  that  nobody  asks  him  for.” 

Henry  in  vain  attempted  to  make  the  duke  of  Parma  accept  battle. 

The  able  Italian  established  himself  in  a strongly  entrenched  camp, 

surprised  Lagny  and  opened  to  Paris  the  navigation  of  the  Marne, 

by  which  provisions  were  speedily  brought  up.  Henry  decided  be- 

upon  retreating  ; he  dispersed  the  different  divisions  of  his  array  fore  them. 

into  Touraine,  Normandy,  Picardy,  Champagne,  Burgundy,  and 

himself  took  up  his  quarters  at  Senlis,  at  Compiegne,  in  the  towns 

on  the  banks  of  the  Oise.  The  duke  of  Mayenne  arrived  on  the 

18th  of  September  at  Paris  ; the  duke  of  Parma  entered  it  himself 

with  a few  officers  and  left  it  on  the  13th  of  November,  with  his 

army  on  his  way  hack  to  the  Low  Countries,  being  a little  harassed 

in  his  retreat  by  the  royal  cavalry,  hut-  easy,  for  the  moment,  as  to  tho 

fate  of  Paris  and  the  issue  of  t.he  war,  which  continued  during  the 

first  six  months  of  the  year  1591,  hut  languidly  and  disconnectedly, 

with  successes  and  reverses  see-sawing  between  the  two  parties  and 

without  any  important  results. 

Then  began  to  appear  the  consequences  of  the  victory  of  Ivry  and  Results  of 
the  progress  made  by  Henry  IV.,  in  spite  of  the  check  he  received  Ivry* 
before  Paris  and  at  some  other  points  in  the  kingdom.  Not  only 
did  many  moderate  Catholics  make  advances  to  him,  struck  with  his 
sympathetic  ability  and  his  valour,  and  hoping  that  he  would  end 
by  becoming  a Catholic,  but  patriotic  wrath  was  kindling  in  France 
against  Philip  II.  and  the  Spaniards,  those  fomenters  of  civil  war 
in  the  mere  interest  of  foreign  ambition. 

The  League  was  split  up  into  two  parties,  the  Spanish  League  and  The  two 
the  French  League.  The  committee  of  Sixteen  laboured  incessantly  Lea&ues- 
for  the  formation  and  triumph  of  the  Spanish  League  ; and  its 
principal  leaders  wrote,  on  the  2nd  of  September,  .1591,  a letter  to 
Philip  II.,  offering  him  the  crown  of  France  and  pledging  their 
allegiance  to  him  as  his  subjects  : aWe  can  positively  assure  your 
Majesty,”  they  said,  “that  the  wishes  of  all  Catholics  are  to  see 
your  Catholic  Majesty  holding  the  sceptre  of  this  kingdom  and 
reigning  over  us,  even  as  we  do  throw  ourselves  right  willingly  into 
your  arms  as  into  those  of  our  father,  or  at  any  rate  establishing  one 
of  your  posterity  upon  the  throne.”  These  ringleaders  of  the  Spanish 
League  had  for  their  army  the  blindly  fanatical  and  demagogic 

Y 


322 


History  of  France . 


Mayenne 
re -tores 
the  French 
league. 


France 
weary  of 
civil  war. 


populace  of  Paris,  and  were,  further,  supported  by  4000  Spanish 
troops  whom  Philip  II.  had  succeeded  in  getting  almost  surrepti- 
tiously into  Paris.  They  created  a council  of  ten,  the  sixteenth 
century’s  committee  of  public  safety  ; they  proscribed  the  policists  ; 
they,  on  the  15th  of  November,  had  the  president,  Brisson,  and  two 
councillors  of  the  Leaguer  parliament  arrested,  hanged  them  to  a 
beam  and  dragged  the  corpses  to  the  Place  de  Greve,  where  they 
strung  them  up  to  a gibbet  with  inscriptions  setting  forth  that  they 
were  heretics,  traitors  to  the  city  and  enemies  of  the  catholic  princes. 
Whilst  the  Spanish  League  was  thus  reigning  at  Paris,  the  duke  of 
Mayenne  was  at  Laon,  preparing  to  lead  his  army,  consisting  partly 
of  Spaniards,  to  the  relief  of  Rouen,  the  siege  of  which  Henry  IY. 
was  commencing.  Being  summoned  to  Paris  by  messengers  who 
succeeded  one  another  every  hour,  he  arrived  there  on  the  28th  of 
November,  1591,  with  2000  French  troops ; he  armed  the  guard  of 
burgesses,  seized  and  hanged,  in  a ground-floor  room  of  the  Louvre, 
four  of  the  chief  leaders  of  the  Sixteen,  suppressed  their  committee, 
re-established  the  parliament  in  full  authority  and,  finally,  restored 
the  security  and  preponderance  of  the  French  League , whilst  taking 
the  reins  once  more  into  his  own  hands. 

Whilst  these  two  Leagues,  the  one  Spanish  and  the  other  French, 
were  conspiring  thus  persistently,  sometimes  together  and  sometimes 
one  against  the  other,  to  promote  personal  ambition  and  interests, 
at  the  same  time  national  instinct,  respect  for  traditional  rights, 
weariness  of  civil  war,  and  the  good  sense  which  is  born  of  long 
experience,  were  bringing  France  more  and  more  over  to  the  cause 
and  name  of  Henry  IY.  In  all  the  provinces,  throughout  all  ranks 
of  society,  the  population  non-enrolled  amongst  the  factions  were 
turning  their  eyes  towards  him  as  the  only  means  of  putting  an 
end  to  war  at  home  and  abroad,  the  only  pledge  of  national  unity, 
public  prosperity,  and  even  freedom  of  trade,  a hazy  idea  as  yet, 
but  even  now  prevalent  in  the  great  ports  of  France  and  in  Paris. 
Would  Henry  turn  Catholic  'l  That  was  the  question  asked 
everywhere,  amongst  Protestants  with  anxiety,  but  with  keen 
desire  and  not  without  hope  amongst  the  mass  of  the  population. 
The  rumour  ran  that,  on  this  point,  negotiations  were  half  opened 
even  in  the  midst  of  the  League  itself,  even  at  the  court  of  Spain, 
even  at  Rome  where  Pope  Clement  YIII.,  a more  moderate  man 
than  his  predecessor,  Gregory  XI Y,  “had  no  desire,”  says  Sully, 
“ to  foment  the  troubles  of  France,  and  still  less  that  the  king  of 
Spain  should  possibly  become  its  undisputed  king,  rightly  judging 
that  this  would  be  laying  open  to  him  the  road  to  the  monarchy 
of  Christendom,  and,  consequently,  reducing  the  Roman  pontiffs  to 


Henry  IV.  and  the  Catholic  Church . 323 

the  position,  if  it  were  his  good  pleasure,  of  his  mere  chaplains  ” 
[(Economies  royal es,  t.  ii.  p.  106].  Such  being  the  existing  state 
of  facts  and  minds,  it  was  impossible  that  Henry  IV.  should  not 
ask  himself  roundly  the  same  question  and  feel  that  he  had  no  time 
to  lose  in  answering  it. 

In  spite  of  the  breadth  and  independence  of  his  mind,  Henry  IV.  Henry  Iy> 
was  sincerely  puzzled.  He  was  of  those  who,  far  from  clinging  to  and  Roman 
a single  fact  and  confining  themselves  to  a single  duty,  take  account  Ca.tholl_ 
of  the  complication  of  the  facts  amidst  which  they  live,  and  of  the 
variety  of  the  duties  which  the  general  situation  or  their  own 
imposes  upon  them.  Born  in  the  reformed  faith,  and  on  the  steps 
of  the  throne,  he  was  struggling  to  defend  his  political  rights  whilst 
keeping  his  religious  creed  ; but  his  religious  creed  was  not  the  fruit 
of  very  mature  or  very  deep  conviction  ; it  was  a question  of  first 
claims  and  of  honour  rather  than  a matter  of  conscience ; and,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  peace  of  France,  her  prosperity,  perhaps  her 
territorial  integrity,  were  dependent  upon  the  triumph  of  the  poli- 
tical rights  of  the  Bearnese.  Even  for  his  brethren  in  creed  his 
triumph  was  a benefit  secured,  for  it  was  an  end  of  persecution  and 
a first  step  towards  liberty.  There  is  no  measuring  accurately  how 
far  ambition,  personal  interest,  a king’s  egotism  had  to  do  with 
Henry  IV. ’s  abjjuration  of  his  religion  ; none  would  deny  that  those 
human  infirmities  were  present;  but  all  this  does  not  prevent  the 
conviction  that  patriotism  was  uppermost  in  Henry’s  soul,  and  that 
the  idea  of  his  duty  as  king  towards  France,  a prey  to  all  the  evils 
of  civil  and  foreign  war,  was  the  determining  motive  of  his  reso- 
lution. It  cost  him  a great  deal.  On  the  26th  of  April,  1593,  he 
wrote  to  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  Ferdinand  de’  Medici,  that  he 
had  decided  to  turn  Catholic  “ two  months  after  that  the  duke  of  a.d.  1593. 
Mayenne  should  have  come  to  an  agreement  with  him  on  just  and  Re  olvesto 
suitable  terms  ; ” and,  foreseeing  the  expense  that  would  be  occa-  Prote^tant- 
sioned  to  him  by  “ this  great  change  in  his  affairs,”  he  felicitated  ism. 
himself  upon  knowing  that  the  grand  duke  was  disposed  to  second 
his  efforts  towards  a levy  of  4000  Swiss  and  advance  a year’s  pay 
for  them.  On  the  28th  of  April,  he  begged  the  bishop  of  Chartres, 

Nicholas  de  Thou,  to  be  one  of  the  catholic  prelates  whose  instruc- 
tions he  would  be  happy  to  receive  on  the  15th  of  July,  and  he 
sent  the  same  invitation  to  several  other  prelates.  On  the  16th 
of  May,  he  declared  to  his  council  his  resolve  to  become  a convert. 

This  news,  everywhere  spread  abroad,  produced  a lively  burst  of 
national  and  Bourbonic  feeling  even  where  it  was  scarcely  to  be 
expected ; at  the  states-general  of  the  League,  especially  in  the 
chamber  of  the  noblesse,  many  members  protested  “ that  they  would 
not  treat  with  foreigners,  or  promote  the  election  of  a woman,  or 

Y 2 


324 


History  of  France . 


give  their  suffrages  to  any  one  unknown  to  them,  and  at  the  choice  of 
his  Catholic  Majesty  of  Spain.”  At  Paris,  a part  of  the  clergy,  the 
incumbents  of  St.  Eustache,  St.  Merri,  and  St.  Sulpice,  and  even 
some  of  the  popular  preachers,  violent  Leaguers  «but  lately,  and 
notably  Guincestre,  boldly  preached  peace  and  submission  to  the 
king  if  he  turned  Catholic.  The  principal  of  the  French  League, 
in  matters  of  policy  and  negotiation,  and  Mayenne’s  adviser  since 
1589,  Villeroi,  declared  “that  he  would  not  bide  in  a place  where 
the  laws,  the  honour  of  the  nation  and  the  independence  of  the 
kingdom  were  held  so  cheap ;”  and  he  left  Paris  on  the  28  th  of  June. 

During  these  disputes  amongst  the  civil  functionaries  and  con- 
tinuing all  the  while  to  make  proposals  for  a general  truce,  Henry 
IV.  vigorously  resumed  warlike  operations  so  as  to  bring  pressure 
upon  his  adversaries  and  make  them  perceive  the  necessity  of 
accepting  the  solution  he  offered  them.  He  besieged  and  took  the 
town  of  Dreux,  of  which  the  castle  alone  persisted  in  holding  out. 
success  of  CU^  Prov^s^ons  which  were  being  brought  by  the  Marne 

Henry  IV.  to  Paris.  He  kept  Poitiers  strictly  invested.  Lesdiguieres  defeated 
the  Savoyards  and  the  Spaniards  in  the  valleys  of  Dauphiny  and 
Piedmont.  Count  Mansfield  had  advanced  with  a division  towards 
Picardy  ; but  at  the  news  that  the  king  was  marching  to  encounter 
him,  he  retired  with  precipitation.  From  the  military  as  well  as 
the  political  point  of  view,  there  is  no  condition  worse  than  that 
of  stubbornness  mingled  with  discouragement.  And  that  was  the 
state  of  Mayenne  and  the  League.  Henry  IY.  perceived  it,  and 
confidently  hurried  forward  his  political  and  military  measures. 
The  castle  of  Dreux  was  obliged  to  capitulate.  Thanks  to  the  4000 
Swiss  paid  for  him  by  the  grand  duke  of  Florence,  to  the  numerous 
volunteers  brought  to  him  by  the  noblesse  of  his  party,  “ and  to 
the  sterling  quality  of  the  old  huguenot  phalanx,  folks  who,  from 
father  to  son,  are  familiarized  with  death,”  says  D’Aubigne, 
Henry  IY.  had  recovered  in  June  1593,  so  good  an  army  that  “by 
means  of  it,”  he  wrote  to  Ferdinand  de’  Medici,  “I  shall  be  able  to 
reduce  the  city  of  Paris  in  so  short  a time  as  will  cause  you  great 
contentment.”  But  he  was  too  judicious  and  too  good  a patriot 
not  to  see  that  it  was  not  by  an  indefinitely  prolonged  war  that  he 
would  be  enabled  to  enter  upon  definitive  possession  of  his  crown, 
and  that  it  was  peace,  religious  peace,  that  he  must  restore  to 
He  assem-  France  in  order  to  really  become  her  king.  He  entered  resolutely, 
ference°o!f"  011  1593,  upon  the  employment  of  the  moral 

divines  at  means  which  alone  could  enable  him  to  attain  this  end ; he 
Mantes.  assembled  at  Mantes  the  conference  of  prelates  and  doctors, 
Catholic  and  Protestant,  which  he  had  announced  as  the  preface 
to  his  conversion. 


Abjuration  of  Protestantism  by  Henry  IV.  325 

Ten  days  after,  on  Sunday  the  25th  of  July,  1593,  he  repaired 
in  great  state  to  the  church  of  St.  Denis.  On  arriving  with  all  his  His  abju_' 
train  in  front  of  the  grand  entrance,  he  was  received  by  Reginald  ration 
de  Beaune,  archbishop  of  Bourges,  the  nine  bishops,  the  doctors  and  (July  25)- 
the  incumbents  who  had  taken  part  in  the  conferences  and  all  the 
brethren  of  the  abbey.  “ Who  are  you?”  asked  the  archbishop 
who  officiated.  “ The  king.”  “What  want  you?”  “To  be 
received  into  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  and  Roman 
Church.”  “Do  you  desire  it?”  “Yes,  I will  and  desire  it.”  At 
these  words  the  king  knelt  and  made  the  stipulated  profession  of 
faith.  The  archbishop  gave  him  absolution  together  with  bene- 
diction ; and,  conducted  by  all  the  clergy  to  the  choir  of  the  church, 
he  there,  upon  the  gospels,  repeated  his  oath,  made  his  confession, 
heard  mass,  and  was  fully  reconciled  with  the  Church.  The  in- 
habitants of  Paris,  dispensing  with  the  passports  which  were 
refused  them  by  Mayenne,  had  flocked  in  masses  to  St.  Denis  and 
been  present  at  the  ceremony.  The  vaulted  roof  of  the  church 
resounded  with  their  shouts  of  Hurrah  for  the  king  ! There  was 
the  same  welcome  on  the  part  of  the  dwellers  in  the  country  when 
Henry  repaired  to  the  valley  of  Montmorency  and  to  Montmartre 
to  perform  his  devotions  there.  Here,  then,  was  religious  peace,  a 
prelude  to  political  reconciliation  between  the  monarch  and  the 
great  majority  of  his  subjects. 

On  one  side  a great  majority  of  Catholics  and  Protestants 
favourable  for  different  practical  reasons  to  Henry  IV.  turned  Catholic 
king  ; on  the  other,  two  minorities,  one  of  stubborn  Catholics  of 
the  League,  the  other  of  Protestants  anxious  for  their  creed  and 
their  liberty ; both  discontented  and  distrustful.  Such,  after 
Henry  IY.’s  abjuration,  was  the  striking  feature  in  the  condition 
of  France  and  in  the  situation  of  her  king.  This  triple  fact  was 
constantly  present  to  the  mind  of  Henry  IY.  and  ruled  his  conduct 
during  all  his  reign  ; all  the  acts  of  his  government  are  proof  of 
that.  It  was  province  by  province,  inch  by  inch  that  he  had  to 
recover  his  kingdom.  At  Lyons,  the  success  of  the  king  was  easy 
and  disinterested  ; not  so  in  Hormandy.  Andrew  de  Biancas,  lord  Reconcilia- 
of  Yillars,  an  able  man  and  valiant  soldier,  was  its  governor ; he  tion 
had  served  the  League  with  zeal  and  determination  ; nevertheless  j$rancag 
“ from  the  month  of  August,  1593,  immediately  after  the  king’s 
conversion,  he  had  shown  a disposition  to  become  his  servant  and 
to  incline  thereto  all  those  whom  he  had  in  his  power.”  Thinking, 
however,  that  every  man  has  his  price,  he  determined  to  get  out  of 
Henry  IY.  as  much  as  he  could,  and  the  following  memorandum 
shows  how  far  he  was  successful : — “ To  M.  Yillars,  for  himself,  his 
brother  Chevalier  d’Oise,  the  towns  of  Rouen  and  Havre  and  other 


326  History  of  France. 

places,  as  well  as  for  compensation  which  had  to  he  made  lo 
MM.  de  Montpensier,  Marshal  de  Biron,  Chancellor  de  Chi- 
verny  and  other  persons  included  in  his  treaty  ....  3,447,800 
livres.” 

To  these  two  instances  of  royalist  reconciliation,  Lyons  and  the 
spontaneous  example  set  by  her  population  and  Bouen  and  the 
dearly  purchased  capitulation  of  her  governor  Villars,  must  be 
added  a third,  of  a different  sort.  Nicholas  de  Neufville,  lord  of 

and  Ville-  Villeroi,  after  having  served  Charles  IX.  and  Henry  III.,  had 
become  through  attachment  to  the  catholic  cause  a member  of  the 
League  and  one  of  the  duke  of  Mayenne’s  confidants  When 
Henry  IV.  was  king  of  France  and  Catholic  king,  Villeroi  tried  to 
serve  his  cause  with  Mayenne,  and  induce  Mayenne  to  be  reconciled 
with  him.  Meeting  with  no  success,  he  made  up  his  mind  to 
separate  from  the  League,  and  go  over  to  the  king’s  service.  He 
could  do  so  without  treachery  or  shame ; even  as  a Leaguer  and  a 
servant  of  Mayenne’s,  he  had  always  been  opposed  to  Spain,  and 
devoted  to  aFrench,but  at  the  same  time  a faithfully  catholic  policy. 
He  imported  into  the  service  of  Henry  IV.  the  same  sentiments 
and  the  same  bearing  ; he  was  still  a zealous  catholic  and  a partisan, 
for  king  and  country’s  sake,  of  alliance  with  catholic  powers. 
He  was  a man  of  wits,  experience,  and  resource,  who  knew  Europe 
well  and  had  some  influence  at  the  court  of  Borne.  Henry  IV. 
saw  at  once  the  advantage  to  be  gained  from  him,  and  in  spite  of 
the  Protestants’  complaints  and  his  sister  Princess  Catherine’s 
prayers,  made  him,  on  the  25th  of  September,  1594,  Secretary  of 
State  fdr  foreign  affairs.  This  acquisition  did  not  cost  him  so  dear 
as  that  of  Villars  : still  we  read  in  the  statement  of  sums  paid  by 
Henry  IV.  for  this  sort  of  conquest: — “ Furthermore,  to  M.  de 
Villeroi,  for  himself,  his  son,  the  town  of  Pontoise,  and  other 
individuals,  according  to  their  treaty,  476,594  livres.  ” 

Henry  IV.  had  been  absolved  and  crowned  at  St.  Denis  by  the 
bishops  of  France ; he  had  not  been  anointed  at  Bheims  according 
to  the  religious  traditions  of  the  French  monarchy.  At  Bheims 
he  could  not  be,  for  it  was  still  in  the  power  of  the  League.  The 
ceremony  took  place  at  Chartres  on  the  27th  of  February,  1594  : 

jjeniT 

anointed  ' Mshop  of  Chartres,  Nicholas  De  Thou,  officiated,  and  drew  up 

atChartres.  a detailed  account  of  all  the  ceremonies  and  all  the  rejoicings ; 

thirteen  medals,  each  weighing  fifteen  gold  crowns,  were  struck 
according  to  custom  ; they  bore  the  king’s  image,  and  for  legend, 
Invia  virtuti  nulla  est  via  (To  manly  worth  no  road  is  inaccessible). 
Henry  IV.,  on  his  knees  before  the  grand  altar,  took  the  usual 
oath,  the  form  of  which  was  presented  to  him  by  Chancellor  de 
Chiverny.  With  the  exception  of  local  accessories,  which  were 


Henry  IV,  in  Paris . 327 

acknowledged  to  be  impossible  and  unnecessary,  there  was  nothing 
lacking  to  this  religious  hallowing  of  his  kingship. 

But  one  other  thing,  more  important  than  the  anointment  at 
Chartres,  was  wanting.  He  did  not  possess  the  capital  of  his  king- 
dom : the  League  were  still  masters  of  Paris  ; uneasy  masters  of 
their  situation  ; but  not  so  uneasy,  however,  as  they  ought  to 
have  been.  The  great  leaders  of  the  party,  the  duke  of  Mayenne, 
his  mother  the  duchess  of  Nemours,  his  sister  the  duchess  of 
Montpensier,  the  duke  of  Feria,  Spanish  Ambassador,  were  within 
its  walls,  a prey  to  alarm  and  discouragement.  Henry  IY.  started 
on  the  21st  of  March,  nearly  one  month  after  the  ceremony  wTe 
have  just  related,  from  Senlis,  where  he  had  mustered  his  troops, 
arrived  about  midnight  at  St.  Denis,  and  immediately  began  his 
march  to  Paris,  where  a strong  party  headed  by  Brissac  and 
D’Epinay  St.  Luc  stood  in  readiness  to  receive  him.  The  night 
was  dark  and  stormy  ; thunder  rumbled  ; rain  fell  heavily ; the  A.D.  1594. 
king  was  a little  behind  time.  On  the  22nd  of  March  three  of  Henr,y 
the  city  gates  were  thrown  open,  and  the  king’s  troops  entered  Paris 
Paris.  They  occupied  the  different  districts  and  met  with  no  (Mar-  22). 
show  of  resistance  but  at  the  quay  of  L’Ecole,  where  an  outpost  of 
lanzknechts  tried  to  stop  them ; but  they  were  cut  in  pieces  or 
hurled  into  the  river.  Between  five  and  six  o’clock  Henry  IY., 
at  the  head  of  the  last  division,  crossed  the  draw-bridge  of  the 
New  Gate.  Brissac,  Provost  L’Huillier,  the  sheriffs  and  several 
companies  of  burgesses  advanced  to  meet  him.  At  ten  o’clock  he 
was  master  of  the  whole  city  ; the  districts  of  St.  Martin,  of  the 
Temple,  and  St.  Anthony  alone  remained  still  in  the  power  of  three 
thousand  Spanish  soldiers  under  the  orders  of  their  leaders,  the 
duke  of  Feria  and  Don  Diego  d’lbarra.  Nothing  would  have  been 
easier  for  Henry  than  to  have  had  them  driven  out  by  his  own 
troops  and  the  people  of  Paris,  who  wanted  to  finish  the  day’s 
work  by  exterminating  the  foreigners  ; but  he  was  too  judicious 
and  too  far-sighted  to  embitter  the  general  animosity  by  pushing 
his  victory  beyond  what  was  necessary.  He  sent  word  to  the 
Spaniards  that  they  must  not  move  from  their  quarters,  and  must 
leave  Paris  during  the  day,  at  the  same  time  promising  not  to  bear  The 
arms  any  more  against  him,  in  France.  They  eagerly  accepted  Spanish  • 
these  conditions.  At  three  o’clock  in  the  afternoon,  ambassador,  evacuate 
officers,  and  soldiers  all  evacuated  Paris  and  set  out  for  the  Low  the 
Countries.  The  king,  posted  at  a window  over  the  gate  of  St.  caPital* 
Denis,  witnessed  their  departure.  They,  as  they  passed,  saluted 
him  respectfully;  and  he  returned  their  salute,  saying,  “Go, 
gentlemen,  and  commend  me  to  your  master;  but  return  no 
more.” 


328 


History  of  France . 


king 
(Sept.  27). 


The  other  After  his  conversion  to  Catholicism,  the  capture  of  Paris  was 
submit.  the  most  decisive  of  the  issues  which  made  Henry  IY.  really  king 
of  France.  The  submission  of  Rouen  followed  almost  immediately 
upon  that  of  Paris ; and  the  year  1594  brought  Henry  a series  of 
successes,  military  and  civil,  which  changed  very  much  to  his  advan- 
tage the  position  of  the  kingship  as  well  as  the  general  condition  of 
the  kingdom.  In  Normandy,  in  Picardy,  in  Champagne,  in  Anjou, 
in  Poitou,  in  Brittany,  in  (Meanness,  in  Auvergne,  a multitude 
of  important  towns,  Havre,  Honfleur,  Abbeville,  Amiens,  Peronne, 
Montdidier,  Poitiers,  Orleans,  Rheims,  Chateau-Thierry,  Beauvais, 
Sens,  Riom,  Morlaix,  Laval,  Laon,  returned  to  the  king’s  authority, 
some  after  sieges,  and  others  by  pacific  and  personal  arrangement, 
more  or  less  burthensome  for  the  public  treasury  but  very  effective 
in  promoting  the  unity  of  the  nation  and  of  the  monarchy. 

A.D.  1594.  The  close  of  this  happy  and  glorious  year  was  at  hand.  On  the 
ChasTe^to^  27th  of  September,  between  six  and  seven  p.m.,  a deplorable 
murder  the  incident  occurred,  for  the  second  time,  to  call  Henry  IV. ’s  attention 
to  the  weak  side  of  his  position.  An  attempt  upon  his  life  had 
already  been  made  by  a fanatic  named  Barriere;  now  it  was  a young 
man  of  nineteen,  son  of  a cloth-merchant  in  the  city,  who,  acting 
under  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits,  tried  to  murder  the  king.  He 
was  arrested,  and  put  to  death,  a decree  of  the  parliament  of  Paris 
being  at  the  same  time  (December  29,  1594)  issued  against  the 
Jesuits. 

In  the  meanwhile  Philip  II.  persisted  in  his  active  hostility 
and  continued  to  give  the  king  of  France  no  title  but  that  of  prince 
of  Bearn.  On  the  17th  of  January,  1595,  Henry,  in  performance 
of  what  he  had  proclaimed,  formally  declared  war  against  the  king 
of  Spain,  forbade  his  subjects  to  have  any  commerce  with  him  or 
his  allies,  and  ordered  them  to  make  war  on  hijn  for  the  future,  just 
as  he  persisted  in  making  it  on  France.  The  conflict  thus  solemnly 
begun  lasted  three  years  and  three  months,’  from  the  17th  of 
January,  1595,  to  the  1st  of  May,  1598,  from  Henry  IY.’s  declara- 
tion of  war  to  the  peace  of  Vervins,  which  preceded  by  only  four 
months  and  thirteen  days  the  death  of  Philip  II.  and  the  end  of 
the  preponderance  of  Spain  in  Europe.  It  is  not  worth  while  to 
follow  step  by  step  the  course  of  this  monotonous  conflict,  pregnant 
with  facts  which  had  their  importance  for  contemporaries  but  are 
not  worthy  of  an  historical  resurrection.  The  battle  of  Fon- 
taine-Fran^aise  (5th  June)  was  a brilliant  evidence  that  Navarre 
whilst  becoming  a monarch  had  not  forgotten  to  be  a soldier.  The 
absolution  at  last  granted  by  Pope  Clement  VIII.  proved  of  the 
utmost  benefit  to  the  king ; Mayenne,  d’Epernon  and  Joyeuse  sub- 
mitted, and  the  town  of  Amiens  having  been  taken  by  the  royal 


A.D.  1595. 
War  de- 
clared 
against 
Spain. 


A.D.  1595. 
Battle  of 
Fontaine- 
Francaise 
(June  5). 


Peace  of  Vcrvins.— Edict  of  Nantes.  329 

troops  the  duke  de  Mercoeur  followed  their  example  (February, 

1598).  Three  months  after,  the  king  of  Spain  at  last  consented  to 
accept  terms  of  agreement  (Peace  of  Vervins,  May  2) ; and  as  the 
promulgation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  (April  13)  had  put  an  end  to 
the  wars  of  religion,  so  by  the  treaty  with  Philip  II.  a long  period 
of  foreign  wars  was  terminated. 

A month  before  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  peace  at  Yervins  A.D.  1598. 
with  Philip  II.,  Henry  IV.  had  signed  and  published  at  Paris  on  y®^ngf 
the  13th  of  April,  1598,  the  edict  of  Nantes,  his  treaty  of  peace  Edict  of 
with  the  protestant  malcontents.  This  treaty,  drawn  up  in  ninety-  Nantes 
two  open  and  fifty-six  secret  articles,  was  a code  of  old  and  new 
laws  regulating  the  civil  and  religious  position  of  Protestants  in 
France,  the  conditions  and  guarantees  of  their  worship,  their 
liberties  and  their  special  obligations  in  their  relations  whether 
with  the  crown  or  with  their  catholic  fellow-countrymen.  By  this 
code  Henry  IY.  added  a great  deal  to  the  rights  of  the  Protestants 
and  to  the  duties  of  the  State  towards  them.  Their  worship  was 
authorized  not  only  in  the  castles  of  the  lords  high-justiciary,  who 
numbered  3500,  but  also  in  the  castles  of  simple  noblemen  who 
enjoyed  no  high -justiciary  rights,  provided  that  the  number  of 
those  present  did  not  exceed  thirty.  Two  towns  or  two  boroughs, 
instead  of  one,  had  the  same  religious  rights  in  each  bailiwick  or 
seneschalty  of  the  kingdom.  The  State  was  charged  with  the 
duty  of  providing  for  the  salaries  of  the  protestant  ministers  and 
rectors  in  their  colleges  or  schools,  and  an  annual  sum  of  1 65,000 
livres  of  those  times  (495,000  francs  of  the  present  day)  was 
allowed  for  that  purpose.  Donations  and  legacies  to  be  so  applied 
were  authorized.  The  children  of  Protestants  were  admitted  into 
the  universities,  colleges,  schools  and  hospitals,  without  distinc- 
tion between  them  and  Catholics.  There  was  .great  difficulty  in  pJfJc’pal 
securing  for  them,  in  all  the  parliaments  of  the  kingdom,  impartial  clauses, 
justice ; and  a special  chamber,  called  the  edict  chamber , was 
instituted  for  the  trial  of  all  causes  in  which  they  were  interested. 

Catholic  judges  could  not  sit  in  this  chamber  unless  with  their 
consent  and  on  their  presentation.  In  the  parliaments  of  Bordeaux, 

Toulouse,  and  Grenoble,  the  edict-chamber  was  composed  of  two 
presidents,  one  a Catholic  and  the  other  a Reformer,  and  of  twelve 
councillors,  of  whom  six  were  Reformers.  The  parliaments  had  . 
hitherto  refused  to  admit  Reformers  into  their  midst ; in  the  end 
the  parliament  of  Paris  admitted  six,  one  into  the  edict-chamber  and 
five  into  the  appeal-chamber  ( enquetes ).  The  edict  of  Nantes  re- 
tained, at  first  for  eight  years  and  then  for  four  more,  in  the  hands 
of  the  Protestants  the  towns  which  war  or  treaties  had  put  in  their 
possession  and  which  numbered,  it  is  said,  two  hundred.  The 


330 


History  of  France. 


A.D. 1598. 
Death  of 
Philip  II. 
(Sept.  13). 
A.D.  1603. 
Death  of 
Queen 
Elizabeth 
(April  3). 


Policy  of 
Henry  IV. 
at  home, 


king  was  bound  to  bear  the  burthen  of  keeping  up  their  fortifi- 
cations and  paying  their  garrisons  ; and  Henry  IV.  devoted  to  that 
object  540,000  livres  of  those  times,  or  about  two  million  francs  of 
our  day. 

Parliaments  and  Protestants,  all  saw  that  they  had  to  do  not 
only  with  a strong-willed  king,  but  with  a judicious  and  clear-sighted 
man,  a true  French  patriot,  who  was  sincerely  concerned  for  the 
public  interest  and  who  had  won  his  spurs  in  the  art  of  governing 
parties  by  making  for  each  its  own  place  in  the  State.  It  was 
scarcely  five  years  ago  that  the  king  who  was  now  publishing  the 
edict  of  Nantes  had  become  a Catholic  ; the  parliaments  enregistered 
the  decree.  The  protestant  malcontents  resigned  themselves  to  the 
necessity  of  being  content  with  it.  Whatever  their  imperfections 
and  the  objections  that  might  be  raised  to  them,  the  peace  of 
Vervins  and  the  edict  of  Nantes  were,  amidst  the  obstacles  and 
perils  encountered  at  every  step  by  the  government  of  Henry  IV., 
the  two  most  timely  and  most  beneficial  acts  in  the  world  for 
France. 

Four  months  after  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  of  Vervins,  on 
the  13th  of  September,  1598,  Philip  II.  died  at  the  Escurial,  and 
on  the  3rd  of  April,  1603,  a second  great  royal  personage,  Queen 
Elizabeth,  disappeared  from  the  scene.  She  had  been,  as  regards 
the  Protestantism  of  Europe,  what  Philip  II.  had  been,  as  regards 
Catholicism,  a powerful  and  able  patron ; but  what  Philip  II.  did 
from  fanatical  conviction,  Elizabeth  did  from  patriotic  feeling ; she 
had  small  faith  in  Calvinistic  doctrines  and  no  liking  for  Puritanic 
sects ; the  Catholic  Church,  the  power  of  the  pope  excepted,  was 
more  to  her  mind  than  the  Anglican  Church,  and  her  private 
preferences  differed  greatly  from  her  public  practices.  Thus  at  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  Henry  IV.  was  the  only  one 
remaining  of  the  three  great  sovereigns  who,  during  the  sixteenth, 
had  disputed,  as  regarded  religion  and  politics,  the  preponderance 
in  Europe.  He  had  succeeded  in  all  his  kingly  enterprises  ; he  had 
become  a Catholic  in  France  without  ceasing  to  be  the  prop  of  the 
Protestants  in  Europe ; he  had  made  peace  with  Spain  without 
embroiling  himself  with  England,  Holland  and  Lutheran  Germany. 
He  had  shot  up,  as  regarded  ability  and  influence,  in  the  eyes  of 
all  Europe.  It  was  just  then  that  he  gave  the  strongest  proof  of 
his  great  judgment  and  political  sagacity ; he  was  not  intoxicated 
with  success ; he  did  not  abuse  his  power ; he  did  not  aspire  to 
distant  conquests  or  brilliant  achievements ; he  concerned  himself 
chiefly  with  the  establishment  of  public  order  in  his  kingdom  and 
with  his  people’s  prosperity.  His  well-known  saying,  “ I want  all 
my  peasantry  to  have  a fowl  in  the  pot  every  Sunday,”  was  a desire 


The  “ Grand  Design  ” 


33* 


worthy  of  Louis  XII.  Henry  IV.  had  a sympathetic  nature ; his 
grandeur  did  not  lead  him  to  forget  the  nameless  multitudes  whose 
fate  depended  upon  his  government.  He  had,  besides,  the  rich, 
productive,  varied,  inquiring  mind  of  one  who  took  an  interest  not 
only  in  the  welfare  of  the  French  peasantry,  but  in  the  progress  of 
the  whole  French  community,  progress  agricultural,  industrial, 
commercial,  scientific,  and  literary. 

Abroad  the  policy  of  Henry  IV.  was  as  judicious  and  farsighted  and 
as  it  was  just  and  sympathetic  at  home.  There  has  been  much  The“{»rand 
writing  and  dissertation  about  what  has  been  called  his  grand  design.’* 
design.  This  name  has  been  given  to  a plan  for  the  religious  and 
political  organization  of  Christendom,  consisting  in  the  division  of 
Europe  amongst  three  religions,  the  Catholic,  the  Calvinistic  and 
the  Lutheran,  and  into  fifteen  states,  great  or  small,  monarchical  or 
republican,  with  equal  rights,  alone  recognized  as  members  of  the 
Christian  confederation,  regulating  in  concert  their  common  affairs 
and  pacifically  making  up  their  differences,  whilst  all  the  while 
preserving  their  national  existence.  The  grand  design,  so  far  as 
Henry  IV.  was  concerned,  was  never  a definite  project.  His  true 
external  policy  was  much  more  real  and  practical.  He  had  seen 
and  experienced  the  evils  of  religious  hatred  and  persecution.  He 
had  been  a great  sufferer  from  the  supremacy  of  the  House  of 
Austria  in  Europe,  and  he  had  for  a long  while  opposed  it.  When 
he  became  the  most  puissant  and  most  regarded  of  European  kings, 
he  set  his  heart  very  strongly  on  two  things,  toleration  for  the  three 
religions  which  had  succeeded  in  establishing  themselves  in  Europe 
and  showing  themselves  capable  of  contending  one  against  another, 
and  the  abasement  of  the  House  of  Austria  which,  even  after  the 
death  of  Charles  V.  and  of  Philip  II.,  remained  the  real  and  the 
formidable  rival  of  France.  The  external  policy  of  Henry  IV., 
from  the  treaty  of  Vervins  to  his  death,  was  religious  peace  in 
Europe  and  the  alliance  of  Catholic  France  with  Protestant  England 
and  Germany  against  Spain  and  Austria.  He  showed  constant 
respect  and  deference  towards  the  papacy,  a power  highly  regarded 
in  both  the  rival  camps,  though  much  fallen  from  the  substantial 
importance  it  had  possessed  in  Europe  during  the  middle  ages. 

Erench  policy  striving  against  Spanish  policy,  such  was  the  true 
and  the  only  serious  characteristic  of  the  grand  design. 

Four  men,  very  unequal  in  influence  as  well  as  merit,  Sully,  ^g^ise^y°* 
Villeroi,  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  and  D’Aubigne,  did  Henry  IV.  sully, 
effective  service,  by  very  different  processes  and  in  very  different 
degrees,  towards  establishing  and  rendering  successful  this  internal 
and  external  policy.  Three  wrere  Protestants;  Villeroi  alone  was 


332 


History  of  France. 


Villeroi. 


Du  Plessis- 
Mornay. 


grippa 

Aubigue, 


a Catholic.  Sully  is  beyond  comparison  with  the  other  three.  He 
is  the  only  one  whom  Henry  IV.  called  my  friend ; the  only  one 
who  had  participated  in  all  the  life  and  all  the  government  of 
Henry  IV.,  his  evil  as  well  as  his  exalted  fortunes,  his  most  painful 
embarrassments  at  home  as  well  as  his  greatest  political  acts ; the 
only  one  whose  name  has  remained  inseparably  connected  with 
that  of  a master  whom  he  served  without  servility  as  well  as  with- 
out any  attempt  to  domineer. 

Nicholas  de  Neufville,  lord  of  Villeroi,  who  was  born  in  1543, 
and  whose  grandfather  had  been  secretary  of  state  under  Francis  I., 
w7as,  whilst  Henry  III.  was  still  reigning,  member  of  a small 
secret  council  at  which  all  questions  relating  to  Protestants  were 
treated  of.  Though  a strict  Catholic,  and  convinced  that  the  king 
of  France  ought  to  be  openly  in  the  ranks  of  the  Catholics,  and 
to  govern  with  their  support,  he  sometimes  gave  Henry  III.  some 
free-spoken  and  wise  counsels.  Villeroi  was  a Leaguer  of  the 
patriotically  French  type.  And  so  Henry  IV.,  as  soon  as  he  was 
firm  upon  his  throne,  summoned  him  to  his  councils  and  confided 
to  him  the  direction  of  foreign  affairs.  The  late  Leaguer  sat 
beside  Sully,  ar.d  exerted  himself  to  give  the  prevalence,  in 
Henry  IV.’s  external  policy,  to  catholic  maxims  and  alliances, 
whilst  Sully,  remaining  firmly  protestant  in  the  service  of  his  king, 
turned  catholic,  continued  to  be  in  foreign  matters  the  champion  of 
protestant  policy  and  alliances. 

Henry  IV.  made  so  great  a case  of  Villeroi’s  co-operation  and 
influence  that,  without  loving  him  as  he  loved  Sully,  he  upheld 
him  and  kept  him  as  secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs  to  the 
end  of  his  reign. 

Philip  du  Plessis-Mornay  occupied  a smaller  place  than  Sully 
and  Villeroi  in  the  government  of  Henry  IV.  ; but  he  held  and 
deserves  to  keep  a great  one  in  the  history  of  his  times.  He  was 
the  most  eminent  and  also  the  most  moderate  of  the  men  of 
profound  piety  and  conviction  of  whom  the  Reformation  had  made 
a complete  conquest,  soul  and  body,  and  who  placed  their  public 
fidelity  to  their  religious  creed  above  every  other  interest  and  every 
other  affair  in  this  world.  Mornay  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
serve  for  ever  a king  who  had  saved  his  country.  Fie  remained 
steadfast  and  active  in  his  faith,  but  without  falling  beneath  the 
yoke  of  any  narrow-minded  idea,  preserving  his  patriotic  good 
sense  in  the  midst  of  his  fervent  piety,  and  bearing  with  sorrow- 
ful constancy  his  friends’  bursts  of  anger  and  his  king’!  exhibitions 
of  ingratitude. 

A third  Protestant,  Theodore  Agrippa  d’Aubigne,  grandfather 


SULLY. 


LIBRARY 
TF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Henry  IV.  separates  from  his  wife. 


333 


of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  has  been  reckoned  here  amongst,  not  the 
councillors,  certainly,  hut  the  familiar  and  still  celebrated  servants 
of  Henry  IV.  He  held  no  great  post  and  had  no  great  influence 
with  the  king  ; he  was,  on  every  occasion,  a valiant  soldier,  a 
zealous  Protestant,  an  indefatigable  lover  and  seeker  of  adventure, 
sometimes  an  independent  thinker,  frequently  an  eloquent  and 
bold  speaker,  always  a very  sprightly  companion.  If  D’Aubigne 
had  not  been  a writer,  he  would  be  completely  forgotten  by  this 
time,  like  so  many  other  intriguing  and  turbulent  adventurers, 
wrho  make  a great  deal  of  fuss  themselves  and  try  to  bring  every- 
thing about  them  into  a fuss  as  long  as  they  live,  and  who  die 
without  leaving  any  trace  of  their  career.  But  D’Aubigne  wrote 
a great  deal  both  in  prose  and  in  verse ; he  wrote  the  Histoire 
universelle  of  his  times,  personal  Memoires,  tales,  tragedies,  and 
theological  and  satirical  essays ; and  he  wrote  with  sagacious, 
penetrating,  unpremeditated  wit,  rare  vigour,  and  original  and 
almost  profound  talent  for  discerning  and  depicting  situations  and 
characters.  It  is  the  writer  which  has  caused  the  man  to  live  and 
has  assigned  him  a place  in  French  literature  even  more  than  in 
French  history. 

These  politicians,  these  Christians,  these  warriors  had,  in  1600, 
a grave  question  to  solve  for  Henry  IY.  and  grave  counsel  to  Henry  IV. 
give  him.  He  was  anxious  to  separate  from  his  wife,  Mar-  separates 
guerite  de  Yalois,  who  had,  in  fact,  been  separated  from  him  for  wife, 
the  last  fifteen  years,  was  leading  a very  irregular  life,  and  had  not 
brought  him  any  children.  But,  in  order  to  obtain  from  the 
pope  annulment  of  the  marriage,  it  was  first  necessary  that  Mar- 
guerite should  agree  to  it,  and  at  no  price  would  she  yield,  so 
long  as  the  king’s  favourite  continued  to  be  Gabrielle  d’Estrees, 
whom  she  detested  and  by  whom  Henry  already  had  several  chil- 
dren. The  question  arose  in  1598  in  connexion  with  a son  lately 
born  to  Gabrielle,  who  was  constantly  spreading  reports  that  she 
would  be  the  king’s  wife.  In  consequence,  however,  of  the 
favourite’s  sudden  death  (April  10th,  1599),  the  consent  of  Mar- 
guerite de  Yalois  to  the  annulment  of  her  marriage  was  obtained  ; 
and  negotiations  were  opened  at  Rome  by  Arnauld  d’Ossat,  who  was 
made  a cardinal,  and  by  Brulart  de  Sillery,  ambassador  ad  hoe. 

Clement  YIII.  pronounced  on  the  17th  of  December,  1599,  and 
transmitted  to  Paris  by  Cardinal  de  Joyeuse  the  decree  of  annul- 
ment. On  the  6th  of  January,  1600,  Henry  IY.  gave  his  ambas- 
sador, Brulart  de  Sillery,  powers  to  conclude  at  Florence  his  mar- 
riage with  Mary  de’  Medici,  daughter  of  Francis  I.  de’  Medici, 
grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  and  Joan,  archduchess  of  Austria  and. 


334 


History  of  France. 


His  mar- 
riage with 
Mary  de’ 
Medici. 


Biron’s 

con- 

spiracy. 


niece  of  the  grand  duke  Ferdinand  I.  de’  Medici,  who  had  often 
rendered  Henry  IV.  pecuniary  services  dearly  paid  for.  As  early 
as  the  year  1592  there  had  been  something  said  about  this  project 
of  alliance ; it  was  resumed  and  carried  out  on  the  5th  of  October, 
1600,  at  Florence,  with  lavish  magnificence.  Mary  embarked  at 
Leghorn  on  the  17th  with  a fleet  of  seventeen  galleys;  that  of 
which  she  was  aboard,  the  General , was  all  covered  over  with 
jewels  inside  and  out ; she  arrived  at  Marseilles  on  the  3rd  of 
November  and  at  Lyons  on  the  2nd  of  December,  where  she  waited 
till  the  9th  for  the  king,  who  was  detained  by  the  war  with  Savoy. 
He  entered  her  chamber  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  hooted  and 
armed,  and  next  day,  in  the  cathedral  church  of  St.  John,  re-cele- 
brated his  marriage,  more  rich  in  wealth  than  it  was  destined  to  he 
in  happiness. 

Henry  IV.  seemed  to  have  attained  in  his  public  and  in  his 
domestic  life  the  pinnacle  of  earthly  fortune  and  ambition.  He 
was,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  catholic  king  and  the  head  of  the 
Protestant  polity  in  Europe,  accepted  by  the  Catholics  as  the  best, 
the  only  possible,  king  for  them  in  France.  He  was  at  peace 
with  all  Europe,  except  one  petty  prince,  the  duke  of  Savoy, 
Charles  Emmanuel  I.,  from  whom  he  demanded  back  the  mar- 
quisate  of  Saluzzo  or  a territorial  compensation  in  France  itself  on 
the  French  side  of  the  Alps.  After  a short  campaign,  and  thanks 
to  Rosny’s  ordnance,  he  obtained  what  he  desired,  and  by  a treaty 
of  January  17,  1601,  he  added  to  French  territory  La  Bresse,  Le 
Bugey,  the  district  of  Gex  and  the  citadel  of  Bourg,  which  still 
held  out  after  the  capture  of  the  town.  He  was  more  and  more 
dear  to  France,  to  which  he  had  restored  peace  at  home  as  well  as 
abroad,  and  industrial,  commercial,  financial,  monumental  and 
scientific  prosperity,  until  lately  unknown.  Sully  covered  the 
country  with  roads,  bridges,  canals,  buildings  and  works  of  public 
utility.  The  conspiracy  of  his  old  companion  in  arms,  Gontaut  de 
Biron,  proved  to  him,  however,  that  he  was  not  at  the  end  of 
his  political  dangers,  and  the  letters  he  caused  to  he  issued  (Sep- 
tember, 1603)  for  the  return  of  the  Jesuits  did  not  save  him 
from  the  attacks  of  religious  fanaticism. 

The  queen’s  coronation  had  been  proclaimed  on  the  12th  of 
May,  1610;  she  was  to  be  crowned  next  day  the  13th  at  St. 
Denis,  and  Sunday  the  16th  had  been  appointed  for  her  to  make 
her  entry  into  Paris.  On  Friday  the  14th  the  king  had  an  idea 
of  going  to  the  Arsenal  to  see  Sully,  who  was  ill ; we  have  the 
account  of  this  visit  and  of  the  assassination  given  by  Malherbe, 
at  that  time  attached  to  the  service  of  Henry  IV.,  in  a letter 


Murder  of  Henry  I Vo  335 

written  on  the  19  th  of  May  from  the  reports  of  eye-witnesses, 
and  it  is  here  reproduced  word  for  word: — 

“ The  king  set  out  soon  after  dinner  to  go  to  the  Arsenal.  He 
deliberated  a long  while  whether  he  should  go  out,  and  several 
times  said  to  the  queen,  ‘ My  dear,  shall  I go  or  not  h ’ He  even 
went  out  two  or  three  timrs  and  then  all  on  a sudden  returned, 
and  said  to  the  queen,  ‘ My  dear,  shall  I really  go  h ’ and  again  he 
had  doubts  about  going  or  remaining*  At  last  he  made  up  his 
mind  to  go,  and  having  kissed  the  queen  several  times,  bade  her 
adieu.  Amongst  other  things  that  were  remarked  he  said  to  her, 
‘ I shall  only  go  there  and  back  ; I shall  be  here  again  almost 
directly.’  When  he  got  to  the  bottom  of  the  steps  where  his  car- 
riage was  waiting  for  him,  M.  de  Praslin,  his  captain  of  the  guard, 
would  have  attended  him,  but  he  said  to  him,  ‘ Get  you  gone  ; I 
want  nobody  ; go  about  your  business.’ 

“ Thus,  having  about  him  only  a few  gentlemen  and  some  foot- 
men, he  got  into  his  carriage,  took  his  place  on  the  back  seat  at 
the  left-hand  side,  and  made  M.  d'Epernon  sit  at  the  right.  Hext 
to  him,  by  the  door,  were  M.  de  Montbazon  and  M.  de  la  Force  ; 
and  by  the  door  on  M.  d’Epernon’s  side  were  Marshal  de  Lavardin 
and  M.  de  Crequi ; on  the  front  seat  the  marquis  of  Mirabeau  and 
the  first  equerry.  When  he  came  to  the  Croix-du-Tiroir  he  was 
asked  whither  it  was  his  pleasure  to  go  ; he  gave  orders  to  go 
towards  St.  Innocent.  On  arriving  at  Rue  de  la  Ferronnerie,  which 
is  at  the  end  of  that  of  St.  Honore  on  the  way  to  that  of  St.  Denis, 
opposite  the  Salamandre  he  met  a cart  which  obliged  the  king’s 
carriage  to  go  nearer  to  the  ironmongers’  shops  which  are  on  the 
St.  Innocent  side,  and  even  to  proceed  somewhat  more  slowly,  with- 
out stopping  however,  though  somebody,  who  was  in  a hurry  to 
get  the  gossip  printed,  has  written  to  that  effect.  Here  it  was  that 
an  abominable  assassin,  who  had  posted  himself  against  the 
nearest  shop,  which  is  that  with  the  Goeur  couronne  perce  d'une 
fleche,  darted  upon  the  king  and  dealt  him,  on"e  after  the  other, 
two  blows  with  a knife  in  the  left  side ; one,  catching  him  between 
the  arm-pit  and  the  nipple,  went  upwards  without  doing  more  than 
graze ; the  other  catches  him  between  the  fifth  and  sixth  ribs  and, 
taking  a downward  direction,  cuts  a large  artery  of  those  called 
venous.  The  king,  by  mishap  and  as  if  to  further  tempt  this 
monster,  had  his  left  hand  on  the  shoulder  of  M.  de  Montbazon, 
and  with  the  other  was  leaning  on  M.  d’fipernon,  to  whom  he  was 
speaking.  He  uttered  a low  cry  and  made  a few  movements. 
M.  de  Montbazon  having  asked,  ‘ What  is  the  matter,  Sir  1 ’ he 
answered,  ‘ It  is  nothing,’  twice ; but  the  second  time  so  low  that 


A.D.  1610. 
Henry  IV. 
murdered 
by  Ra- 
vail  lae 
(May  14). 


Details 
given  by 
Malherbe. 


Mary  de’ 

Medici 

regent. 


State  of 
parties. 


336  History  of  France. 

there  was  no  making  sure.  These  are  the  only  words  he  spoke  after 
he  was  wounded. 

“ In  a moment  the  carriage  turned  towards  the  Louvre.  When 
he  was  at  the  steps  where  he  had  got  into  the  carriage,  which  are 
those  of  the  queen’s  rooms,  some  wine  was  given  him.  Of  course 
some  one  had  already  run  forward  to  bear  the  news.  Sieur  de 
Cerisy,  lieutenant  of  M.  de  Praslin’s  company,  having  raised  his 
head,  he  made  a few  movements  with  his  eyes,  then  closed  them 
immediately,  without  opening  them  again  any  more.  He  was  carried 
upstairs  by  M.  de  Montbazon  and  Count  de  Curzon  en  Quercy  and 
laid  on  the  bed  in  his  closet,  and  at  two  o’clock  carried  to  the 
bed  in  his  chamber,  where  he  was  all  the  next  day  and  Sunday. 
Somebody  went  and  gave  him  holy  water.  I tell  you  nothing  about 
the  queen’s  tears  ; all  that  must  be  imagined.  As  for  the  people  of 
Paris,  I think  the}’-  never  wept  so  much  as  on  this  occasion.” 

On  the  king’s  death — and  at  the  imperious  instance  of  the  duke  of 
Epernon,  who  at  once  introduced  the  queen,  and  said  in  open  ses- 
sion, as  he  exhibited  his  sword,  “ It  is  as  yet  in  the  scabbard,  but 
it  will  have  to  leap  therefrom  unless  this  moment  there  be  granted 
to  the  queen  a title  which  is  her  due  according  to  the  order  of  nature 
and  of  justice,” — the  Parliament  forthwith  declared  Mary  regent  of 
the  kingdom.  Thanks  -to  Sully’s  firm  administration,  there  were, 
after  the  ordinary  annual  expenses  were  paid,  at  that  time  in  the 
vaults  of  the  Bastille  or  in  securities  easily  realizable,  forty-one 
million  three  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  livres,  and  there  was 
nothing  to  suggest  that  extraordinary  and  urgent  expenses  would 
come  to  curtail  this  substantial  reserve.  The  army  was  disbanded 
and  reduced  to  from  twelve  to  fifteen  thousand  men,  Prench  or 
Swiss.  For  a long  time  past  no  power  in  France  had,  at  its 
accession,  possessed  so  much  material  strength  and  so  much  moral 
authority.  Since  the  death  of  Henry  IV.,  however,  the  king  and 
court  of  France  were  much  changed  : the  great  questions  and  the 
great  personages  had  disappeared.  The  last  of  the  real  chiefs  of 
the  League,  the  brother  of  Duke  Henry  of  Guise,  the  old  duke  of 
Mayenne,  he  on  whom  Henry,  in  the  hour  of  victory,  would  wreak 
no  heavier  vengeance  than  to  walk  him  to  a standstill,  was  dead. 
Henry  IV.’s  first  wife,  the  sprightly  and  too  facile  Marguerite  de 
Valois,  was  dead  also,  after  consenting  to  descend  from  the  throne 
in  order  to  make  way  for  the  mediocre  Mary  de’  Medici.  The 
catholic  champion  whom  Henry  IV.  felicitated  himself  upon  being 
able  to  oppose  to  Du  Plessis-Mornay  in  the  polemical  conferences 
between  the  two  communions,  Cardinal  de  Perron,  was  at  the  point 
of  death.  The  decay  was  general  and  the  same  amongst  the  Pro- 


The  Concinis — The  Spanish  marriages.  337 

testants  as  amongst  the  Catholics  ; Sully  and  Mornay  held  them- 
selves aloof  or  were  barely  listened  to.  In  place  of  these  eminent  QQUm 
personages  had  come  intriguing  or  ambitious  subordinates,  who  were  cinis. 
either  innocent  of,  or  indifferent  to,  anything  like  a great  policy,  and 
who  had  no  idea  beyond  themselves  and  their  fortunes.  The  chief 
amongst  them  were  Leonora  Galigai,  daughter  of  the  queen’s  nurse, 
and  her  husband,  Concino  Concini,  son  of  a Florentine  notary,  both 
of  them  full  of  coarse  ambition,  covetous,  vain  and  determined  to 
make  the  best  of  their  new  position,  so  as  to  enrich  themselves  and 
exalt  themselves  beyond  measure  and  at  any  price.  The  husband 
of  Leonora  Galigai,  Concini,  had  amassed  a great  deal  of  money  and 
purchased  the  marquisate  of  Ancre ; nay  more,  he  had  been  created 
marshal  of  France.  In  his  dread  lest  influence  opposed  to  his  own 
should  be  exercised  over  the  young  king,  he  took  upon  himself  to 
regulate  his  amusements  and  his  walks  and  prohibited  him  from 
leaving  Paris.  Louis  XIII.  had  amongst  his  personal  attendants  a 
young  nobleman,  Albert  de  Luynes,  clever  in  training  little  sporting 
birds,  called  butcher-birds  {pies  grieches  or  shrikes),  then  all  the 
rage ; and  the  king  made  his  falconer  and  lived  on  familiar  terms 
with  him.  Playing  at  billiards  one  day,  Marshal  d’ Ancre,  putting 
on  his  hat,  said  to  the  king,  11 1 hope  your  Majesty  will  allow  me  A ^ 
to  be  covered.”  The  king  allowed  it  : but  remained  surprised  and  Conc*ni 
shocked.  His  young  page,  Albert  de  Luynes,  observed  his  displea- 
sure,  and  being  anxious,  himself  also,  to  become  a favourite,  he  took  V 
pains  to  fan  it.  A domestic  plot  was  set  hatching  against  Marshal 
d’ Ancre,  who  was  shot  down  on  the  bridge  of  the  Louvre  (April 
24,  1617)  by  M.  de  Vitry,  captain  of  the  g lard.  Shortly  after, 

Leonora  Galigai,  accused  of  witchcraft,  was  beheaded  on  the  place 
de  Greve,  and  her  body  committed  to  the  flames. 

Concini  and  his  wife,  both  of  them,  probably,  in  the  secret  ser-  The 
vice  of  the  court  of  Madrid,  had  promoted  the  marriage  of  Louis  Sran  .sh 

7 1 ^ ffi/iri  i a.P  fis 

XIII.  with  the  Infanta  Anne  of  Austria,  eldest  daughter  of  Philip 
III.  king  of  Spain,  and  that  of  Philip,  Infanta  of  Spain,  who  was 
afterwards  Philip  IV.,  Avith  Princess  Elizabeth  of  France,  sister  of 
Louis  XIII.  Henry  IV.,  in  his  plan  for  the  pacification  of  Europe, 
had  himself  conceived  this  idea  and  testified  a desire  for  this  double 
marriage,  but  without  taking  any  trouble  to  bring  it  about.  It  was 
after  his  death  that,  on  the  30th  of  April,  1612,  Villeroi,  minister 
of  foreign  affairs  in  France,  and  Don  Inigo  de  Cardenas,  ambassador 
of  the  king  of  Spain,  concluded  this  double  union  by  a formal 
deed.  The  two  Spanish  marriages  were  regarded  in  France  as  an 
abandonment  of  the  national  policy  ; France  was,  in  a great  majority, 
catholic,  but  its  Catholicism  differed  essentially  from  the  Spanish 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  1614. 
The  States- 
general. 
Eichelieu. 


A D.  1616. 
Richelieu 
minister. 


Follows 
the  Queen 
to  Blois. 


338 

Catholicism  : a remedy  was  desired  ; it  was  hoped  that  one  would 
he  found  in  the  convocation  of  the  states-geueral  of  the  kingdom, 
to  which  the  populace  always  looked  expectantly ; they  were  con- 
voked first  for  the  16th  of  September,  1614,  at  Sens;  and,  after- 
wards, for  the  20th  of  October  following,  when  the  young  king, 
Louis  XIII.,  after  the  announcement  of  his  majority,  himself 
opened  them  in  state.  The  chief  political  fact  connected  with  the 
convocation  of  the  States-general  of  1614  was  the  entry  into  their 
ranks  of  the  youthful  bishop  of  Lu^on,  Armand  John  duPlessis  de 
Eichelieu,  marked  out  by  the  finger  of  God  to  sustain,  after  the 
powerful  reign  of  Henry  IY.  and  the  incapable  regency  of  Mary  de’ 
Medici,  the  weight  of  the  government  of  France.  As  he  was  born 
on  the  5th  of  September,  1585,  he  was  but  28  years  old  in  1614. 

He  had  even  then  acquired  amongst  the  clergy  and  at  the  court 
of  Louis  XIII.  sufficient  importance  to  be  charged  with  the  duty  of 
speaking  in  presence  of  the  king  on  the  acceptance  of  the  acts  of 
the  council  of  Trent  and  on  the  restitution  of  certain  property 
belonging  to  the  Catholic  Church  in  Bearn.  He  made  skilful  use 
of  the  occasion  for  the  purpose  of  still  further  exalting  and  improv- 
ing the  question  and  his  own  position.  He  complained  that  for  a 
long  time  past  ecclesiastics  had  been  too  rarely  summoned  to  the 
sovereign’s  councils ; he  took  care  at  the  same  time  to  make  himself 
pleasant  to  the  mighty  ones  of  the  hour  ; he  praised  the  young  king 
for  having,  on  announcing  his  majority,  asked  his  mother  to  con- 
tinue to  watch  over  France,  and  “ to  add  to  the  august  title 
of  mother  of  the  king  that  of  mother  of  the  kingdom  .”  The  post  of 
almoner  to  the  queen-regnant,  Anne  of  Austria,  was  his  reward. 
He  carried  still  further  his  ambitious  foresight;  in  Feb.  1615,  at 
the  time  when  the  session  of  the  states-general  closed,  Marshal 
d’Ancre  and  Leonora  Galigai  were  still  favourites  with  the  queen- 
mother  ; Eichelieu  laid  himself  out  to  be  pleasant  to  them,  and 
received  from  the  marshal  in  1616  the  post  of  Secretary  of  State 
for  war  and  foreign  affairs.  Marshal  d’Ancre  was  at  that  time  look- 
ing out  for  supports  against  his  imminent  downfall.  When,  in 
1617,  he  fell  and  ^vas  massacred,  people  were  astonished  to  find 
Eichelieu  on  good  terras  with  the  marshal’s  court-rival,  Albert  de 
Luynes,  who  pressed  him  to  remain  in  the  council  at  which  he  had 
sat  for  only  five  months.  To  accept  the  responsibility  of  the  new 
favourite’s  accession  was  a compromising  act;  Eichelieu  judged  it 
more  prudent  to  remain  bishop  of  Linton  and  to  wear  the  appear- 
ance of  defeat  by  following  Mary  de’  Medici  to  Blois,  whither,  since 
the  fall  of  her  favourites,  she  had  asked  leave  to  retire.  He  would 
there,  he  said,  be  more  useful  to  the  government  of  the  young  king ; 


Richelieu's  cleverness . 


339 

for,  remaining  at  the  side  of  Mary  de’  Medici,  he  would  he  able  to 
advise  and  restrain  her. 

The  astute  minister  contrived  to  interest  both  parties  on  his 
behalf.  To  the  court  he  adduced  his  withdrawal  from  public 
business  as  a proof  of  the  most  absolute  submission  ; to  Mary  de> 

Medici  he  described  it  as  the  result  of  his  unremitting  zeal  for  her 
service,  and  as  a new  persecution  on  the  part  of  her  enemies.  He 
thus  contrived  to  weather  the  storm  ; and  when  the  excitement 
produced  by  the  catastrophe  of  Concini  had  subsided,  he  looked 
round  to  see  what  could  be  done.  W e cannot  enter  here  into  the  Manages 
particulars  connected  with  the  disgrace  of  the  queen-mother. t0  k,eeP on 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  Richelieu  served  her  to  the  utmost  of  his  both 
power,  and  rendered  her  party  so  formidable,  that  it  proved  a parties, 
serious  obstacle  to  the  ambitious  views  of  the  new  favourite.  The 
Bishop  of  Lu9on,  through  his  determination,  his  intrigues,  his 
unscrupulous  conduct,  had  become  a dangerous  personage;  he  was 
first  ordered  to  return  to  his  priory  at  Coussay,  then  to  his  episcopal 
palace,  and  finally  he  was  banished  to  Avignon.  There  he  seemed 
determined  upon  leading  a life  of  seclusion,  and  a casual  observer, 
anxious  to  know  how  he  spent  his  time,  would  have  found  him 
busily  employed  in  writing  theological  works.  This,  of  course,  was 
merely  a feint,  designed  to  throw  his  enemies  off  their  guard. 

Attention  to  his  books  did  not  prevent  Richelieu  from  watching 
the  progress  of  events ; and  when  Mary  de’  Medici  contrived  to 
escape  from  Blois,  he  joined  her  without  any  further  delay.  By 
his  influence,  the  whole  of  the  Anjou  nobility — the  dukes  de 
Longueville,  de  Bouillon,  d’Epernon — rallied  round  the  standard  of 
the  queen.  A battle  was  fought  at  Pont-de-Ce,  near  Angers, 
where  the  rebel  troops  met  with  a signal  defeat.  A treat}',  never- 
theless, concluded  shortly  after,  secured  to  Richelieu  almost  as 
many  advantages  as  if  he,  and  not  de  Luynes,  had  triumphed. 

The  queen  received  permission  to  return  to  court,  with  the  full 
enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges  and  honours  due  to  her  rank ; and 
the  king  pledged  himself  to  solicit  a cardinal’s  hat  for  Richelieu, 
whose  niece,  Mademoiselle  de  Pont-Courlay,  married  the  marquis 
de  Combalet,  nephew  of  de  Luynes  (1619-20). 

Albert  de  Luynes  came  out  of  this  crisis  well  content.  He  Albert  de 
felicitated  himself  on  the  king’s  victory  over  the  queen-mother,  for  luynes. 
he  might  consider  the  triumph  as  his  own  ; he  had  advised  and 
supported  the  king’s  steady  resistance  to  his  mother’s  enterprises. 

Besides,  he  had  gained  by  it  the  rank  and  power  of  constable  ; it 
was  at  this  period  that  he  obtained  them,  thanks  to  the  retirement 
of  Lesdiguieres,  who  gave  them  up  to  assume  the  title  of  marshal- 
ls 2 


Rising  of 
the  Protes- 
tants. 


A.D.  1621. 
Death  of 
de  Luynes 
(Dec.  14). 


340  History  of  France . 

general  of  the  king’s  camps  and  armies.  The  royal  favour  did  not 
stop  there  for  Luynes  ; the  keeper  of  the  seals,  Du  Yair,  died  in 
1621  ; and  the  king  handed  over  the  seals  to  the  new  constable, 
who  thus  united  the  military  authority  with  that  of  justice, 
without  being  either  a great  warrior  or  a great  lawyer. 

The  favourite  now  turned  his  attention  to  the  Protestants,  and 
he  pretended  to  compel  those  of  Bearn  and  Navarre  to  restore  what 
he  designed  as  secularized  Church  property.  A general  rising  was 
the  consequence;  in  order  to  quell  it,  de  Luynes  took  the  command 
of  an  army  of  15,000  men  and  laid  siege  before  Montauban. 
Sully  and  Duplessis-Mornay  had  vainly  endeavoured  to  dissuade 
their  fellow-religionists  from  publishing  a declaration  of  indepen- 
dence ; and  the  marshal  de  Lesdiguieres  and  the  duke  de  Bouillon 
having  refused  the  dangerous  part  of  leader  of  the  movement,  it 
was  accepted  by  the  duke  de  Eohan.  The  siege  of  Montauban 
proved,  however,  more  difficult  than  had  been  anticipated  ; the 
royal  troops  were  compelled  to  withdraw ; and  De  Luynes,  having 
caught  fever  whilst  attacking  the  smaller  town  of  Monheurt,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Garonne,  died  on  the  14th  of  December. 

Richelieu,  when  he  had  become  cardinal,  premier  minister  of 
Louis  XIII.  and  of  the  government  of  Prance,  passed  a just  but 
severe  judgment  upon  Albert  de  Luynes.  “ He  was  a mediocre 
and  timid  creature,”  he  said,  “ faithless,  ungenerous,  too  weak  to 
remain  steady  against  the  assault  of  so  great  a fortune  as  that 
which  ruined  him  incontinently  ; allowing  himself  to  be  borne 
away  by  it  as  by  a torrent,  without  any  foot  hold,  unable  to  set 
bounds  to  his  ambition,  incapable  of  arresting  it  and  not  knowing 
what  he  was  about,  like  a man  on  the  top  of  a tower,  whose  head 
goes  round  and  who  has  no  longer  any  power  of  discernment.  He 
would  fain  have  been  prince  of  Orange,  count  of  Avignon,  duke  of 
Albret,  king  of  Austrasia,  and  would  not  have  refused  more  if  he 
had  seen  his  way  to  it.”  [Memoir es  de  Richelieu , p.  169,  in  the 
Petitot  Collection,  series  v.,  t.  xxii.] 

This  brilliant  and  truthful  portrait  lacks  one  feature  which  was 
the  merit  of  the  constable  de  Luynes  : he  saw  coming,  and  he  anti- 
cipated, a long  way  off,  and  to  little  purpose,  but  heartily  enough, 
the  government  of  Prance  by  a supreme  kingship,  whilst  paying 
respect,  as  long  as  he  lived,  to  religious  liberty  and  showing  himself 
favourable  to  intellectual  and  literary  liberty  though  he  was 
opposed  to  political  and  national  liberty.  That  was  the  govern- 
ment which,  after  him,  was  practised  with  a high  hand  and  rendered 
triumphant  by  Cardinal  Richelieu  to  the  honour,  if  not  the  hap- 
piness, of  France. 


Richelieu  and  the  aristocracy. 


341 


Richelieu,  created  a cardinal  in  1622,  set  his  face  steadily  against 
all  the  influences  of  the  great  lords;  he  broke  them  down  one  after 
another;  he  persistently  elevated  the  royal  authority;  it  was  the 
hand  of  Richelieu  which  made  the  court  and  paved  the  way  for 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  The  Fronde  was  but  a paltry  interlude 
and  a sanguinary  game  between  parties.  At  Richelieu’s  death, 
pure  monarchy  was  founded. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1622,  the  work  was  as  yet  full  of  Cardinal 
difficulty.  There  were  numerous  rivals  for  the  heritage  of  royal  s 

favour  that  had  slipped  from  the  dying  hands  of  Luynes.  The  policy, 
first  victim  of  Richelieu’s  stern  home  policy  proved  to  be  Colonel  AD.  1628. 
Ornano,  lately  created  a marshal  at  the  duke  of  Anjou’s  request;  he 
was  arrested  and  carried  off  a prisoner  “to  the  very  room  where,  (gept.  16). 
twenty-four  years  ago,  Marshal  Biron  had  been  confined.”  For 
some  time  past  “ it  had  been  current  at  court  and  throughout  the 
kingdom  that  a great  cabal  was  going  on,”  says  Richelieu  in  his 
Memoires , “ and  the  cabalists  said  quite  openly  that  under  his 
ministry,  men  might  cabal  with  impunity,  for  he  was  not  a 
dangerous  enemy.”  If  the  cabalists  had  been  living  in  that  confi- 
dence, they  were  most  wofully  deceived.  Richelieu  was  neither 
meddlesome  nor  cruel,  but  he  was  pitiless  towards  the  sufferings  as 
well  as  the  supplication  of  those  who  sought  to  thwart  his  policy. 

Thus  again,  Henry  ae  Talleyrand,  count  of  Chalais,  master  of  the  a.D.  1626. 
wardrobe,  hare-brained  and  frivolous,  had  hitherto  made  himself  °* 
talked  about  only  for  his  duels  and  his  successes  with  women.  He  (Aug.  18). 
had  already  been  drawn  into  a plot  against  the  cardinal’s  life  ; but, 
under  the  influence  of  remorse,  he  had  confessed  his  criminal 
intentions  to  the  minister  himself.  Richelieu  appeared  touched 
by  the  repentance,  but  he  did  not  forget  the  offence,  and  his  watch 
over  this  “ unfortunate  gentleman,”  as  he  himself  calls  him,  made 
him  aware  before  long  that  Chalais  was  compromised  in  an 
intrigue  which  aimed  at  nothing  less,  it  was  said,  than  to  secure 
the  person  of  the  cardinal  by  means  of  an  ambush,  so  as  to  get  rid 
of  him  at  need.  Chalais  was  arrested  in  his  bed  on  the  8th  of 
July,  and  condemned  to  death  on  the  18th  of  August  1626. 

At  the  outset  of  his  ministry,  in  1624,  Richelieu  had  obtained 
from  the  king  a severe  ordinance  against  duels,  a fatal  custom 
which  was  at  that  time  decimating  the  noblesse.  Already  several 
noblemen,  amongst  others  M.  du  Plessis-Praslin,  had  been  deprived 
of  their  offices,  or  sent  into  exile  in  consequence  of  their  duels,  when  Duels. 

M.  de  Bouteville,  of  the  house  of  Montmorency,  who  had  been 
previously  engaged  in  twenty-one  affairs  of  honour,  came  to  Paris  death, 
to  fight  the  marquis  of  Beuvron  on  the  Place  Royale.  The  marquis’s 


A.D.  1630. 
“ Journee 
des  Dupes” 


34 2 History  of  France.  ‘ 

second,  M.  de  Bussy  d’Amboise,  was  killed  by  the  count  of 
Chapelles,  Bouteville’s  second.  Beuvron  fled  to  England.  M.  do 
Bouteville  and  his  comrade  had  taken  post  for  Lorraine ; they 
were  recognized  and  arrested  at  Vitry-le- Brule,  and  brought  back  to 
Paris ; and  the  king  immediately  ordered  Parliament  to  bring 
them  to  trial.  The  crime  was  flagrant,  and  the  defiance  of  the 
king’s  orders  undeniable  ; but  the  culprit  was  connected  with  the 
greatest  houses  in  the  kingdom  ; he  had  given  striking  proofs  of 
bravery  in  the  king’s  service  ; and  all  the  court  interceded  for  him. 
Parliament,  with  regret,  pronounced  condemnation,  absolving  the 
memory  of  Bussy  d’Amboise,  who  was  a son  of  President  de 
Mesmes’s  wife,  and  reducing  to  one-third  of  their  goods  the  confis- 
cation to  which  the  condemned  were  sentenced. 

The  cardinal  had  got  Chalais  condemned  as  a conspirator ; he 
had  let  Bouteville  be  executed  as  a duellist ; the  greatest  lords 
bent  beneath  his  authority,  but  the  power  that  depends  on  a king’s 
favour  is  always  menaced  and  tottering.  The  enemies  of  Biclielieu 
had  not  renounced  the  idea  of  overthrowing  him,  their  hopes  even 
went  on  growing,  since,  for  some  time  past,  the  queen- mother  had 
been  waxing  jealous  of  the  all-powerful  minister,  and  no  longer 
made  common  cause  with  him.  These  reiterated  attempts  are  sur- 
prising enough  ; but  what  astonishes  us  most  is  that  the  con- 
spirators should  have  allowed  themselves  to  be  led  astray  by  Gaston, 
duke  d’Orleans, — a man  who,  in  the  hour  of  danger,  would  not 
hesitate  to  betray  his  bosom-friend,  if  his  own  safety  could  be  pur- 
chased at  such  a price.  And  yet  they  fell  into  the  snare.  The 
king  was  dangerously  ill  at  Lyons ; they  thought  the  opportunity 
too  good  to  be  lost ; and  indeed  managed  so  well  that  when  the 
court  returned  to  Paris,  the  cardinal’s  disgrace  seemed  inevitable. 
But  he  determined  upon  making  a final  effort,  and  securing  an 
interview  of  a quarter  of  an  hour  with  Louis  XIII.  at  Versailles,  he 
frightened  the  monarch,  and  left  the  palace  as  powerful  as  ever. 
“ This  coup  d'etat”  says  M.  Michelet,  “ was  a perfect  comedy  : the 
cardinalists  packed  off  in  the  morning,  and  it  was  the  turn  of  the 
royalists  to  make  their  exit  in  the  evening”  (1630).  Marshal 
Marillac  had  to  pay  for  the  rest ; seized  in  the  middle  of  his  army, 
he  was  tried  before  a court  composed  of  his  private  enemies,  and  in 
the  cardinal’s  own  palace,  at  Buel.  Of  course,  under  such  circum- 
stances, it  was  useless  to  expect  mercy  ; the  unfortunate  warrior 
was  beheaded.  In  the  meanwhile,  what  had  become  of  Gaston  1 
Banished  with  his  mother  to  Brussels,  he  felt  at  last  some  shame 
at  not  taking  any  personal  part  in  the  struggle  against  his  enemy. 
Besides,  the  duke  de  Montmorency,  governor  of  Languedoc,  had 


Conspiracy  of  Cinq-Mars . 


343 


informed  him  that  his  presence  in  the  disaffected  provinces  would 
undoubtedly  excite  a general  rebellion.  Assisted  by  the  duke  de 
Lorraine,  whose  daughter  he  had  married,  Gaston  raised  an  army  of 
brigands,  as  they  have  justly  been  termed.  Unfortunately,  in  order 
to  reach  Languedoc,  it  was  necessary  that  this  select  band  should  A.D.  1632. 
cross  France  from  north  to  south.  Badly  paid,  badly  fed,  they  of 

took  to  pillage  by  way  of  compensation,  and  thus  materially  dary. 
impaired  the  cause  they  were  engaged  to  serve.  A battle  was 
fought  at  Castelnaudary  (1632)  ; the  king’s  troops  were  victorious, 
and  Montmorency  shared  the  fate  of  Marillac,  whilst  Gaston 
d’Orleans  “ swore  by  the  faith  of  a gentleman  that  he  would  ever 
be  my  lord  the  cardinal’s  best  friend.” 

Women  filled  but  a short  space  in  the  life  of  Louis  XIII.  Twice, 
however,  in  that  interval  of  ten  years  which  separated  the  plot  of 
Montmorency  from  that  of  Cinq-Mars,  did  the  minister  believe 
himself  to  be  threatened  by  feminine  influence ; and  twice  he  used 
artifice  to  win  the  monarch’s  heart  and  confidence  from  two  young 
girls  of  his  court,  Louise  de  Lafayette  and  Marie  d’Hautefort.  Both 
were  maids  of  honour  to  the  queen. 

Louis  XIII. ’s  fancies  were  never  of  long  duration,  and  his 
growing  affection  for  young  Cinq-Mars,  son  of  Marshal  d’Effiat,  led 
him  to  sacrifice  Mdlle.  d’Hautefort.  The  cardinal  merely  asked 
him  to  send  her  away  for  a fortnight.  She  insisted  upon  hearing 
the  order  from  the  king’s  own  mouth.  “ The  fortnight  will  last  all 
the  rest  of  my  life,”  she  said  : “ and  so  I take  leave  of  Your  Majesty 
for  ever.”  She  went  accompanied  by  the  regrets  and  tears  of  Anne 
of  Austria  and  leaving  the  field  open  to  the  new  favourite,  the  king’s 
“ rattle,”  as  the  cardinal  called  him. 

M.  de  Cinq-Mars  was  only  nineteen  when  he  was  made  master  AD* 1642- 
of  the  wardrobe  and  grand  equerry  of  France.  Brilliant  and  witty,  of  Cinq-f^ 
he  amused  the  king  and  occupied  the  leisure  which  peace  gave  Mars, 
him.  By  degrees  he  listened  to  the  insinuations  of  those  who  were 
availing  themselves  of  his  popularity  for  the  purpose  of  egging 
him  on  against  the  cardinal. 

Then  began  a series  of  negotiations  and  intrigues  ; the  duke  of 
Orleans  had  come  baok  to  Paris,  the  king  was  ill  and  the  cardinal 
more  so  than  he  ; thence  arose  conjectures  and  insensate  hopes \ 
the  duke  of  Bouillon,  being  sent  for  by  the  king,  who  confided  to 
him  the  command  of  the  army  of  Italy,  was  at  the  same  time  drawn 
into  the  plot,  which  was  beginning  to  be  woven  against  the  minis- 
ter ; the  duke  of  Orleans  and  the  queen  were  in  it ; and  the  town 
of  Sedan,  of  which  Bouillon  was  prince-sovereign,  was  wanted  to 
serve  the  authors  of  the  corspiracy  as  an  asylum  in  case  of 


314  History  of  France. 

reverse.  Sedan  alone  was  not  sufficient ; there  was  need  of  an 
armjr.  Whence  was  it  to  come  1 Thoughts  naturally  turned 
towards  Spain.  A negotiation  was  therefore  concluded  at  Madrid, 
Treaty  by  Eontrailles,  in  the  name  of  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and  a copy  of 
with  Spain.  goon  foun(j  p-s  way  Richelieu’s  study. 

The  king  could  not  believe  his  eyes  ; and  his  wrath  equalled  his 
astonishment.  Together  with  that  of  the  grand  equerry,  he  ordered 
the  immediate  arrest  of  M.  de  Thou,  his  intimate  friend ; and  the 
order  went  out  to  secure  the  duke  of  Bouillon,  then  at  the  head  of 
the  army  qf  Italy.  He,  caught  like  Marshal  Marillac  in  the  midst 
of  his  troops,  had  vainly  attempted  to  conceal  himself ; but  he  was 
taken  and  conducted  to  the  castle  of  Pignerol. 

The  most  guilty,  if  not  the  most  dangerous,  of  all  the  accom- 
plices, Monsieur,  frightened  to  death,  saw  that  treachery  was  safer 
than  flight,  and  contrived  to  have  an  interview  with  his  brother. 
He  assured  Louis  XIII.  of  his  fidelity;  he  intreated  Chavigny,  the 
minister’s  confidant,  to  give  him  “ means  of  seeing  his  Eminence 
belore  he  saw  the  king,  in  which  case  all  would  go  well.”  He 
appealed  to  the  cardinal’s  generosity,  begging  him  to  keep  his  letter 
as  an  eternal  reproach,  if  he  were  not  thenceforth  the  most  faithful 
and  devoted  of  his  friends. 

The  two  accused  denied  nothing : M.  de  Thou  merely  main- 
tained that  he  had  not  been  in  any  way  mixed  up  with  the  con- 
spiracy, proving  that  he  had  blamed  the  treaty  with  Spain,  and  that 
Death  of  his  only  crime  was  not  having  revealed  it.  The  last  tragic  scene  was 
Cinq-Mars  not  destined  to  he  long  deferred;  the  very  day  on  which  the  sentence 
de  Thou  was  delivered  saw  the  execution  of  it.  “ The  grand  equerry  showed 
*)•  a never  changing  and  very  resolute  firmness  to  the  death,  together 
with  admirable  calmness  and  the  constancy  and  devoutness  of  a 
Christian,”  wrote  M.  de  Marca,  councillor  of  state,  to  the  secretary 
of  state  Brienne  ; and  Tallemant  des  Beaux  adds  : “ he  died  with 
astoundingly  great  courage  and  did  not  waste  time  in  speechifying ; 
he  would  not  have  his  eyes  bandaged,  and  kept  them  open  when 
the  blow  was  struck.”  M.  de  Thou  said  not  a word  save  to  God, 
repeating  the  Credo  even  to  the  very  scaffold,  with  a fervour  of 
devotion  that  touched  all  present.  “We  have  seen,”  says  a report 
of  the  time,  “ the  favourite  of  the  greatest  and  most  just  of  kings 
lose  his  head  upon  the  scaffold  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  but  with 
a firmness  which  has  scarcely  its  parallel  in  our  histories.  We 
have  seen  a councillor  of  state  die  like  a saint  after  a crime  which 
men  cannot  justly  pardon.  There  is  nobody  in  the  world  who, 
knowing  of  their  conspiracy  against  the  State,  does  not  think  them 
worthy  of  death,  and  there  will  be  few  who,  having  knowledge  of 


Last  moments  of  the  conspirators . 345 

their  rank  and  their  fine  natural  qualities,  will  not  mourn  their  sad 
fate  ” 

“ Now  that  I make  not  a single  step  which  does  not  lead  me  to 
death,  I am  more  capable  than  anybody  'else  of  estimating  the  value 
of  the  things  of  the  world,”  wrote  Cinq-Mars  to  his  mother,  the 
wife  of  Marshal  d’Effiat.  “ Enough  of  this  world  ; away  to  Para- 
dise ! ” said  M.  de  Thou,  as  he  marched  to  the  scaffold.  Chalais 
and  Montmorency  had  used  the  same  language.  At  the  last  hour, 
and  at  the  bottom  of  their  hearts,  the  frivolous  courtier  and  the 
hare-brained  conspirator  as  well  as  the  great  soldier  and  the  grave 
magistrate  had  recovered  their  faith  in  God. 


CHAPTER  X. 


Richelieu 
and  the 
parlia- 
ments. 


Tr'als  of 
Marillac 
and, La 
Valette. 


RICHELIEU  AND  MAZARIN. 

The  French  parliaments,  and  in  particular  the  parliament  of  Paris, 
had  often  assumed  the  right,  without  the  royal  order,  of  summoning 
the  princes,  dukes,  peers  and  officers  of  the  crown  to  deliberate  upon 
what  was  to  he  done  for  the  service  of  the  king,  the  good  of  the 
State,  and*  the  relief  of  the  people. 

This  pretention  on  the  part  of  the  parliaments  was  what  Cardinal 
Richelieu  was  continually  fighting  against.  He  would  not  allow 
the  intervention  of  the  magistrates  in  the  government  of  the  State. 
When  he  took  the  power  into  his  hands,  nine  parliaments  sat  in 
France — Paris,  Toulouse,  Grenoble,  Bordeaux,  Dijon,  Rouen,  Aix, 
Rennes,  and  Pau  : he  created  but  one,  that  of  Metz,  in  1633,  to 
sever  in  a definitive  manner  the  bonds  which  still  attached  the 
three  bishoprics  to  the  Germanic  Empire.  Trials  at  that  time  were 
carried  in  the  last  resort  to  Spires. 

Throughout  the  history  of  France  we  find  the  parliament  of 
Paris  bolder  and  more  enterprising  than  all  the  rest ; and  it  did 
not  belie  its  character  in  the  very  teeth  of  Richelieu.  Symptoms 
of  resistance  manifested  themselves  after  Dupes  Day , at  the  time 
of  the  trial  of  Marshal  Marillac,  and  during  that  of  the  duke  of 
La  Yalette,  third  son  of  the  duke  of  Epernon,  accused,  not  without 
grounds,  of  having  caused  the  failure  of  the  siege  of  Fontarabia 
from  jealousy  towards  the  prince  of  Conde.  The  cup  had  over- 
flowed, and  the  cardinal  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  an  opposition 


The  Parliaments . 


347 


which  was  the  more  irritating  inasmuch  as  it  was  sometimes  legi- 
timate. A notification  of  the  king’s,  published  in  1641,  prohibited 
the  parliament  from  any  interference  in  affairs  of  state  and  admi- 
nistration. The  cardinal  had  gained  the  victory  ; parliament  bowed 
the  head  ; its  attempts  at  independence  during  the  Fronde  were  but 
a flash,  and  the  yoke  of  Louis  XIV.  became  the  more  heavy  for  it. 

The  pretensions  of  the  magistrates  were  often  foundationless,  the 
restless  and  meddlesome  character  of  their  assemblies  did  harm  to 
their  remonstrances  ; but  for  a long  while  they  maintained,  in  the 
teeth  of  more  and  more  absolute  kingly  power,  the  country’s  rights 
in  the  government,  and  they  had  perceived  the  dangers  of  that 
sovereign  monarchy  which  certainly  sometimes  raises  States  to  the 
highest  pinnacle  of  their  glory,  but  only  to  let  them  sink  before 
long  to  a condition  of  the  most  grievous  abasement. 

Though  ever  first  in  the  breach,  the  parliament  of  Paris  was 
not  alone  in  its  opposition  to  the  cardinal.  The  parliament  of  Rouen 
had  always  passed  for  one  of  the  most  recalcitrant.  The  province 
of  Xormandy  was  rich  and,  consequently,  overwhelmed  with  mandy. 
imposts ; and  several  times  the  parliament  refused  to  enregister 
financial  edicts  which  still  further  aggravated  the  distress  of  the 
people.  In  1637,  the  king  threatened  to  go  in  person  to  Rouen 
and  bring  the  parliament  to  submission,  whereat  it  took  fright  and 
enregistered  decrees  for  twenty-two  millions.  It  was,  no  doubt, 
this  augmentation  of  imposts  that  brought  about  the  revolt  of  the 
Nu-pieds  ( Barefoots ) in  1639.  Before  now,  in  1624  and  in  1637, 
in  Perigord  and  Rouergue,  two  popular  risings  of  the  same  sort, 
under  the  name  of  Croquants  {Paupers),  had  disquieted  the  authori- 
ties, and  the  governor  of  the  province  had  found  some  trouble  in 
putting  them  down.  The  Nupieds  were  more  numerous  and  more 
violent  still ; from  Rouen  to  Avranches  all  the  country  was  a-blaze.  T^e 
At  Coutances  and  at  Vire,  several  monopoliers  and  gabeleurs , as  the  pieds.” 
fiscal  officers  were  called,  were  massacred  ; a great  number  of 
houses  were  burnt,  and  most  of  the  receiving-offices  were  pulled 
down  or  pillaged.  Everywhere  the  army  of  suffering  (armee  do 
souffrance),  the  name  given  by  the  revolters  to  themselves,  made 
appeal  to  violent  passions  ; popular  rhymes  were  circulated  from 
hand  to  hand,  in  the  name  of  General  Nu-pieds  [Barefoot),  an 
imaginary  personage  whom  nobody  ever  saw. 

Colonel  Gassion,  a good  soldier  and  an  inflexible  character,  was 
sent  to  put  down  the  rebellion.  First  at  Caen,  then  at  Avranches, 
where  there  was  fighting  to  be  done,  at  Coutances  and  at  Elbeuf, 
Gassion’s  soldiery  everywhere  left  the  country  behind  them  in  sub- 
jection, in  ruin  and  in  despair.  They  entered  Rouen  on  the  3 1st 


343  History  of  France . 

of  December,  1639,  and  on  the  2nd  of  January,  1640,  the  chan- 
cellor himself  arrived  to  do  justice  on  the  rebels  heaped  up  in  the 
prisons,  whom  the  parliament  dared  not  bring  up  for  judgment. 

“ I come  to  Rouen,”  he  said  on  entering  the  town,  “ not  to 
deliberate,  but  to  declare  and  execute  the  matters  on  which  my 
mind  is  made  up.”  Rouen  had  to  pay  imposts  to  the  amount  of 
more  than  three  millions.  The  province  and  its  parliament  were 
heneefortn  reduced  to  submission. 

The  States  It  was  not  only  the  parliaments  that  resisted  the  effortsvof  Car- 
provmcial.  4inal  Richelieu  to  concentrate  all  the  power  of  the  government  in 
the  hands  of  the  king.  From  the  time  that  the  sovereigns  had 
given  up  convoking  the  states-general,  the  states-provincial  had 
alone  preserved  the  right  of  bringing  to  the  foot  of  the  throne  the 
plaints  and  petitions  of  subjects.  Unhappily  few  provinces  enjoyed 
this  privilege ; Languedoc,  Brittany,  Burgundy,  Provence,  Dau- 
phiny,  and  the  countship  of  Pau  alone  were  states-districts,  that  is 
to  say,  allowed  to  tax  themselves  independently  and  govern  them- 
selves to  a certain  extent.  Hormandy,  though  an  elect ions-district, 
and,  as  such,  subject  to  the  royal  agents  in  respect  of  finance,  had 
states  which  continued  to  meet  even  in  1666.  The  states-provincial 
were  always  convoked  by  the  king,  who  fixed  the  place  and  duration 
of  assembly. 

The  composition  of  the  states-provincial  varied  a great  deal, 
according  to  the  district.  In  Brittany  all  noblemen  settled  in  the 
province  had  the  right  of  sitting,  whilst  the  third  estate  were  repre- 
sented by  only  forty  deputies.  In  Languedoc,  on  the  contrary,  the 
nobility  had  but  twenty-three  representatives,  and  the  class  of  the 
third  estate  numbered  sixty-eight  deputies.  Hence,  no  doubt,  the 
divergences  of  conduct  to  be  remarked  in  those  two  provinces 
between  the  parliament  and  the  states-provincial.  In  Languedoc, 
even  during  Montmorency’s  insurrection,  the  parliament  remained 
faithful  to  the  king  and  submissive  to  the  cardinal,  whilst  the 
states  declared  in  favour  of  the  revolt : in  Brittany,  the  parliament 
thwarted  Richelieu’s  efforts  in  favour  of  trade,  which  had  been 
enthusiastically  welcomed  by  the  states. 

Reforms  As  a sequel  to  the  systematic  humiliation  of  the  great  lords, 
adonis  even  w^ien  provincial  governors,  and  to  the  gradual  enfeeblement 
tration.  of  provincial  institutions,  Richelieu  had  to  create  in  all  parts  of 
France,  still  so  diverse  in  organization  as  well  as  in  manners,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  kingly  power,  of  too  modest  and  feeble  a type  to 
do  without  him,  but  capable  of  applying  his  measures  and  making 
his  wishes  respected.  Before  now  the  kings  of  France  had  several 
times  over  perceived  the  necessity  of  keeping  up  a supervision 


The  administration. 


349 


over  the  conduct  of  their  officers  in  the  provinces.  The  inquisitors 
( enquesteurs ) of  St.  Louis,  the  ridings  of  the  revising-masters  (che- 
vauchees  des  maitres  des  requetes),  the  departmental  commissioners 
( commissaires  departis ) of  Charles  IX.,  were  so  many  temporary 
and  travelling  inspectors,  whose  duty  it  was  to  inform  the  king  of 
the  state  of  affairs  throughout  the  kingdom.  Eichelieu  sub- 
stituted for  these  shifting  commissions  a fixed  and  regular  insti- 
tution, and  in  1637  he  established  in  all  the  provinces  overseers  of  Overseers 
justice,  police,  and  finance,  who  were  chosen  for  the  most  part  from  ^shl'd 
amongst  the  burgesses,  and  who  before  long  concentrated  in  their 
hands  the  whole  administration  and  maintained  the  straggle  of  the 
kingly  power  against  the  governors,  the  sovereign  courts  and  the 
states-provincial. 

At  the  time  when  the  overseers  of  provinces  were  instituted,  the 
battle  of  pure  monarchy  was  gained  ; Eichelieu  had  no  further  need 
of  allies,  he  wanted  mere  subjects ; but  at  the  beginning  of  his 
ministry  he  had  felt  the  need  of  throwing  himself  sometimes  for 
support  on  the  nation,  and  this  great  foe  of  the  states-general  had 
twice  convoked  the  assembly  of  notables.  The  first  took  place  at 
Fontainebleau,  in  1625-6,  and  the  second,  during  the  following 
year,  after  the  conspiracy  of  Chalais.  The  assembly  was  favourable 
to  his  measures ; but  amongst  those  that  it  rejected  was  the  pro- 
posal to  substitute  loss  of  offices  and  confiscation  for  the  penalty  of 
death  in  matters  of  rebellion  and  conspiracy.  “ Better  a moderate 
but  certain  penalty,”  said  the  cardinal,  “tli{m  a punishment  too 
severe  to  be  always  inflicted.”  It  was  the  notables  who  preserved 
in  the  hands  of  the  inflexible  minister  the  terrible  weapon  of  which 
he  availed  himself  so  often.  The  assembly  separated  on  the  24th 
of  February,  1627,  the  last  that  was  convoked  before  the  revolution 
of  1789.  It  was  in  answer  to  its  demands,  as  well  as  to  those  of 
the  states  of  1614,  that  the  keeper  of  the  seals,  Michael  Marillac, 
drew  up,  in  1629,  the  important  administrative  ordinance  which  “Code 
has  preserved  from  its  author’s  name  the  title  of  Code  Michau.  Michau.” 

The  cardinal  had  propounded  to  the  notables  a question  which 
he  had  greatly  at  heart,  the  foundation  of  a navy.  Harbours  The  navy, 
repaired  and  fortified,  arsenals  established  at  various  points  on  the 
coast,  organization  of  marine  regiments,  foundation  of  pilot-schools, 
in  fact,  the  creation  of  a powerful  marine  which,  in  1642,  numbered 
63  vessels  and  22  galleys,  that  left  the  roads  of  Barcelona  after  the 
rejoicings  for  the  capture  of  Perpignan  and  arrived  the  same 
evening  at  Toulon — such  were  the  fruits  of  Eichelieu’s  adminis- 
tration of  naval  affairs.  So  much  progress  on  every  point,  so 
many  efforts  in  all  directions,  85  vessels  afloat,  a hundred  regiments 


350 


History  cf  France . 

of  infantry,  and  300  troops  of  cavalry,  almost  constantly  on  a war- 
footing, naturally  entailed  enormous  expenses  and  terrible  burthens 
on  the  people.  It  was  Richelieu’s  great  fault  to  be  more  concerned 
about  his  object  than  scrupulous  as  to  the  means  he  employed  for 
arriving  at  it.  His  principles  were  as  harsh  as  his  conduct. 

Let  us  turn,  now,  to  ecclesiastical  affairs.  Richelieu  laboured 
for  Catholicism  whilst  securing  for  himself  Protestant  alliances,  and 
if  the  independence  of  his  mind  caused  him  to  feel  the  necessity 
for  a reformation,  it  was  still  in  the  Church  and  by  the  Church 
that  he  would  have  had  it  accomplished. 

T*>e  The  oratorical  and  political  brilliancy  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
Church.  rejgn  0f  Lcmjg  XIV.  has  caused  men  to  forget  the  great 

religious  movement  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.  Learned  and 
mystic  in  the  hands  of  Cardinal  Berulle,  humane  and  charitable 
with  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  bold  and  saintly  with  M.  de  Saint-Cyran, 
the  Church  underwent  from  all  quarters  quickening  influences 
which  roused  her  from  her  dangerous  lethargy.  The  effort  was 
attempted  at  all  points  at  once.  Mid  all  the  diplomatic  negotiations 
which  he  undertook  in  Richelieu’s  name  and  the  intrigues  he,  with 
the  queen-mother,  often  hatched  against  him,  Cardinal  Berulle 
Cardinal  de  founded  the  congregation  of  the  Oratory,  designed  to  train  up  well- 
Berulle.  informed  and  pious  young  priests  with  a capacity  for  devoting 
themselves  to  the  education  of  children  as  well  as  the  edification 
of  the  people.  It  was,  again,  under  his  inspiration  the  order  of 
Carmelites,  hitherto,  confined  to  Spain,  was  founded  in  France. 
The  convent  in  Rue  St.  Jacques  s^on  numbered  amongst  its 
penitents  women  of  the  highest  rank. 

de  Paid  ^ The  ^a^ours  Mgr.  de  Berulle  tended  especially  to  the  salvation 
of  individual  souls;  those  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  embraced  a 
vaster  field,  and  one  offering  more  scope  to  Christian  humanity. 
Some  time  before,  in  1610,  St.  Francis  de  Sales  had  founded,  under 
the  direction  of  Madame  de  Chantal,  the  order  of  Visitation , whose 
duty  was  the  care  of  the  sick  and  poor ; he  had  left  the  direction 
of  his  new  institution  to  M.  Vincent , as  was  at  that  time  the 
appellation  of  the  poor  priest  without  birth  and  without  fortune 
who  was  one  day  to  be  celebrated  throughout  the  world  under  the 
name  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  This  direction  was  not  enough  to 
satisfy  his  zeal  for  charity;  children  and  sick,  the  ignorant  and  the 
convict,  all  those  who  suffered  in  body  or  spirit,  seemed  to 
summon  M.  Vincent  to  their  aid ; he  founded  in  1617,  in  a small 
parish  of  Bresse,  the  charitable  society  of  Servants  of  the  Poor, 
which  became  in  1633,  at  Paris,  under  the  direction  of  Madame 
Legras,  niece  of  the  keeper  of  the  seals  Marillac,  the  sisterhood  of 


The  Church. 


351 


Servants  of  the  Sick  Poor  and  the  cradle  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 

St.  Vincent  do  Paul  had  confidence  in  human  nature,  and  every- 
where on  his  path  sprang  up  good  works  in  response  to  his  appeals ; 
the  foundation  of  Mission-priests  or  Lazarists,  designed  originally 
to  spread  about  in  the  rural  districts  the  knowledge  of  God,  still  His  works 
testifies  in  the  East,  whither  they  carry  at  one  and  the  same  time  of  cliarity- 
the  Gospel  and  the  name  of  France,  to  that  great  awakening  of 
Christian  charity  which  signalized  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.  The 
same  inspiration  created  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  by  means  of 
M.  Olier’s  solicitude,  the  brethren  of  Christian  Doctrine  and  the 
Ursulines,  devoted  to  the  education  of  childhood,  and  so  many  other 
charitable  or  pious  establishments,  noble  fruits  of  devoutness  and 
Christian  sacrifice. 

Nowhere  was  this  fluctuating  idea  of  the  sacrifice,  the  immolation  St.  Cyran 
of  man  for  God  and  of  the  present  in  prospect  of  eternity,  more  ap^r^e 
rigorously  understood  and  practised  than  amongst  the  disciples  of  royalists. 
John  du  Vergier  de  Hauranne,  abbot  of  St.  Cyran.  Victories 
gained  over  souls  are  from  their  very  nature  of  a silent  sort : but 
M.  de  St.  Cyran  was  not  content  with  them.  He  wrote  also,  and 
his  book,  “ Petrus  Aurelius ,”  published  under  the  veil  of  the 
anonymous,  excited  a great  stir  by  its  defence  of  the  rights  of 
the  bishops  against  the  monks  and  even  against  the  pope.  The 
Gallican  bishops  welcomed  at  that  time  with  lively  satisfaction 
its  eloquent  pleadings  in  favour  of  their  cause.  But,  at  a later 
period,  the  French  clergy  discovered  in  St.  Cyran’s  book  free- 
thinking  concealed  under  dogmatic  forms.  “ In  case  of  heresy  any 
Christian  may  become  judge,”  says  Petrus  Aurelius.  Who,  then, 
should  be  commissioned  to  define  heresy  ] So  M.  de  St.  Cyran 
was  condemned. 

He  had  been  already  signalled  out  as  dangerous  by  an  enemy  more 
formidable  than  the  assemblies  of  the  clergy  of  France.  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  naturally  attracted  towards  greatness  as  he  was  at  a later 
period  towards  the  infant  prodigy  of  the  Pascals,  had  been  desirous 
of  attaching  St.  Cyran  to  himself.  “Gentlemen,”  said  he  one  day  as 
he  led  back  the  simple  priest  into  the  midst  of  a throng  of  his 
courtiers,  “ here  you  see  the  most  learned  man  in  Europe.”  But  the  St.  Cyran 
abbot  of  St.  Cyran  would  accept  no  yoke  but  God’s : he  remained  jVd  Riche- 
in dependent  and  perhaps  hostile,  pursuing,  without  troubling  him- 
self about  the  cardinal,  the  great  task  he  had  undertaken.  Having 
had,  for  two  years  past,  the  spiritual  direction  of  the  convent  of  Port 
Royal,  he  had  found  in  Mother  Angelica  Arnauld,  the  superior  and 
reformer  of  the  monastery,  in  her  sister,  Mother  Agnes,  and  in  the 
nuns  of  their  order,  souls  worthy  of  him  and  capable  of  tolerating 
his  austere  instructions. 


The 

Arnaulds. 


GaUi- 
canism. 
Church 
and  State 


352  History  of  France. 

Before  long  he  had  seen  forming,  beside  Port  Royal  and  in  the 
solitude  of  the  fields,  a nucleus  of  penitents,  emulous  of  the  hermits 
of  the  desert.  M.  le  Maitre,  Mother  Angelica’s  nephew,  a cele- 
brated advocate  in  the  parliament  of  Paris,  had  quitted  all  “ to  have 
no  speech  but  with  God.”  A howling  (yugissant)  penitent,  he  had 
drawn  after  him  his  brothers,  MM.  de  Sacy  and  de  Sericourt,  and, 
ere  long,  young  Lancelot,  the  learned  author  of  Greek  roots:  all 
steeped  in  the  rigours  of  penitential  life,  all  blindly  submissive  to 
M.  de  St  Cyran  and  his  saintly  requirements.  The  director’s 
power  over  so  many  eminent  minds  became  too  great.  The  king, 
being  advertised,  commanded  him  to  he  kept  a prisoner  in  the  Bois 
de  Vincennes,  where  he  remained  up  to  the  death  of  Cardinal  Riche- 
lieu ; the  seclusionists  of  Port  Royal  were  driven  from  their  retreat 
and  obliged  to  disperse. 

Cardinal  Richelieu  dreaded  the  doctrines  of  M.  de  St.  Cyran, 
and  still  more  those  of  the  reformation,  which  went  directly  to  the 
emancipation  of  souls  ; but  he  had  the  wit  to  resist  ecclesiastical 
encroachments,  and,  for  all  his  being  a cardinal,  never  did  minister 
maintain  more  openly  the  independence  of  the  civil  power.  “ The 
king,  in  things  temporal,  recognizes  no  sovereign  save  God.”  That 
had  always  been  the  theory  of  the  Gallican  Church.  “ The  Church 
of  France  is  in  the  kingdom,  and  not  the  kingdom  in  the  Church,” 
said  the  jurisconsult  Loyseau,  thus  subjecting  ecclesiastics  to  the 
common  law  of  all  citizens. 

The  French  clergy  did  not  understand  it  so ; they  had  recourse 
to  the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  Church  in  order  to  keep  up  a certain 
measure  of  independence  as  regarded  Rome,  hut  they  would  not 
give  up  their  ancient  privileges,  and  especially  the  right  of  taking 
an  independent  share  in  the  public  necessities  without  being  taxed 
as  a matter  of  law  and  obligation.  Here  it  was  that  Cardinal 
Richelieu  withstood  them  : he  maintained  that,  the  ecclesiastics  and 
the  brotherhoods  not  having  the  right  to  hold  property  in  France 
by  mortmain,  the  king  tolerated  their  possession,  of  his  grace,  hut 
he  exacted  the  payment  of  seignorial  dues.  The  clergy  at  that 
time  possessed  more  than  a quarter  of  the  property  in  France ; the 
tax  to  be  paid  amounted,  it  is  said,  to  eighty  millions.  The 
subsidies  further  demanded  reached  a total  of  eight  millions  six 
hundred  livres. 

The  clergy  in  dismay  wished  to  convoke  an  assembly  to  deter- 
mine their  conduct ; and  after  a great  deal  of  difficulty  it  was 
authorized  by  the  cardinal ; they  consented  to  pay  five  millions 
and  a half,  the  sum  to  which  the  minister  lowered  his  pretensions. 
“ The  wants  of  the  State,”  says  Richelieu,  “ are  real ; those  of  the 
Church  are  fanciful  and  arbitrary;  if  the  king’s  armies  had 


The  Protestcuits. — The  duke  of  Rohan . 353 

not  repulsed  the  enemy,  the  clergy  would  have  suffered  far 
mere.” 

Whilst  the  cardinal  imposed  upon  the  French  clergy  the  obliga-  The  Pro- 
tions  common  to  all  subjects,  he  defended  the  kingly  power  testants. 
and  majesty  against  the  ul tramontanes,  and  especially  against  the 
jesuits ; finally  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  submission  of  the 
Protestants.  It  was  State  within  State  that  the  reformers  were 
seeking  to  found,  and  that  the  cardinal  wished  to  upset.  After 
the  death  of  Du  Plessis-Mornay,  the  direction  of  the  party  fell 
entirely  into  the  hands  of  the  duke  of  Rohan,  a fiery  temper  and 
soured  by  misfortunes  as  well  as  by  continual  efforts  made  on  the 
part  of  his  brother  the  duke  of  Soubise,  more  restless  and  less 
earnest  than  he.  Hostilities  broke  out  afresh  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1625.  The  peace  of  Montpellier  had  left  the  Protestants 
only  two  surety-places,  Montauban  and  La  Rochelle ; and  they 
clung  to  them  with  desperation.  On  the  6th  of  January,  1625, 

Soubise  suddenly  entered  the  harbour  of  Le  Blavet  with  twelve 
vessels,  and  seizing  without  a blow  the  royal  ships,  towed  them  off 
in  triumph  to  La  Rochelle,  a fatal  success  which  was  to  cost  that 
town  dear. 

The  royal  navy  had  hardly  an  existence ; after  the  capture  a.D.  1625. 
made  by  Soubise,  help  had  to  be  requested  from  England  and  Ho'l-  sie£e  of  La 
land;  the  marriage  of  Henrietta  of  France,  daughter  of  Henry  IV., 
with  the  prince  of  Wales,  who  was  soon  to  become  Charles  I.,  was 
concluded ; the  English  promised  eight  ships  ; the  treaties  with  the 
United  Provinces  obliged  the  Hollanders  to  supply  twenty,  which 
they  would  gladly  have  refused  to  send  against  their  brethren,  if 
they  could ; the  cardinal  even  required  that  the  ships  should  be 
commanded  by  French  captains.  The  siege  of  La  Rochelle  has 
become  famous  in  history ; it  lasted  thirteen  months,  and  the  un- 
fortunate Huguenots  had  to  surrender,  in  spite  of  the  heroism  of 
Guiton,  the  mayor  of  the  town,  assisted  by  the  unflinching  energy 
of  the  old  Duchess  of  Rohan. 

With  La  Rochelle  fell  the  last  bulwark  of  religious  liberties. 
Single-handed,  duke  Henry  of  Rohan  now  resisted  at  the  head  of  a 
handful  of  resolute  men.  But  he  was  about  to  be  crushed  in  his 
turn.  The  capture  of  La  Rochelle  had  raised  the  cardinal’s  power 
to  its  height ; it  had,  simultaneously,  been  the  death-blow  to  the 
huguenot  party  and  to  the  factions  of  the  grandees.  Town  after  Rohan 
town,  “ fortified  huguenot- wise,”  surrendered,  opening  to  the  royal  be?s  for 
armies  the  passage  to  the  Cevennes.  The  duke  of  Rohan,  who  had  mercy* 
at  first  taken  position  at  Himes,  repaired  to  Anduze  for  the  defence 
of  the  mountains,  the  real  fortress  of  the  reformation  in  Languedoc. 

A A 


354 


History  of  France. 


A.D.  1629 
Edict  of 
grace. 


Rohan 

leaves 

France. 


A.D. 1638. 
His  death. 


Alais  itself  had  just  opened  its  gates.  Rohan  saw  that  he  could  no 
longer  impose  the  duty  of  resistance  upon  a people  weary  of  suffer- 
ing, “ easily  believing  ill  of  good  folks  and  readily  agreeing  with 
those  whiners  who  blame  everything  and  do  nothing.”  He  sent 
“ to  the  king,  begging  to  he  received  to  mercy,  thinking  it  better 
to  resolve  on  peace,  whilst  he  could  still  make  some  show  of  being 
able  to  help  it,  than  to  be  forced,  after  a longer  resistance,  to  sur- 
render to  the  king  with  a rope  round  his  neck.”  The  cardinal 
advised  the  king  to  show  the  duke  grace,  “well  knowing  that, 
together  with  him  individually,  the  other  cities,  whether  they 
wished  it  or  not,  would  be  obliged  to  do  the  like,  there  being  but 
little  resolution  and  constancy  in  people  deprived  of  leaders,  espe- 
cially when  they  are  threatened  with  immediate  harm  and  see  no 
door  of  escape  open.” 

The  general  assembly  of  the  reformers,  which  was  then  in  meet- 
ing at  Himes,  removed  to  Anduze  to  deliberate  with  the  duke  of 
Rohan ; a wish  was  expressed  to  have  the  opinion  of  the  province 
of  the  Cevennes,  and  all  the  deputies  repaired  to  the  king’s  pre- 
sence. Ho  more  surety- towns  ; fortifications  everywhere  razed,  at 
the  expense  and  by  the  hands  of  the  reformers ; the  catholic  worship 
re-established  in  all  the  churches  of  the  reformed  towns ; and,  at 
this  price,  an  amnesty  granted  for  all  acts  of  rebellion,  and  religious 
liberties  confirmed  anew— such  were  the  conditions  of  the  peace 
signed  at  Alais  on  the  28th  of  June,  1629,  and  made  public  the 
following  month  at  Himes  under  the  name  of  Edict  of  grace.  Mon- 
tauban  alone  refused  to  submit  to  them. 

The  duke  of  Rohan  left  France  and  retired  to  Venice,  where  his 
wife  and  daughter  were  awaiting  him.  He  had  been  appointed  by 
the  Venetian  senate  generalissimo  of  the  forces  of  the  republic, 
when  the  cardinal,  who  had  no  doubt  preserved  some  regard  for 
his  military  talents,  sent  him  an  offer  of  the  command  of  the  king’s 
troops  in  the  Valteline.  There  he  for  several  years  maintained  the 
honour  of  France,  being  at  one  time  abandoned  and  at  another 
supported  by  the  cardinal,  who  ultimately  left  him  to  bear  the 
odium  of  the  last  reverse.  Meeting  with  no  response  from  the 
court,  cut  off  from  every  resource,  he  brought  back  into  the 
district  of  Gex  the  French  troops  driven  out  by  the  Grisons  them- 
selves, and  then  retired  to  Geneva.  Being  threatened  with  the 
king’s  wrath,  he  set  out  for  the  camp  of  his  friend  Duke  Bernard 
of  Saxe- Weimar;  and  it  was  whilst  fighting  at  his  side  against 
the  imperialists  that  he  received  the  wound  of  which  he  died  in 
Switzerland  on  the  16th  of  April,  1638.  His  body  was  removed 
to  Geneva  amidst  public  mourning.  A man  of  distinguished  mind 


Foreign  politics.  355 

and  noble  character,  often  wild  in  his  views  and  hopes,  and  so 
deeply  absorbed  in  the  interests  of  his  party  and  of  his  Church, 
that  he  had  sometimes  the  misfortune  to  forget  those  of  his  country. 

Meanwhile  the  king  had  set  out  for  Paris,  and  the  cardinal  was 
marching  on  Montauban.  Being  obliged  to  halt  at  Pezenas  because 
he  had  a fever,  he  there  received  a deputation  from  Montauban, 
asking  to  have  its  fortifications  preserved.  On  the  minister’s 
formal  refusal,  supported  by  a movement  in  advance  on  the  part  of  j^and" 
Marshal  Bassompierre  wTith  the  army,  the  town  submitted  unre-  Castres 
servedly ; the  fortifications  of  Castres  were  already  beginning  to  surrendfcr 
fall ; and  the  huguenot  party  in  France  was  dead.  Deprived  of  the 
political  guarantees  which  had  been  granted  them  by  Henry  IV., 
the  reformers  had  nothing  for  it  but  to  retire  into  private  life. 

This  was  the  commencement  of  their  material  prosperity  ; they 
henceforth  transferred  to  commerce  and  industry  all  the  intel- 
ligence, courage  and  spirit  of  enterprise  that  they  had  but  lately 
displayed  in  the  service  of  their  cause,  on  the  battle  field  or  in  the 
cabinets  of  kings. 

“ From  that  time,”  says  Cardinal  Eichelieu,  “ difference  in  re- 
ligion never  prevented  me  from  rendering  the  huguenots  all  sorts 
of  good  offices,  and  I made  no  distinction  between  Frenchmen  but 
in  respect  of  fidelity.”  A grand  assertion,  true  at  bottom,  in  spite 
of  the  frequent  grievances  which  the  reformers  had  often  to  make 
the  best  of;  the  cardinal  was  more  tolerant  than  his  age  and  his 
servants ; what  he  had  wanted  to  destroy  was  the  political  party ; 
he  did  not  want  to  drive  the  reformers  to  extremity,  nor  force 
them  to  fly  the  country. 

Everywhere  in  Europe  were  marks  of  Eichelieu’s  handiwork. 

" There  must  be  no  end  to  negotiations  near  and  far,”  was  his  Richelieu 
saying : he  had  found  negotiations  succeed  in  France  ; he  extended  foreign 
his  views ; numerous  treaties  had  already  marked  the  early  years'  affairs, 
of  the  cardinal’s  power;  and,  after  1630,  his  activity  abroad  was 
redoubled.  Between  1623  and  1642  seventy-four  treaties  wTere 
concluded  by  Eichelieu : four  with  England ; twelve  with  the 
United  Provinces  ; fifteen  with  the  princes  of  Germany ; six  with 
Sweden;  twelve  with  Savoy;  six  with  the  Eepublic  of  Venice; 
three  with  the  pope ; three  with  the  emperor ; two  with  Spain ; 
four  with  Lorraine;  one  with  the  Grey  Leagues  of  Switzerland; 
one  with  Portugal ; two  with  the  revolters  of  Catalonia  and  Eous- 
sillon ; one  with  Eussia ; two  with  the  emperor  of  Morocco ; such 
was  the  immense  network  of  diplomatic  negotiations  whereof  the 
cardinal  held  the  threads  during  nineteen  years. 

The  foreign  policy  of  Eichelieu  was  a continuation  of  that  of 

A A 2 


Marriage 
of  the 
Princess 
Henrietta 
Maria. 


Spain.— 
Question 
of  the 
Valteline. 


356  History  of  France. 

Henry  IY.;  it  was  to  protestant  alliances  that  he  looked  for 
support  in  order  to  maintain  the  struggle  against  the  House  of 
Austria,  whether  the  German  or  the  Spanish  branch.  In  order  to 
give  his  views  full  swing,  he  waited  till  he  had  conquered  the 
huguenots  at  home ; nearly  all  his  treaties  with  protestant  powers 
are  posterior  to  1630.  So  soon  as  he  was  secure  that  no  political 
discussions  in  France  itself  would  come  to  thwart  his  foreign  designs, 
he  marched  with  a firm  step  towards  that  enfeeblement  of  Spain 
and  that  upsetting  of  the  empire  of  which  Nani  speaks;  Henry  IY. 
and  Queen  Elizabeth,  pursuing  the  same  end,  had  sought  and 
found  the  same  allies ; Kichelieu  had  the  good  fortune,  beyond 
theirs,  to  meet,  for  the  execution  of  his  designs,  with  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  king  of  Sweden. 

The  marriage  of  Henry  IY.’s  daughter  with  the  prince  of  Wales 
was,  in  Kiclielieu’s  eyes,  one  of  the  essential  acts  of  a policy  neces- 
sary to  the  greatness  of  the  kingship  and  of  France.  He  obtained 
the  best  conditions  possible  for  the  various  interests  involved,  hut 
without  any  stickling  and  without  favour  for  such  and  such  an  one 
of  these  interests,  skilfully  adapting  words  and  appearance  hut 
determined  upon  attaining  his  end.  Negotiated  and  concluded  hy 
Cardinal  Kichelieu,  with  the  assistance  of  Cardinal  de  Berulle,  this 
event  was  the  open  declaration  of  the  fact  that  the  style  of  Protes- 
tant or  Catholic  was  not  the  supreme  law  of  policy  in  Christian 
Europe,  and  that  the  interests  of  nations  should  not  remain 
subservient  to  the  religious  faith  of  the  reigning  or  governing 
personages. 

Spain  had  always  been  the  great  enemy  of  France,  and  her 
humiliation  was  always  the  ultimate  aim  of  the  cardinal’s  foreign 
policy ; the  struggle,  power  to  power,  between  France  and  Spain 
.explains,  during  that  period,  nearly  all  the  political  and  military 
complications  in  Europe.  There  was  no  lack  of  pretexts  for  bring- 
ing it  on.  The  first  was  the  question  of  the  Yalteline,  a lovely 
and  fertile  valley,  which,  extending  from  the  Lake  of  Como  to  the 
Tyrol,  thus  serves  as  a natural  communication  between  Italy  and 
Germany.  Possessed  but  lately,  as  it  was,  by  the  Grey  Leagues  of 
the  protestant  Swiss,  the  Yalteline,  a catholic  district,  had  revolted 
at  the  instigation  of  Spain  in  1620 ; the  emperor,  Savoy  and  Spain 
wanted  to  divide  the  spoil  between  them;  when  France,  the 
old  ally  of  the  Grisons,  interfered,  and,  in  1623,  the  forts  of 
the  Yalteline  had  been  entrusted  on  deposit  to  the  pope,  Urban 
YIII.  He  still  retained  them  in  1624,  when  the  Grison  lords, 
seconded  by  a French  reinforcement  under  the  orders  of  the  marquis 
of  Cceuvres,  attacked  the  feeble  garrison  of  the  Yalteline;  in  a few 


357 


Treaties  of  Suza  and  Cherasco . 


days  they  were  masters  of  all  the  places  in  the  canton,  and  the 
enemies  were  compelled  to  sign  the  peace  of  Mon^on  (1626).  The 
Grisons  remained  in  possession  of  the  Yalteline,  Austria  ceased  to 
communicate  with  Spain,  and  Richelieu  found  himself,  so  to  say, 
on  the  road  to  Vienna.  The  question  of  the  succession  to  the 
duchy  of  Mantua  enabled  him  to  take  another  step  forward. 

Whilst  the  cardinal  was  holding  La  Rochelle  besieged,  the  duke 
of  Mantua  had  died  in  Italy,  and  his  natural  heir,  Charles  di  Gon- 
zaga,  who  was  settled  in  France  with  the  title  of  Duke  of  Nevers, 
had  hastened  to  put  himself  in  possession  of  his  dominions.  Mean- 
while the  duke  of  Savoy  claimed  the  marquisate  of  Montferrat ; 
the  Spaniards  supported  him  ; they  entered  the  dominions  of  the 
duke  of  Mantua  and  laid  siege  to  Casale.  When  La  Rochelle  suc- 
cumbed, Casale  was  still  holding  out ; but  the  duke  of  Savoy  had 
already  made  himself  master  of  the  greater  part  of  Montferrat;  the 
duke  of  Mantua  claimed  the  assistance  of  the  king  of  France,  whose 
subject  he  was ; here  was  a fresh  battle-field  against  Spain ; and, 
scarcely  had  he  been  victorious  over  the  Rochellese,  when  the  king 
was  on  the  march  for  Italy.  The  duke  of  Savoy  refused  a passage 
to  the  royal  army,  which  found  the  defile  of  Suza  Pass  fortified 
with  three  barricades.  The  French  dashed  forward,  stormed  the 
barricades,  and  entered  Suza.  The  siege  of  Casale  was  raised,  and, 
by  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  Suza  the  duchy  of  Mantua  was  secured  to 
Richelieu’s  protege , the  Duke  of  FTevers.  Scarcely,  however,  had 
Louis  XIII.  re-crossed  the  Alps  when  an  imperialist  army  advanced 
into  the  Grisons  and,  Supported  by  the  celebrated  Spanish  general 
Spinola,  laid  siege  to  Mantua.  Richelieu  did  not  hesitate  : he 
entered  Piedmont  in  the  month  of  March,  1630,  to  march  before 
long  on  Pignerol,  an  important  place  commanding  the  passage  of 
the  Alps ; it,  as  well  as  the  citadel,  was  carried  in  a few  days ; the 
result  of  this  fresh  interposition  was  the  treaty  of  Cherasco  ( 1630) 
where  the  young  Giulio  Mazarini  won  his  spurs  as  an  able  and  suc- 
cessful diplomatist. 

The  House  of  Austria,  in  fact,  was  threatened  mortally.  For 
two  years  Cardinal  Richelieu  had  been  labouring  to  carry  war  into 
its  very  heart.  The  thirty  years’  war,  now  raging  in  all  its  fury, 
had  increased  a hundred-fold  the  emperor’s  power.  Tilly,  Wallen- 
stein, Bernard  of  Saxe-Weimar,  were  upholding,  sword  in  hand,  on 
many  battle-fields,  the  destinies  of  the  House  of  Austria.  Riche- 
lieu’s genius  and  activity  checked  the  progress  of  the  great  impe- 
rialist generals,  and  opposed  to  them  a warrior  who,  in  his  short 
career,  abundantly  proved  that  a clever  system  of  tactics  does  not 
always  ensure  success.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  hero  of  Zutphen, 


A.D.  1626. 
Peace  of 
Mon^on. 


A.D  1629. 
Treaty  of 
Suza. 
(Mar.  11). 


A.D.  1630. 
Treaty  of 
Cherasco. 


The  Thirty 
Years’ 
War. 


35&  History  of  France. 

fought  at  the  same  time  the  battles  of  Eichelieu  and  those  of  the 
protestant  cause.  After  the  death  of  the  king  of  Sweden,  the  posi- 
tion of  France  became  for  awhile  extremely  difficult.  The  impe- 
rialists assumed  the  offensive ; they  entered  France  by  Burgundy 
and  by  Picardy.  If  Bernard  of  Saxe- Weimar  had  not  gained  the 
two  battles  of  Eheinfeld  and  Brissach,  it  is  impossible  to  conjecture 
what  would  have  been  the  issue.  In  the  year  1640,  however, 
Eichelieu  adopted  a more  expeditious  plan : he  occupied  the 
Spaniards  at  home  by  sending  support  to  the  rebels  of  Catalonia 
and  of  Portugal;  ’whilst,  to  retaliate,  the  government  of  Madrid 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  prepared  the  catas- 
trophe which  was  to  impart  such  a tragic  feature  to  the  last  moments 
of  the  great  Cardinal.  For  several  months  past,  Eichelieu’s  health, 
always  precarious,  had  taken  a serious  turn ; it  was  from  his  sick- 
bed that  he,  a prey  to  cruel  agonies,  directed  the  movements  of  the 
army  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  prosecution  of  Cinq-Mars.  All  at 
A.D.  1642.  once  his  chest  was  attacked  ; and  the  cardinal  felt  that  he  was 
Ricbelieu  dying.  On  the  2nd  of  December,  1642,  public  prayers  were  ordered 
(Dec.  3).  in  all  the  churches ; the  king  went  from  St.  Germain  to  see  his 
minister.  The  cardinal  was  quite  prepared.  “ I have  this  satisfac- 
tion,” he  said,  “that  I have  never  deserted  the  king,  and  that  1 
leave  his  kingdom  exalted  and  all  his  enemies  abased.”  He  com- 
mended his  relatives  to  his  Majesty,  “ who  on  their  behalf  will 
remember  my  services  then,  naming  the  two  secretaries  of  state, 
Chavigny  and  De  Xoyers,  he  added  : “ Your  Majesty  has  Cardinal 
Mazarin  ; I believe  him  to  be  capable  of  serving  the  king.”  And 
he  handed  to  Louis  XIII.  a proclamation  which  he  had  just  pre- 
pared for  the  purpose  of  excluding  the  duke  of  Orleans  from  any 
right  to  the  regency  in  case  of  the  king’s  death.  The  preamble 
called  to  mind  that  the  king  had  five  times  already  pardoned  his 
brother,  recently  engaged  in  a new  plot  against  him. 

Eichelieu’s  work  survived  him.  On  the  very  evening  of  the  3rd 
Decbra-  0f  December,  Louis  XIII.  called  to  his  council  Cardinal  Mazarin  : 
King.  and  the  next  day  he  wrote  to  the  parliaments  and  governors  of 
provinces  : “ God  having  been  pleased  to  take  to  Himself  the  Car- 
dinal de  Eichelieu,  I have  resolved  to  preserve  and  keep  up  all 
establishments  ordained  during  his  ministry,  to  follow  out  all  pro- 
jects arranged  with  him  for  affairs  abroad  and  at  home,  in  such  sort 
that  there  shall  not  be  any  change.  I have  continued  in  my  councils 
the  same  persons  as  served  me  then,  and  I have  called  thereto 
Cardinal  Mazarin,  of  whose  capacity  and  devotion  to  my  service  I 
have  had  proof,  and  of  whom  I feel  no  less  sure  than  if  he  had 
been  born  amongst  my  subjects.”  Scarcely  had  the  most  power! ul 


Literature . 359 

kings  yielded  up  their  last  breath,  when  their  wishes  had  been  at 
once  forgotten : Cardinal  Richelieu  still  governed  in  his  grave. 

The  great  statesman  had  been  barely  four  months  reposing  in 
that  chapel  of  the  Sorbonne  which  he  had  himself  repaired  for  the 
purpose,  and  already  King  Louis  XIII.  was  sinking  into  the  tomb. 
The  minister  had  died  at  fifty-seven,  the  king  was  not  yet  forty- 
two  ; but  his  always  languishing  health  seemed  unable  to  bear  the 
burden  of  affairs  which  had  been  but  lately  borne  by  Richelieu 
alone.  He  died  on  Thursday,  May  the  14th,  1643.  France  owed 
to  Louis  XIII.  eighteen  years  of  Cardinal  Richelieu’s  government ; 
and  that  is  a service  which  she  can  never  forget.  “ The  minister 
made  his  sovereign  play  the  second  part  in  the  monarchy  and  the 
first  in  Europe,”  said  Montesquieu  : “ he  abased  the  king,  but  he 
exalted  the  reign.”  It  is  to  the  honour  of  Louis  XIII.  that  he 
understood  and  accepted  the  position  designed  for  him  by  Provi- 
dence in  the  government  of  his  kingdom,  and  that  he  upheld  with 
dogged  fidelity  a power  which  often  galled  him  all  the  while  that 
it  was  serving  him. 

We  must  turn  back  for  a moment  and  cast  a glance  at  the  intel- 
lectual condition  which  prevailed  at  the  issue  of  the  Renaissance 
and  the  Reformation. 

For  sixty  years  a momentous  crisis  had  been  exercising  language 
and  literature  as  well  as  society  in  France.  They  yearned  to  get 
out  of  it.  Robust  intellectual  culture  had  ceased  to  be  the  privi- 
lege of  the  erudite  only • it  began  to  gain  a footing  on  the  common 
domain  ; people  no  longer  wrote  in  Latin,  like  Erasmus ; the 
Reformation  and  the  Renaissance  spoke  French.  In  order  to 
suffice  for  this  change,  the  language  was  taking  form  ; everybody 
had  lent  a hand  to  the  work  ; Calvin  with  his  Christian  Institutes 
( Institution  Chretienne ) at  the  same  time  as  Rabelais  with  his 
learned  and  buffoonish  romance,  Ramus  with  his  Dialectics,  and 
Rodin  with  his  Republic,  Henry  Estienne  with  his  essays  in  French 
philology,  as  well  as  Ronsard  and  his  friends  by  their  classical 
crusade.  Simultaneously  with  the  language  there  was  being 
created  a public,  intelligent,  inquiring  and  eager.  Scarcely  had 
the  translation  of  Plutarch  by  Amyot  appeared,  when  it  at  once 
became,  as  Montaigne  says,  “ the  breviary  of  women  and  of 
ignoramuses.” 

As  for  Montaigne  himself,  an  inquiring  spectator,  without  per- 
sonal ambition,  he  had  taken  for  his  life’s  motto,  What  do  I know  ] 
(Que  sais-je?)  ”*  Amidst  the  wars  of  religion  he  remained  without 
political  or  religious  passion.  “ I am  disgusted  by  novelty,  what- 
ever aspect  it  may  assume,  and  with  good  reason,”  he  would  say. 


AD.  1643. 
Death  of 
LouisXIII. 
(May  14). 


State  of 
literature. 


Mon- 

taigne. 


36  o 


History  of  France. 


“ for  I have  seen  some  very  disastrous  effects  of  it.”  Outside  as 
well  as  within  himself,  Montaigne  studied  mankind  without  regard 
to  order  and  without  premeditated  plan.  That  fixity  which  he 
could  not  give  to  his  irresolute  and  doubtful  mind  he  stamped 
upon  the  tongue  ; it  came  out  in  his  Essays  supple,  free  and  bold ; 
he  had  made  the  first  decisive  step  towards  the  formation  of  the 
language,  pending  the  advent  of  Descartes  and  the  great  literature 
of  France. 


it  accomplished  and  finished  nothing ; its  great  men  opened  the 
road  of  the  future  to  France;  hut  they  died  without  having 
brought  their  work  well  through,  wdthout  foreseeing  that  it  was 
going  to  be  completed.  The  Deformation  itself  did  not  escape 
this  misappreciation  and  discouragement  of  its  age ; and  nowhere 
do  they  crop  out  in  a more  striking  manner  than  in  Montaigne. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Babelais  a satirist  and 
a cynic,  is,  nevertheless,  no  sceptic  ; there  is  felt  circulating  through 
his  book  a glowing  sap  of  confidence  and  hope ; fifty  years  later, 
Montaigne,  on  the  contrary,  expresses,  in  spite  of  his  happy  nature, 
in  vivid,  picturesque,  exuberant  language,  only  the  lassitude  of  an 
antiquated  age.  All  the  writers  of  mark  in  the  reign  of  Henry  IV. 
bear  the  same  imprint ; they  all  yearn  to  get  free  from  the  chaos  of 
those  ideas  and  sentiments  which  the  sixteenth  century  left  still 
bubbling  up.  In  literature  as  well  as  in  the  State,  one  and  the 
same  need  of  discipline  and  unity,  one  universal  thirst  for  order 
and  peace  was  bringing  together  all  the  intellects  and  all  the  forces 
■which  were  but  lately  clashing  against  and  hampering  one  another ; 
in  literature,  as  well  as  in  the  State,  the  impulse,  everywhere  great 
and  effective,  proceeded  from  the  king,  without  pressure  or  effort ; 
“ Make  known  to  Monsieur  de  Geneve,”  said  Henry  IV.  to  one  of 


St.  Francis  the  friends  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  “ that  I desire  of  him  a work 


world,  without  excepting  kings  and  princes,  to  fit  them  for  living 
Christianly  each  according  to  their  condition.  I want  this  manual 


St.  Francis  de  Sales  published,  in  1608,  the  Introduction  to  a Devout 
Life , a delightful  and  charming  manual  of  devotion,  more  stern 
and  firm  in  spirit  than  in  form,  a true  Christian  regimen  softened 
by  the  tact  of  a delicate  and  acute  intellect,  knowing  the  world 
and  its  ways.  “ The  book  has  surpassed  my  hope,”  said  Henry  IY. 
The  style  is  as  supple,  the  fancy  as  rich,  as  Montaigne’s ; but 
scepticism  has  given  place  to  Christianism ; St.  Francis  de  Sales 
does  not  doubt,  he  believes ; ingenious  and  moderate  withal,  he 


Work  of  The  sixteenth  century  began  everything,  attempted  everything  ; 


of  Sales.  gerve  ag  a manuai  for  all  persons  of  the  court  and  the  great 


to  be  accurate,  judicious,  and  such  as  any  one  can  make  use  of.” 


Philosophy . 361 

escapes  out  of  the  controversies  of  the  violent  and  the  incertitudes 
of  the  sceptics.  The  step  is  firm,  the  march  is  onward  towards 
the  seventeenth  century,  towards  the  reign  of  order,  rule  and 
method . The  vigorous  language  and  the  beautiful  arrangement  in 
the  style  of  the  magistrates  had  already  prepared  the  way  for  its 
advent.  Descartes  was  the  first  master  of  it  and  its  great 
exponent. 

Never  was  any  mind  more  independent  in  voluntary  submission 
to  an  inexorable  logic.  Rene  Descartes,  who  was  born  at  La  Haye,  Descartes, 
near  Tours,  in  1596,  and  died  at  Stockholm  in  1650,  escaped  the 
influence  of  Richelieu  by  the  isolation  to  which  he  condemned 
himself  as  well  as  by  the  proud  and  somewhat  uncouth  indepen- 
dence of  his  character.  His  independence  of  thought  did  not  tend 
to  revolt ; in  publishing  his  Discourse  on  Method  he  halted  at  the 
threshold  of  Christianism  without  laying  his  hand  upon  the  sanc- 
tuary. Making  a clean  sweep  of  all  he  had  learnt,  and  tearing 
himself  free  by  a supreme  effort  from  the  whole  tradition  of 
humanity,  he  resolved  never  to  accept  anything  as  true  until  he 
recognised  it  to  be  clearly  so,  and  not  to  comprise  amongst  his 
opinions  anything  but  what  represented  itself  so  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly to  his  mind  that  he  could  have  no  occasion  to  hold  it  in 
doubt.  * In  this  absolute  isolation  of  his  mind,  without  past  and 
without  future,  Descartes,  first  of  all  assured  of  his  own  personal  His“Dis- 
existence  by  that  famous  axiom,  “ Cogito , ergo  sum  ” (/  think,  »n 

therefore  I am),  drew  from  it  as  a necessary  consequence  the  fact 
of  the  separate  existence  of  soul  and  of  body  ; passing  on  by  a 
sort  of  internal  revelation  which  he  called  innate  ideas,  he  came 
to  the  pinnacle  of  his  edifice,  concluding  for  the  existence  of  a 
God  from  the  notion  of  the  infinite  impressed  on  the  human  soul. 

A laborious  reconstruction  of  a primitive  and  simple  truth  which 
the  philosopher  could  not,  for  a single  moment,  have  banished  from 
his  mind  all  the  while  that  he  was  labouring  painfully  to  demon- 
strate it. 

By  his  philosophical  method,  powerful  and  logical,  as  well  as 
by  the  clear,  strong,  and  concise  style  he  made  use  of  to  expound  it, 

Descartes  accomplished  the  transition  from  the  sixteenth  century 
to  the  seventeenth ; he  was  the  first  of  the  great  prose-writers  of 
that  incomparable  epoch,  which  laid  for  ever  the  foundations  of  the 
language.  At  the  same  moment  the  great  Corneille  was  rendering 
poetry  the  same  service. 

It  had  come  out  of  the  sixteenth  century  more  disturbed  and  Poetry, 
less  formed  than  prose  ; Ronsard  and  his  friends  had  received  an(i  tlie 
it,  from  the  hands  of  Marot,  quite  young,  unsophisticated  and  Pleiad. 


362  History  of  France . 

undecided ; they  attempted,  as  a first  effort,  to  raise  it  to  the 
levei  of  the  great  classic  models  of  which  their  minds  were  full. 
The  attempt  was  hold,  and  the  Pleiad  did  not  pretend  to  consult 
the  taste  of  the  vulgar.  There  was  something  pregnant  and 
brilliant  about  Ponsard  in  spite  of  exaggerations  of  style  and  faults 
of  taste  ; his  disciples  imitated  and  carried  to  an  extreme  his  defects 
without  possessing  his  talent ; the  unruliness  was  such  as  to  call 
for  reform.  Peace  revived  with  Henry  IV.,  and  the  court,  hence- 
forth in  accord  with  the  nation,  resumed  that  empire  over  taste, 
manners  and  ideas,  which  it  was  destined  to  exercise  so  long  and 
Malherbe  so  supremely  under  Louis  XIV.  Malherbe  became  the  poet  of  the 
court,  whose  business  it  was  to  please  it,  to  adopt  for  it  that  litera- 
ture which  had  but  lately  been  reserved  for  the  feasts  of  the 
learned.  A complete  revolution  in  the  opposite  direction  to  that 
which  Ponsard  attempted  appeared  to  have  taken  place,  but  the 
human  mind  never  loses  all  the  ground  it  has  once  won  ; in  the 
verses  of  Malherbe,  often  bearing  the  imprint  of  beauties  borrowed 
from  the  ancients,  the  language  preserved,  in  consequence  of  the 
character  given  to  it  by  Ponsard,  a dignity,  a richness  of  style,  of 
which  the  times  of  Marot  showed  no  conception,  and  it  was  falling, 
moreover,  under  the  chastening  influence  of  an  elegant  correctness. 
As  passionate  an  admirer  of  Pichelieu  as  of  Henry  IV.,  naturally 
devoted  to  the  service  of  the  order  established  in  the  State  as  well 
as  in  poetry,  Malherbe,  under  the  regency  of  Mary  de’  Medici, 
favoured  the  taste  which  was  beginning  to  show  itself  for  intellec- 
tual things,  for  refined  pleasures  and  elegant  occupations.  It  was 
not  around  the  queen  that  this  honourable  and  agreeable  society 
gathered ; it  was  at  the  Hotel  Pambouillet,  around  Catherine  de 
The  Hotel  Vivonne,  in  the  Pue  St.  Thomas  du  Louvre.  Literature  was  there 
de  Ram-  represented  by  Malherbe  and  Paean,  afterwards  by  Balzac  and 
Voiture,  Gombault  and  Chapelain,  who  constantly  met  there,  in 
company  with  Princess  de  Conde  and  her  daughter,  subsequently 
duchess  of  Longueviile,  Mademoiselle  du  Vigean,  Madame  and 
Mdlle.  d’Epernon,  and  the  bishop  of  Lu<?on  himself,  quite  young 
as  yet,  but  already  famous.  “ All  the  wits  were  received  at  the 
Hotel  Pambouillet,  whatever  their  condition,”  says  M.  Cousin  : 
“ all  that  was  asked  of  them  was  to  have  good  manners  ; but  the 
aristocratic  tone  was  established  there  without  any  effort,  the 
majority  of  the  guests  at  the  house  being  very  great  lords,  and  the 
mistress  being  at  one  and  the  same  time  Pambouillet  and  Vivonne. 
The  wits  were  courted  and  honoured,  but  they  did  not  hold  the 
dominion.” 

The  cardinal  remained  well-disposed  towards  Hotel  Pambouillet. 


The  “ Academie  Franchise.” 


363 

Completely  occupied  in  laying  solidly  the  foundations  of  his  power, 
in  checkmating  and  punishing  conspiracies  at  court,  and  in  breaking 
down  the  party  of  the  huguenots,  he  had  no  leisure  just  yet  to 
think  of  literature  and  the  literary.  He  had,  nevertheless,  in  1626, 
begun  removing  the  ruins  of  the  Sorbonne,  with  a view  of  recon- 
structing the  buildings  on  a new  plan  and  at  his  own  expense.  At 
the  same  time  he  was  helping  Guy  de  la  Brosse,  the  king’s  physician, 
to  create  the  Botanic  Gardens  ( Le  Jardin  des  plantes),  he  was  Eichelieu  s 
defending  the  independence  of  the  College  of  France  against  the 
pretensions  of  the  University  of  Paris,  and  he  gave  it  for  its  Grand  scientific 
Almoner  his  brother  the  archbishop  of  Lyons.  He  was  preparing  creations 
the  foundation  of  the  King’s  Press  ( Imprimerie  royale ).  definitively 
created  in  1640;  and  he  gave  the  Academy  or  King's  College 
(1 college  royal ) of  his  town  of  Eichelieu  a regulation-code  of  studies 
which  bears  the  imprint  of  his  lofty  and  strong  mind.  He  pre- 
scribed a deep  study  of  the  French  tongue. 

Associations  of  the  literary  were  not  unknown  in  France ; 

Bonsard  and  his  friends,  at  first  under  the  name  of  the  brigade , 
and  then  under  that  of  the  Pleiad , often  met  to  read  together 
their  joint  productions,  and  to  discuss  literary  questions  ; and  the 
same  thing  was  done,  subsequently  in  Malherbe’s  rooms.  “ How 
let  us  speak  at  our  ease,”  Balzac  would  say,  when  the  sitting  was 
over,  “and  without  fear  of  committing  splecisms.”  When  Malherbe 
was  dead,  and  Balzac  had  retired  to  his  country-house  on  the 
borders  of  the  Charente,  some  friends,  “ men  of  letters  and  of 
merits  very  much  above  the  average,”  says  Pellisson  in  his  Histoire  u ^ 
de  l' Academie  Krangciise,  “ finding  that  nothing  was  more  incon-  demie 
venient  in  this  great  city  than  to  go  often  and  often  to  call  upon  Francaise’* 
one  another  without  finding  anybody  at  home,  resolved  to  meet  one 
day  in  the  week  at  the  house  of  one  of  them.”  Such  were  the 
commencements  of  the  French  Academy,  which,  even  after  the  inter- 
vention and  regulationising  of  Cardinal  Eichelieu,  still  preserved 
something  of  that  sweetness  and  that  polished  familiarity  in  their 
relations  which  caused  the  regrets  of  its  earliest  founders.  [They 
were  MM.  Godeau,  afterwards  bishop  of  Grasse,  Conrart  and 
Gombault  who  were  huguenots,  Chapelain,  Giry,  Habert,  Abbe  de 
Cerisy,  his  brother,  M.  de  Serizay  and  M.  de  Maleville.]  In 
making  of  this  little  private  gathering  a great  national  institution, 

Cardinal  Eichelieu  yielded  to  his  natural  yearning  lor  government 
and  dominion;  he  protected  literature  as  a minister  and  as  an 
admirer ; the  admirer’s  inclination  was  supported  by  the  minister’s 
influence.  At  the  same  time,  and  perhaps  without  being  aware  of 
it,  he  was  giving  French  literature  a centre  of  discipline  and  union 


364  History  of  France. 

whilst  securing  for  the  independence  and  dignity  of  writers  a 
supporting-point  which  they  had  hitherto  lacked.  Whilst  recom- 
pensing them  by  favours  nearly  always  conferred  in  the  name  of 
the  State,  he  was  preparing  for  them  afar  off  the  means  of  with- 
drawing themselves  from  that  private  dependence,  the  yoke  of  which 
they  nearly  always  had  to  bear.  Set  free  at  his  death  from  the 
weight  of  their  obligations  to  him,  they  became  the  servants  of  the 
State  ; ere  long  the  French  Academy  had  no  other  protector  but 
Its  rules  the  king.  Order  and  rule  everywhere  accompanied  Cardinal 

and.  Richelieu ; the  Academy  drew  up  its  statutes,  chose  a director,  a 

organza*  3 J r 

tion.  chancellor  and  a perpetual  secretary  : Conrart  was  the  first  to  be 

called  to  that  honour  ; the  number  of  Academicians  was  set  down 
at  forty.  The  letters  patent  for  establishment  of  the  French 
Academy  had  been  sent  to  the  parliament  in  1635  ; they  were  not 
enregistered  until  1637,  at  the  express  instance  of  the  cardinal. 

Amongst  the  earliest  members  of  the  Academy  the  cardinal  had 
placed  his  most  habitual  and  most  intimate  literary  servants,  Bois- 
Robert,  Desmarets,  Colletet,  all  writers  for  the  theatre,  employed 
by  Richelieu  in  his  own  dramatic  attempts.  Theatrical  representa- 
tions were  the  only  pleasure  the  minister  enjoyed,  in  accord  with 
the  public  of  his  day.  He  had  everywhere  encouraged  this  taste, 
supporting  with  marked  favour  Hardy  and  the  Theatre  Parisien. 
With  his  mind  constantly  exercised  by  the  wants  of  the  government, 
he  soon  sought  in  the  theatre  a means  of  acting  upon  the  masses. 
He  had  already  foreseen  the  power  of  the  press  ; he  had  laid  hands 
on  Doctor  Renaudot’s  Gazette  de  France  ; King  Louis  XIII.  often 
wrote  articles  in  it ; the  manuscript  exists  in  the  National  Library, 
with  some  corrections  which  appear  to  be  Richelieu’s.  As  for  the 
theatre,  the  cardinal  aspired  to  try  his  own  hand  at  the  work : 
The  tframa  his  literary  labours  were  nearly  all  political  pieces ; his  tragedy  of 
“Mirame.”  Mirame , to  which  he  attached  so  much  value,  and  which  he  had 
represented  at  such  great  expense  for  the  opening  of  his  theatre  in 
the  Palais-Cardinal,  is  nothing  but  one  continual  allusion,  often 
bold  even  to  insolence,  to  Buckingham’s  feelings  towards  Anne  of 
Austria. 

Occupied  as  he  was  in  governing  the  affairs  of  France  and  of 
Europe  otherwise  than  in  verse,  the  cardinal  chose  out  collator a- 
teurs  ; there  were  five  of  them,  to  whom  he  gave  his  ideas  and  the 
plan  of  his  piece ; he  entrusted  to  each  the  duty  of  writing  an 
act,  and  “ by  this  means  finished  a comedy  in  the  course  of  a month,” 
Peter  saysPellisson.  In  conjunction  with  Colletet, Bois-Robert,  Del’Etoile 
Corneille,  and  Rotrou,  Peter  Corneille  worked  at  his  Eminence’s  tragedies  and 
comedies.  He  handled  according  to  his  fancy  the  act  entrusted  to 


Corneille  and  “ Le  Cid!' 


3^5 

him,  with  so  much  freedom  that  the  cardinal  was  shocked,  and  said 
that  he  lacked,  in  his  opinion,  the  gift  of  connectedness  (V esprit 
c le  suite).  Corneille  did  not  appeal  from  this  judgment ; he  quietly 
took  the  road  to  Rouen,  leaving  henceforth  to  his  four  work-fellows 
the  glory  of  putting  into  form  the  ideas  of  the  all-powerful  minis- 
ter ; he  worked  alone,  for  his  own  hand,  for  the  glory  of  France 
and  of  the  human  mind. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  fathom  the  causes  of  the 
cardinal’s  animosity  to  the  Cid.  It  was  a Spanish  piece,  and  “Le  Cid.” 
represented  in  a favourable  light  the  traditional  enemies  of  France 
and  of  Richelieu ; it  was  all  in  honour  of  the  duel,  which  the 
cardinal  had  prosecuted  with  such  rigorous  justice ; it  depicted  a 
king  simple,  patriarchal,  genial  in  the  exercise  of  his  power,  contrary 
to  all  the  views  cherished  by  the  minister  touching  royal  majesty ; 
all  these  reasons  might  have  contributed  to  his  wrath,  but  there 
was  something  more  personal  and  petty  in  its  bitterness.  The 
triumph  of  the  Cid  seemed,  to  the  resentful  spirit  of  a neglected 
and  irritated  patron  a sort  of  insult.  Therewith  was  mingled  a 
certain  shade  of  author’s  jealousy.  Richelieu  saw  in  the  fame  of 
Corneille  the  success  of  a rebel.  Egged  on  by  base  and  malicious 
influences,  he  attempted  to  crush  him,  as  he  had  crushed  the  House 
of  Austria  and  the  huguenots. 

The  cabal  of  bad  taste  enlisted  to  a man  in  this  new  war.  Cabal 
Scudery  was  standard-bearer ; astounded  that  “ such  fantastic  against  it. 
beauties  should  have  seduced  knowledge  as  well  as  ignorance.” 

The  contest  was  becoming  fierce  and  bitter ; much  was  written  for 
and  against  the  Cid ; the  public  remained  faithful  to  it ; the 
cardinal  determined  to  submit  it  to  the  judgment  of  the  Academy, 
thus  exacting  from  that  body  an  act  of  complaisance  towards 
himself,  as  well  as  an  act  of  independence  and  authority  in  the  teeth 
of  predominant  opinion.  At  his  instigation,  Scudery  wrote  to  the 
Academy  to  make  them  the  judges  in  the  dispute.  The  Sentiments 
de  VAcademie  at  last  saw  the  light  in  the  month  of  December,  1637, 
and,  as  Chapelain  had  foreseen,  they  did  not  completely  satisfy 
either  the  cardinal  or  Scudery,  in  spite  of  the  thanks  which  the 
latter  considered  himself  bound  to  express  to  that  body,  or 
Corneille,  who  testified  bitter  displeasure.  Richelieu  did  not  come 
out  of  it  victorious  ; his  anger  however  had  ceased  : the  duchess  of 
Aiguillon,  his  niece,  accepted  the  dedication  of  the  Cid ; when 
Horace  appeared,  in  1639,  the  dedicatory  epistle  addressed  to  the 
cardinal  proved  that  Corneille  read  his  works  to  him  beforehand ; 
the  cabal  appeared  for  a while  on  the  point  of  making  head  again  S 
“Horace,  condemned  by  the  decemvirs,  was  acquitted  by  the 


la  Bru- 

yere’s  ap- 
preciation 
of 

Richelieu 


A.D.  1643. 
Mazarin, 
prime 
minister. 
The  Re- 
gency. 


366  History  of  France. 

people,”  said  Corneille.  The  same  year  China  came  to  give  tho 
finishing  touch  to  the  reputation  of  the  great  poet : 

“ To  the  persecuted  Cid  the  Cinna  owed  its  birth.” 

The  great  literary  movement  of  the  seventeenth  century  had 
begun  ; it  had  no  longer  any  need  of  a protector ; it  was  destined 
to  grow  up  alone  during  twenty  years,  amidst  troubles  at  home  and 
wars  abroad,  to  flourish  all  at  once,  with  incomparable  splendour, 
under  the  reign  and  around  the  throne  of  Louis  XIV.  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  however,  had  the  honour  of  protecting  its  birth  ; he  had 
taken  personal  pleasure  in  it ; he  had  comprehended  its  importance 
and  beauty ; he  had  desired  to  serve  it  whilst  taking  the  direction 
of  it.  Let  us  end,  as  we  began,  with  the  judgment  of  La  Bruyere  : 
“ Compare  yourselves,  if  you  dare,  with  the  great  Richelieu,  you 
men  devoted  to  fortune,  you,  who  say  that  you  know  nothing,  that 
you  have  read  nothing,  that  you  will  read  nothing.  Learn  that 
Cardinal  Richelieu  did  know,  did  read  ; I say  not  that  he  had  no 
estrangement  from  men  of  letters,  but  that  he  loved  them,  caressed 
them,  favoured  them,  that  he  contrived  privileges  for  them,  that  he 
appointed  pensions  for  them,  that  he  united  them  in  a celebrated 
body,  and  that  he  made  of  them  the  French  Academy.” 

The  Academy,  the  Sorbonne,  the  Botanic  Gardens  (Jardin  des 
Plantes),  the  King’s  Press  have  endured ; the  theatre  has  grown 
and  been  enriched  by  many  master-pieces,  the  press  has  become 
the  most  dreaded  of  powers ; all  the  new  forces  that  Richelieu 
created  or  foresaw  have  become  developed  without  him,  frequently 
in  opposition  to  him  and  to  the  work  of  his  whole  life : his  name 
has  remained  connected  with  the  commencement  of  all  these 
wonders,  beneficial  or  disastrous,  which  he  had  grasped  and 
presaged,  in  a future  happily  concealed  from  his  ken. 

The  declaration  of  Louis  XIII.  touching  the  Regency  had  been 
entirely  directed  towards  counteracting  by  anticipation  the  power 
entrusted  to  his  wife  and  his  brother.  The  queen’s  regency  and 
the  duke  of  Orleans’  lieutenant-generalship  were  in  some  sort 
subordinated  to  a council  composed  of  the  prince  of  Conde,  Cardinal 
Mazarin,  Chancellor  Seguier,  Superintendent  Bouthillier,  and 
Secretary  of  State  Chavigny,  “with  a prohibition  against  intro- 
ducing any  change  therein,  for  any  cause  or  on  any  occasion 
whatsoever.”  The  queen  and  the  duke  of  Orleans  had  signed  and 
sworn  the  declaration. 

King  Louis  XIII.  was  not  yet  in  his  grave  when  his  last  wishes 
were  violated ; before  his  death  the  queen  had  made  terms  with 
the  ministers ; the  course  to  be  followed  had  been  decided.  On  the 


Battle  of  Rocroi.  367 

18th  of  May,  1 €4.1,  the  queen,  having  brought  hack  the  little  king 
to  Paris,  conducted  him  in  great  state  to  the  parliament  of  Paris 
to  hold  his  bed  of  justice  there,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day 
the  queen  regent,  having  sole  charge  of  the  administration  of  affairs, 
and  modifying  the  council  at  her  pleasure,  announced  to  the 
astounded  court  that  she  should  retain  by  her  Cardinal  Mazarin. 
Continuing  to  humour  all  parties,  and  displaying  foresight  and 
prudence,  the  new  minister  was  even  now  master.  Louis  XIII., 
without  any  personal  liking,  had  been  faithful  to  Richelieu  to  the 
death ; with  different  feelings,  Anne  of  Austria  was  to  testify  the 
same  constancy  towards  Mazarin. 

A stroke  of  fortune  came  at  the  very  first  to  strengthen  the  War  in 
regent’s  position.  Since  the  death  of  Cardinal  Richelieu,  the 
Spaniards,  but  recently  overwhelmed  at  the  close  of  1642,  had  Rocroi 
recovered  courage  and  boldness ; new  counsels  prevailed  at  the 
court  of  Philip  IV.  who  had  dismissed  Olivarez;  the  House  of 
Austria  vigorously  resumed  the  offensive ; at  the  moment  of 
Louis  XIII. ’s  death,  Don  Francisco  de  Mello,  governor  of  the  Low 
Countries,  had  just  invaded  French  territory  by  way  of  the  Ardennes, 
and  laid  siege  to  Rocroi,  on  the  12th  of  May.  The  French  army 
commanded  by  the  young  duke  of  Enghien,  the  prince  of  Conde’s 
son,  scarcely  twenty-two  years  old,  gained  a signal  victory  over  the 
Spanish  infantry  till  then  deemed  invincible  (1643). 

Negotiations  for  a general  peace,  the  preliminaries  whereof  had  Negotia- 

been  signed  by  King  Louis  XIII.  in  1641,  had  been  going  on  since  ti01s  for 
0 J 0 7 00  peace  are 

1644  at  Munster  and  at  Osnabriick,  without  having  produced  any  begun. 

result ; the  duke  of  Enghien,  who  became  prince  of  Conde  in  1646, 
was  keeping  up  the  war  in  Flanders  and  Germany,  with  the  co- 
operation of  Viscount  Turenne,  younger  brother  of  the  duke  of 
Bouillon,  and,  since  Rocroi,  a marshal  of  France.  The  capture  of 
Thionville  and  of  Dunkerque,  the  victories  of  Friburg  and  Nord- 
lingen,  the  skilful  opening  effected  in  Germany  as  far  as  Augsburg 
by  the  French  and  the  Swedes,  had  raised  so  high  the  reputation 
of  the  two  generals,  that  the  prince  of  Conde,  who  was  haughty 
and  ambitious,  began  to  cause  great  umbrage  to  Mazarin.  Fear  of 
having  him  unoccupied  deterred  the  cardinal  from  peace,  and  made 
all  the  harder  the  conditions  he  presumed  to  impose  upon  the 
Spaniards.  Meanwhile  the  United  Provinces,  weary  of  a war 
which  fettered  their  commerce,  and  skilfully  courted  by  their  old 
masters,  had  just  concluded  a private  treaty  with  Spain;  the 
emperor  was  trying,  but  to  no  purpose,  to  detach  the  Swedes 
likewise  from  the  French  alliance,  when  the  victory  of  Lens,  gained 
on  the  20th  of  August,  1648,  over  Archduke  Leopold  and  General 


A.D.  1648. 
Peace  of 
Westpha 
lia. 


Disorder 
of  the 
finances. 


“Edict  of 
Union.’’ 


$63  History  of  France, . 

Beck,  came  to  throw  into  the  balance  the  weight  of  a success  as 
splendid  as  it  was  unexpected ; one  more  campaign,  and  Turenne 
might  he  threatening  Vienna  whilst  Conde  entered  Brussels;  the 
emperor  saw  there  was  no  help  for  it  and  bent  his  head.  The 
House  of  Austria  split  in  two ; Spain  still  refused ' to  treat  with 
France,  but  the  whole  of  Germany  clamoured  for  peace ; the  con- 
ditions of  it  were  at  last  drawn  up  at  Munster  by  MM.  Servien  and 
de  Lionne ; M.  d’Avaux,  the  most  able  diplomatist  that  France 
possessed,  had  been  recalled  to  Paris  at  the  beginning  of  the  year. 
On  the  24th  of  October,  1648,  after  four  years  of  negotiation,  France 
at  last  had  secured  to  her  Alsace  and  the  three  bishoprics  of  Metz, 
Toul,  and  Verdun  ; Sweden  gained  Western  Pomerania,  including 
Stettin,  the  isle  of  Iiugen,  the  three  mouths  of  the  Oder  and  the 
bishoprics  of  Bremen  and  Werden,  thus  becoming  a German  power  : 
as  for  Germany,  she  had  Avon  liberty  of  conscience  and  political 
liberty ; the  rights  of  the  Lutheran  or  reformed  Protestants  were 
equalized  Avith  those  of  Catholics  ; henceforth  the  consent  of  a free 
assembly  of  all  the  Estates  of  the  empire  Avas  necessary  to  make 
laws,  raise  soldiers,  impose  taxes,  and  decide  peace  or  war.  The 
peace  of  Westphalia  put  an  end  at  one  and  the  same  time  to 
the  Thirty  Years’  War  and  to  the  supremacy  of  the  House  of 
Austria  in  Germany. 

So  much  glory  and  so  many  military  or  diplomatic  successes 
cost  dear;  France  Avas  crushed  by  imposts,  and  the  finances  were 
discovered  to  be  in  utter  disorder ; the  superintendent,  D’Emery, 
an  able  and  experienced  man,  was  so  justly  discredited  that  his 
measures  were,  as  a foregone  conclusion,  unpopular ; an  edict  laying 
octroi  or  tariff  on  the  entry  of  provisions  into  the  city  of  Paris 
irritated  the  burgesses,  and  parliament  refused  to  enregister  it. 
For  some  time  past  the  parliament,  which  had  been  kept  down  by 
the  iron  hand  of  Kichelieu,  had  perceived  that  it  had  to  do  with 
nothing  more  than  an  able  man  and  not  a master ; it  began  to  hold 
up  its  head  again  ; a union  was  proposed  between  the  four  sovereign 
courts  of  Paris,  to  wit,  the  parliament,  the  grand  council,  the 
chamber  of  exchequer,  and  the  court  of  aids  or  indirect  taxes;  the 
queen  quashed  the  deed  of  union;  the  magistrates  set  her  at 
naught ; the  queen  yielded,  authorizing  the  delegates  to  deliberate 
in  the  chamber  of  St.  Louis  at  the  Palace  of  Justice ; the  pretensions 
of  the  parliament  were  exorbitant,  and  aimed  at  nothing  short  of 
resuming,  in  the  affairs  of  the  State,  the  position  from  A\rhich 
Richelieu  had  deposed  it ; the  concessions  which  Cardinal  Mazarin 
with  difficulty  wrung  from  the  Queen  augmented  the  parliament’s 
demands.  Anne  of  Austria  was  beginning  to  lose  patience,  when 


The  Fronde. 


369 


the  news  of  the  victory  of  Lens  restored  courage  to  the  court. 
“Parliament  will  be  very  sorry,”  said  the  little  king,  on  hearing  of 
the  prince  of  Conde’s  success.  The  grave  assemblage,  on  the  26th 
of  August,  was  issuing  from  Notre  Dame,  where  a le  Deum  had 
just  been  sung,  when  Councillor  Broussel  and  President  Blancmesnil 
were  arrested  in  their  houses  and  taken,  the  one  to  St.  Germain  and 
the  other  to  Vincennes. 

It  was  a mistake  on  the  part  of  Anne  of  Austria  and  Cardinal 
Mazarin  not  to  have  considered  the  different  condition  of  the 
public  mind.  A suppressed  excitement  had  for  some  months  been 
hatching  in  Paris  and  in  the  provinces.  “ The  parliament  growled 
over  the  tariff- edict,”  says  Cardinal  de  Betz ; “ and  no  sooner  had 
it  muttered  than  everybody  awoke.  People  went  groping  as  it  were 
after  the  laws;  they  were  no  longer  to  be  found.  Under  the 
influence  of  this  agitation,  the  people  entered  the  sanctuary  and 
lifted  the  veil  that  ought  always  to  conceal  whatever  can  be 
said  about  the  right  of  peoples  and  that  of  kings  which  never 
accord  so  well  as  in  silence.”  The  arrest  of  Broussel,  an  old  man 
in  high  esteem,  very  keen  in  his  opposition  to  the  court,  was  like 
fire  to  flax. 

Thousands  of  persons  rushed  to  the  Palais-Royal,  where  the 
court  then  resided,  shouting  out  “ Liberte  et  Broussel ! ” Barricades 
were  erected  in  the  principal  streets ; the  authority  of  the  chan- 
cellor Seguier  was  set  at  nought,  and  the  president  of  the  parliament 
himself,  Mathieu  Mole,  saw  himself  obliged  to  comply  with  the 
wishes  of  the  people.  They  forced  him  to  go  to  the  queen  at  the 
head  of  the  assembly,  and  under  penalty  of  death,  to  bring  back 
either  Broussel  or  the  cardinal.  He  succeeded  in  obtaining  the 
liberty  of  the  captives,  and  the  queen,  frightened  out  of  her  ob- 
stinacy, hastened  to  confirm  the  resolutions  of  the  Chambre  de 
Saint  Louisbj  a decree  dated  October  24th,  1648  ( Ordonnance  de 
Saint  Germain). 

The  court,  however,  had  yielded  only  with  the  firm  resolution 
of  retracting  its  concession  as  soon  as  a fit  opportunity  should 
occur.  The  king  was  removed  from  Paris,  and,  supported  by 
Conde,  the  queen-dowager  engaged  against  the  parliament  the  war 
to  which  the  name  of  La  Fronde  has  been  given  by  way  of  contempt ; 
the  rebellion  of  the  parliamentarians  being  compared  to  that  of 
unruly  children  who  would  persist  in  fighting  with  slings  ( frondes ) 
notwithstanding  the  prohibition  of  the  police.  The  principal 
leaders  of  the  frondeurs  were  Conti,  brother  of  Conde,  his  brother- 
in-law  the  duke  de  Longueville,  the  dukes  de  Bouillon  and  de 
La  Rochefoucauld,  Turenne,  Paul  de  Gondi,  coadjutor  of  the  arch- 

B B 


A.D.  1648. 
Arrest  of 
Broussel 
and  Blanc- 
mesnil 
(Aug.  26). 


“ The 
Fronde.’ 


The  court 

leaves 

Paris. 


Epigrams 
anrt  lam- 
poons. 


Contest 
between 
Mazarin 
and  Conde. 


370  History  of  France. 

bishop  of  Paris  and  afterwards  Cardinal  de  Betz,  and  lastly  the 
duke  de  Beaufort-Venddme,  grandson  of  Henry  IV. 

The  chief  results  of  this  war,  at  least  in  its  commencement,  were 
songs,  epigrams,  lampoons,  and  now  and  then  a few  insignificant 
skirmishes.  The  twenty  councillors  of  Bichelieu’s  creation,  who 
supplied  15,000  livres  towards  the  expenses  of  the  war  in  order  to 
ingratiate  themselves  with  their  colleagues,  were  nick- named  les 
quinze-vingts ; each  house  having  a carriage-entrance  was  obliged  to 
fit  out  a mounted  soldier,  hence  the  sobriquet  cavalerie  des  portes- 
cocheres  given  to  the  body  of  troops  thus  raised ; Gondi,  who  was 
archbishop  of  Corinth  in  partibus,  had  been  called  “ the  little  Cati- 
line,” and  the  dagger  which  he  carried  habitually  in  his  pocket  was 
designated  as  “ our  archbishop’s  breviary  ” ; he  raised  at  his  own 
expense  “ the  regiment  of  Corinth,”  and  this  regiment  having  been 
beaten  in  an  engagement  with  the  royal  troops,  the  result  was 
called  “ the  first  to  the  Corinthians”  Conti  was  deformed,  they 
said  that  he  was  a dwarf ; Beaufort  had  obtained  much  popularity, 
they  called  him  le  roi  des  halles.  As  for  serious  battles,  there  were 
none.  Conde  had  only  to  present  himself  with  a handfull  of  sol- 
diers ; he  defeated  at  Charenton  the  armies  of  the  Parisians  who 
had  marched  out  against  him  covered  with  ribbons  and  feathers. 
An  arrangement  was  made  at  Buel  (April  1649),  but  the  court 
returned  to  Paris  only  four  months  afterwards. 

The  easy  success  obtained  by  Conde,  his  position  as  general  of 
the  royal  army  dazzled  him.  He  made  himself  chief  of  a new 
party,  who,  under  the  name  of  petits -maitres,  were  more  insup- 
portable still  than  the  others.  He  affected  the  most  supreme  con- 
tempt for  Mazarin.  One  day,  writing  to  him,  he  directed  the  letter, 
“ alV  illustrissimo  Signor  Facchino  /”  “Adieu,  Mars!”  said  he  to 
him  on  another  occasion,  when  taking  leave  of  him.  It  was  high 
time  that  the  minister  should  vindicate  his  own  dignity.  Conde, 
Conti  and  Longueville,  arrested  at  the  Louvre,  were  taken  first  to 
Vincennes,  and  then  to  the  Havre. 

The  State  stroke  had  succeeded ; Mazarin’s  skill  and  prudence 
once  more  checkmated  all  the  intrigues  concocted  against  him. 
When  the  news  was  told  to  Chavigny,  in  spite  of  all  his  reasons 
for  bearing  malice  against  the  cardinal,  who  had  driven  him  from 
the  council  and  kept  him  for  some  time  in  prison,  he  exclaimed : 
“ That  is  a great  misfortune  for  the  prince  and  his  friends ; but 
the  truth  must  be  told:  the  cardinal  has  done  quite  right ; without 
it  he  would  have  been  ruined.”  The  contest  was  begun  between 
Mazarin  and  the  great  Conde,  and  it  was  not  with  the  prince  that 
the  victory  was  to  remain. 


Mazarin  leaves  France . 


371 


Already  hostilities  were  commencing;  Mazarin  had  done  every- 
thing for  the  Frondeurs  who  remained  faithful  to  him,  but  the 
house  of  Conde  was  rallying  all  its  partisans ; the  dukes  of 
Bouillon  and  La  Rochefoucauld  had  thrown  themselves  into  Bor- 
deaux, which  was  in  revolt  against  the  royal  authority,  represented 
by  the  duke  of  Epernon.  The  princess  of  Conde  and  her  young 
son  left  Chantilly  to  join  them ; Madame  de  Longueville  occupied 
Stenay,  a strong  place  belonging  to  the  prince  of  Conde  : she  had 
there  found  Turenne;  on  the  other  hand,  the  queen  had  just  been 
through  Normandy ; all  the  towns  had  opened  their  gates  to  her ; TheFronde 
it  was  just  the  same  in  Burgundy;  the  princess  of  Conde’s  able  m.tlie 
agent,  Lenet,  could  not  obtain  a declaration  from  the  parliament  of  Provinces* 
Dijon  in  her  favour.  Bordeaux  was  the  focus  of  the  insurrection  ; 
the  people,  passionately  devoted  to  “ the  dukes,”  as  the  saying  was, 
were  forcing  the  hand  of  the  parliament ; riots  were  frequent  in 
the  town  ; the  little  king,  with  the  queen  and  the  cardinal,  marched 
in  person  upon  Bordeaux ; one  of  the  faubourgs  was  attacked,  the 
dukes  negotiated  and  obtained  a general  amnesty,  but  no  mention 
was  made  of  the  princes’  release.  The  parliament  of  Paris  took 
the  matter  up,  and  on  the  30th  of  January,  Anne  of  Austria  sent 
word  to  the  premier  president  that  she  would  consent  to  grant  the 
release  of  the  princes,  “ provided  that  the  armaments  of  Stenay  and 
of  M.  de  Turenne  might  be  discontinued.” 

The  cardinal  saw  that  he  was  beaten ; he  made  up  his  mind,  A.D.  165 
and,  anticipating  the  queen’s  officers,  he  hurried  to  Le  Havre  to  ^aves*11 
release  the  prisoners  himself ; he  entered  the  castle  alone,  the  France, 
governor  having  refused  entrance  to  the  guards  who  attended  him. 

“ The  prince  told  me,”  says  Mdlle.  de  Montpensier,  “ that,  when 
they  were  dining  together,  Cardinal  Mazarin  was  not  so  much  in 
the  humour  to  laugh  as  he  himself  was,  and  that  he  was  very  much 
embarrassed.  Liberty  to  be  gone  had  more  charms  for  the  prince 
than  the  cardinal’s  company.  He  said  that  he  felt  marvellous 
delight  at  finding  himself  outside  Le  Havre,  with  his  sword  at  his 
side ; and  he  might  well  be  pleased  to  wear  it,  he  is  a pretty  good 
hand  at  using  it.  As  he  went  out  he  turned  to  the  cardinal  and 
said : ‘ Farewell,  Cardinal  Mazarin,’  who  kissed  ‘the  tip  of  sleeve’ 
to  him.” 

The  cardinal  had  slowly  taken  the  road  to  exile,  summoning  to 
him  his  nieces,  Mdlles.  Mancini  and  Martinozzi,  whom  he  had, 
a short  time  since,  sent  for  to  court ; he  went  from  Normandy 
into  Picardy,  made  some  stay  at  Doullens,  and,  impelled  by  his 
enemies’  hatred,  he  finally  crossed  the  frontier  on  the  12th  of 
March.  The  parliament  had  just  issued  orders  for  his  arrest  in 

B b 2 


372  History  of  France . 

any  part  of  France.  On  the  6th  of  April,  he  fixed  his  quarters  at 
Briihl,  a little  town  belonging  to  the  electorate  of  Cologne,  in  the 
same  territory  which  had  hut  lately  sheltered  the  last  days  of  Mary 
de’  Medici. 

Battle  of  The  Frondeurs,  old  and  new,  had  gained  the  day ; but  even  now 
^St^A 16  ^ere  was  disorder  in  their  camp.  Conde  had  returned  to  the 
toine.  court  “like  a raging  lion,  seeking  to  devour  everybody,  and,  in 
revenge  for  his  imprisonment,  to  set  fire  to  the  four  corners  of  the 
realm ” [Memoir es  de  Montglat ].  He  retired  southwards  and  pre- 
pared for  war.  He  was  opposed,  in  the  first  instance,  by  marshal 
d’TIocquincourt,  who  was  defeated  at  Bleneau,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Loire,  and  afterwards  by  Turenne,  who,  having  come  to  terms  with 
the  court,  gained  at  Gien  a battle  over  the  rebels.  Both  com- 
manders then  marched  upon  Paris,  and  a general  engagement  took 
place  at  the  Porte  Saint  Antoine,  where  the  Frondeurs  remained 
victorious,  thanks  to  the  audacity  of  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier, 
daughter  of  Gaston,  duke  d’Orleans.  From  the  top  of  the  Bas- 
tille this  princess  fired  the  first  cannon  upon  the  royal  army,  and,  as 
Mazarin  said,  that  fatal  shot  hilled  her  husband , alluding  to  the 
ambition  she  entertained  of  marrying  Louis  XIV.  Conde  marched 
into  the  metropolis,  and  after  attempting  vainly  to  maintain  him- 
self by  violence,  he  took  the  command  of  the  Spanish  army,  thus 
disgracing  his  character  by  joining  the  enemies  of  his  country.  The 
court  then  returned  to  Paris,  punished  the  rebels,  and  in  October, 
1652,  the  Fronde  may  be  said  to  have  finished. 

It  was  now  Mazarin’s  turn  to  triumph ; his  progress  back  to  Paris 

A.D.  1660.  was  almost  regal.  The  duke  of  Orleans  retired  before  long  to  his 

Death  of  castle  at  Blois,  where  he  died  in  1660,  deserted,  towards  the  end  of 

tli6  duke  7 ' 

of  Orleans.  his  life>  hy  all  the  friends  he  had  successively  abandoned  and 

betrayed.  “ He  had,  with  the  exception  of  courage,  all  that  was 
necessary  to  make  an  honourable  man,”  says  Cardinal  de  Retz,  “but 
weakness  was  predominant  in  his  heart  through  fear,  and  in  his 
mind  through  irresolution ; it  disfigured  the  whole  course  of  his 
life.  He  engaged  in  everything  because  he  had  not  strength  to 
resist  those  who  drew  him  on,  and  he  always  came  out  disgrace- 
fully, because  he  had  not  the  courage  to  support  them.”  He  was 
a prey  to  fear,  fear  of  his  friends  as  well  as  of  his  enemies.  The 
Fronde,  as  we  last  said,  was  all  over,  that  of  the  gentry  of  the  long 
robe  as  well  as  that  of  the  gentry  of  the  sword.  The  parliament 
of  Paris  was  once  more  falling  in  the  State  to  the  rank  which  had 
been  assigned  to  it  by  Richelieu,  and  from  which  it  had  wanted 
to  emerge  by  a supreme  effort. 

From  1653  to  1657,  Turenne,  seconded  by  Marshal  La  Ferte 


Negotiations  with  Spain.  373 

and  sometimes  by  Cardinal  Mazarin  in  person,  constantly  kept  the 
Spaniards  and  the  prince  of  Conde  in  check,  recovering  the  places 
but  lately  taken  from  Trance,  and  relieving  the  besieged  towns ; 
without  ever  engaging  in  pitched  battles,  he  almost  always  had  the 
advantage.  At  last  the  victory  he  gained  at  the  Downs  was  pro- 
ductive of  the  greatest  results  ; Dunkerque  surrendered  imme- 
diately, and  was  ceded  to  England  conformably  to  an  agreement 
made  between  Mazarin  and  Cromwell.  Eor  a long  time  past  the 
object  of  the  cardinal's  labours  had  been  to  terminate  the  war  by 
an  alliance  with  Spain.  The  Infanta,  Maria  Theresa,  was  no  j;nd  of  the 
longer  heiress  to  the  crown,  for  King  Philip  at  last  had  a son  ; war  with 
Spain  was  exhausted  by  long-continued  efforts,  and  dismayed  by  Spa*n’ 
the  checks  received  in  the  campaign  of  1658  ; the  alliance  of  the 
Rhine,  recently  concluded  at  Frankfurt  between  the  two  leagues, 
catholic  and  protestant,  confirmed  immutably  the  advantages  which 
the  treaty  of  Westphalia  had  secured  to  France.  The  electors  had 
just  raised  to  the  head  of  the  empire  young  Leopold  I.,  on  the 
death  of  his  father  Ferdinand  III.,  and  they  proposed  their  media- 
tion between  France  and  Spain.  Whilst  King  Philip  IV.  was  still 
hesitating,  Mazarin  took  a step  in  another  direction ; the  king  set 
out  for  Lyons,  accompanied  by  his  mother  and  his  minister,  to  go 
and  see  Princess  Margaret  of  Savoy,  who  had  been  proposed  to 
him  a long  time  ago  as  his  wife.  He  was  pleased  with  her,  and 
negotiations  were  already  pretty  far  advanced,  to  the  great  dis- 
pleasure of  the  queen-mother,  when  the  cardinal,  on  the  29th  of 
November,  1659,  in  the  evening,  entered  Anne  of  Austria’s  room. 

“He  found  her  pensive  and  melancholy,  but  he  was  all  smiles. 

1 Good  news,  madame,’  said  he.  ‘ Ah  ! ’ cried  the  queen,  4 is  it  to 
be  peace  1 ’ ‘ More  than  that,  madame  ; I bring  your  Majesty  both 

peace  and  the  Infanta.’  ” The  Spaniards  had  become  uneasy  ; Louis  XIV. 
and  Don  Antonio  de  Pimental  had  arrived  at  Lyons  at  the  same  ^arJies 
time  with  the  court  of  Savoy,  bearing  a letter  from  Philip  IV.  for  fanta." 
the  queen  his  sister.  The  duchess  of  Savoy  had  to  depart  and 
take  her  daughter  with  her;  disappointed  of  her  hopes  ; all  the 
consolation  she  obtained  was  a written  promise  that  the  king 
would  marry  Princess  Margaret,  if  the  marriage  with  the  Infanta 
were  not  accomplished  within  a year. 

The  year  had  not  yet  rolled  away,  and  the  duchess  of  Savoy 
had  already  lost  every  atom  of  illusion.  Since  the  1 3th  of  August, 

Cardinal  Mazarin  had  been  officially  negotiating  with  Don  Louis  de 
Haro  representing  Philip  IV.  The  ministers  had  held  a meeting 
in  the  middle  of  the  Bidassoa,  on  the  Island  of  Pheasants,  where 
a pavilion  had  been  erected  on  the  boundary-line  between  the  two 


3/4 


History  of  France, 


AD.  1657. 
Peace  of 
the  Pyre- 
nees. 


AD.  1661. 
Death  of 
Mazarin 
(March  9). 


States.  On  the  7th  of  November,  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees 
was  signed  at  last ; it  put  an  end  to  a war  which  had  continued 
for  twenty-three  years,  often  internecine,  always  burdensome,  ar.d 
which  had  ruined  the  finances  of  the  two  countries.  France  was 
the  gainer  of  Artois  and  Roussillon,  and  of  several  places  in  Flan- 
ders, Hainault  and  Luxembourg ; and  the  peace  of  Westphalia 
was  recognized  by  Spain,  to  whom  France  restored  all  that  she  held 
in  Catalonia  and  Franche- Comte.  Philip  IY.  had  refused  to 
include  Portugal  in  the  treaty.  The  Infanta  received  as  dowry 
500,000  gold  crowns,  and  renounced  all  her  rights  to  the  throne  of 
Spain ; the  prince  of  Conde  was  taken  back  to  favour  by  the  king, 
and  declared  that  he  would  fain  redeem  with  his  blood  all  the 
hostilities  he  had  committed  in  and  out  of  France.  The  king 
restored  him  to  all  his  honours  and  dignities,  gave  him  the  govern- 
ment of  Burgundy,  and  bestowed  on  his  son,  the  duke  of  Enghien, 
the  office  of  Grand  Master  of  France.  The  honour  of  the  king  ol 
Spain  was  saved,  he  did  not  abandon  his  allies,  and  he  made  a 
great  match  for  his  daughter.  But  the  eyes  of  Europe  were  not 
blinded ; it  was  France  that  triumphed,  the  policy  of  Cardinal 
Richelieu  and  of  Cardinal  Mazarin  was  everywhere  successful.  The 
work  of  Henry  I Y.  was  completed,  the  House  of  Austria  was  humi- 
liated and  vanquished  in  both  its  branches  ; the  man  who  had  con- 
cluded the  peace  of  Westphalia  and  the  peace  of  the  Pyrenees  had 
a right  to  say,  “ I am  more  French  in  heart  than  in  speech.” 

Like  Cardinal  Richelieu,  Mazarin  succumbed  at  the  very  pin- 
nacle of  his  glory  and  power ; he  died  of  gout  in  the  stomach, 
March  9,  1661. 

Louis  XIY.  was  about  to  reign  with  a splendour  and  puissance 
without  precedent ; his  subjects  were  submissive  and  Europe  at 
peace ; he  was  reaping  the  fruits  of  the  labours  of  his  grand- 
father Henry  IY.,  of  Cardinal  Richelieu  and  of  Cardinal  Mazarin. 
Whilst  continuing  the  work  of  Henry  IY.,  Richelieu  had  rendered 
possible  the  government  of  Mazarin ; he  had  set  the  kingly 
authority  on  foundations  so  strong  that  the  princes  of  the  blood 
themselves  could  not  shake  it.  Mazarin  had  destroyed  party  and 
secured  to  France  a glorious  peace.  Great  minister  had  succeeded 
great  king  and  able  man  great  minister ; Italian  prudence,  dex- 
terity and  finesse  had  replaced  the  indomitable  will,  the  incompar- 
able judgment  and  the  grandeur  of  view  of  the  French  priest  and 
nobleman.  Richelieu  and  Mazarin  had  acccmplished  their  patriotic 
work : the  King’s  turn  had  come. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

LOUIS  XIV. — HIS  FOREIGN  POLICY,  SUCCESSES  AND  REVERSES. 

Mazarin  knew  thoroughly  the  king  whose  birth  he  had  seen.  “ He  Louis  XIV, 
has  in  him  the  making  of  four  kings  and  one  honest  man,”  he  sum^°ns 
used  to  say.  Scarcely  was  the  minister  dead,  when  Louis  XI Y.  council, 
sent  to  summon  his  council : Chancellor  Seguier,  Superintendent 
Fouquet  and  Secretaries  of  State  Le  Tellier,  de  Lionne,  Brienne, 
Duplessis-Guenegaud,  and  La  Yrilliere.  Then,  addressing  the 
chancellor : “ Sir,”  said  he,  “ I have  had  you  assembled  together 
with  my  ministers  and  my  Secretaries  of  State  to  tell  you  that  until 
now  I have  been  well  pleased  to  leave  my  affairs  to  be  governed  by 
the  late  cardinal : it  is  time  that  I should  govern  them  myself ; you 
will  aid  me  with  your  counsels  when  I ask  for  them.  Beyond  the 
general  business  of  the  seal,  in  which  I do  not  intend  to  make  any 
alteration,  I beg  and  command  you,  Mr.  Chancellor,  to  put  the 
seal  of  authority  to  nothing  without  my  orders,  and  without  having 
spoken  to  me  thereof,  unless  a Secretary  of  State  shall  bring  them 

to  you  on  my  behalf And  for  you,  gentlemen,”  addressing  Declares 

the  Secretaries  of  State,  “ I warn  you  not  to  sign  anything,  even  tions< 
a safety-warrant  or  passport,  without  my  command,  to  report  every 
day  to  me  personally,  and  to  favour  nobody  in  your  monthly  rolls. 

Mr.  Superintendent,  I have  explained  to  you  my  intentions ; I beg 
that  you  will  employ  the  services  of  M.  Colbert,  whom  the  late 
cardinal  recommended  to  me.”  The  king’s  councillors  were  men 
of  experience  ; and  they  all  recognized  the  master’s  tone.  It  was 


376 


History  of  France. 


Fouquet. 


His  dis- 
grace. 


Louis  XIV.’s  misfortune  to  be  king  for  seventy-two  years,  and  to 
reign  fifty-six  years  as  sovereign  master. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-two  no  more  than  during  the  rest  of  his  life 
was  Louis  XIV.  disposed  to  sacrifice  business  to  pleasure,  but  he 
did  not  sacrifice  pleasure  to  business.  It  was  on  a taste  so  natural 
to  a young  prince,  for  the  first  time  free  to  do  as  he  pleased,  that 
Superintendent  Fouquet  counted  to  increase  his  influence  and  pro- 
bably his  power  with  the  king.  Fouquet,  who  was  born  in  1615, 
and  had  been  superintendent  of  finance  in  conjunction  with  Servien 
since  1655,  had  been  in  sole  possession  of  that  office  since  the  death 
of  his  colleague  in  1659.  He  had  faithfully  served  Cardinal 
Mazarin  through  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde.  The  latter  had  kept 
him  in  power  in  spite  of  numerous  accusations  of  malversation  and 
extravagance. 

At  the  time  we  are  now  speaking  of,  the  tide  had  not  yet  set  in 
against  the  surintendant ; but  clouds  were  beginning  to  gather  on 
the  horizon,  and  it  became  evident  that  a tremendous  catastrophe 
was  at  hand.  The  magnificent  fete  given  to  the  king  at  Vaux  by 
Fouquet  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  his  disgrace.  A few  weeks 
after  (September  1661)  he  was  arrested,  sent  to  the  Bastille  and 
tried  on  a double  charge  of  dilapidations  and  of  a plot  formed 
against  the  safety  of  the  State.  The  first  ground  of  accusation  was 
too  true ; the  second  has  never  been  proved.  After  a trial  which 
lasted  three  years,  nine  judges  voted  for  capital  punishment  and 
thirteen  for  banishment.  The  king  passed  a sentence  of  prison  for 
life.  Fouquet  was  taken  to  Pignerol,  and  all  his  family  removed 
from  Paris.  He  died  piously  in  his  prison,  in  1680,  a year  before 
his  venerable  mother  Marie  Maupeou,  who  was  so  deeply  concerned 
about  her  son’s  soul  at  the  very  pinnacle  of  greatness  that  she  threw 
herself  upon  her  knees  on  hearing  of  his  arrest  and  exclaimed,  “ I 
thank  Thee,  0 God ; I have  always  prayed  for  his  salvation,  and 
here  is  the  way  to  it ! ” 

Master  as  he  was  over  the  maintenance  of  peace  in  Europe  after 
so  many  and  such  long  periods  of  hostility,  young  Louis  XIV.  was 
only  waiting  for  an  opportunity  of  recommencing  war.  God  had 
vouchsafed  him  incomparable  instruments  for  the  accomplishment 
of  his  designs.  Whilst  Colbert  was  replenishing  the  exchequer,  all 
the  while  diminishing  the  imposts,  a younger  man  than  the  king 
himself,  the  marquis  of  Louvois,  son  of  Michael  Le  Tellier,  admitted 
to  the  council  at  twenty  years  of  age,  was  eagerly  preparing  the 
way  for  those  wars  which  were  nearly  always  successful  so  long 
as  he  lived,  however  insufficient  were  the  reasons  for  them,  how- 
ever unjust  was  their  aim. 


LOUIS  XIV. 


1IBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


377 


War  with  Spain. 

Foreign  affairs  were  in  no  worse  hands  than  the  administration  Colbert— 
of  finance  and  of  war.  M.  de  Lionne  was  an  able  diplomatist, 
broken  in  for  a long  time  past  to  important  affairs,  shrewd  and  sen- 
sible, more  celebrated  amongst  his  contemporaries  than  in  history, 
always  falling  into  the  second  rank,  behind  Mazarin  or  Louis  XIV., 

“ who  have  appropriated  his  fame,”  says  M.  Mignet.  The  negotia- 
tions conducted  by  M.  de  Lionne  were  of  a delicate  nature.  Louis 
XIV.  had  never  renounced  the  rights  of  the  queen  to  the  succession 
in  Spain  ; King  Philip  IV.  had  not  paid  his  daughter’s  dowry,  he 
said  ; the  French  ambassador  at  Madrid,  the  archbishop  of  Embrun, 
was  secretly  negotiating  to  obtain  a revocation  of  Maria  Theresa’s 
renunciation,  or  at  the  very  least  a recognition  of  the  right  of  devo- 
lution over  the  catholic  Low  Countries.  This  strange  custom  of 
Hainault  secured  to  the  children  of  the  first  marriage  succession 
to  the  paternal  property  to  the  exclusion  of  the  offspring  of  the 
second  marriage.  Louis  XIV.  claimed  the  application  of  it  to  the 
advantage  of  the  queen  his  wife,  daughter  of  Elizabeth  of  France. 

In  this  view  and  with  these  prospects,  he  needed  the  alliance 
of  the  Hollanders,  and  had  remained  faithful  to  the  policy  of 
Henry  IV.  and  Bichelieu  when  Philip  TV.  died  on  the  17th  of 
September,  1665.  Almost  at  the  same  time  the  dissension  between 
England  and  Holland,  after  a period  of  tacit  hostility,  broke  out 
into  action.  The  United  Provinces  claimed  the  aid  of  France. 

Louis  XIV.  took  the  field  in  the  month  of  May,  1667.  The  Campaign 
Spaniards  were  unprepared  : Armentieres,  Charleroi,  Douai  and  1667‘ 
Tournay  had  but  insufficient  garrisons,  and  they  fell  almost  with- 
out striking  a blow.  Audenarde  was  taken  in  two  days ; and 
the  king  laid  siege  to  Lille.  Vauban,  already  celebrated  as  an 
engineer,  traced  out  the  lines  of  circumvallation  ; the  burgesses 
forced  the  garrison  to  capitulate  ; and  Louis  XIV.  entered  the  town 
on  the  27th  of  August,  after  ten  days’  open  trenches.  This  first 
campaign  had  been  nothing  but  playing  at  war,  almost  entirely 
without  danger  or  bloodshed ; it  had,  nevertheless,  been  sufficient 
to  alarm  Europe.  Scarcely  had  peace  been  concluded  at  Breda, 
when,  on  the  23rd  of  January,  1668,  the  celebrated  treaty  of  the 
Triple  Alliance  was  signed  at  the  Hague  between  England,  Holland 
and  Sweden.  The  three  powers  demanded  of  the  king  of  France 
that  he  should  grant  the  Low  Countries  a truce  up  to  the  month  of 
May,  in  order  to  give  time  for  treating  with  Spain  and  obtaining 
from  her,  as  France  demanded,  the  definitive  cession  of  the  con- 
quered places  or  Franche- Comte  in  exchange,  At  bottom,  the  A.D.  *668. 
Triple  Alliance  was  resolved  to  protect  helpless  Spain  against  ^ triple 
France ; a secret  article  bound  the  three  allies  to  take  up  arms  to  Alliance. 


3/3 


History  of  France . 


Franche- 
Comte  in 
vaded. 


Treaty  of 

Aix-la- 

Chapelle. 


restrain  Louis  XIY.,  and  to  bring  him.  back,  if  possible  to  the  peace 
of  the  Pyrenees.  At  the  same  moment,  Portugal  was  making  peace 
with  Spain,  who  recognized  her  independence. 

The  king  refused  the  long  armistice  demanded  of  him  : “ I will 
grant  it  up  to  the  31st  of  March/’  he  had  said,  “ being  unwilling  to 
miss  the  first  opportunity  of  taking  the  field.”  The  marquis  of 
Castel-Rodrigo  made  merry  over  this  proposal : “I  am  content,” 
said  he,  “with  the  suspension  of  arms  that  winter  imposes  upon 
the  king  of  Prance.”  The  governor  of  the  Low  Countries  made  a 
mistake  : in  the  midst  of  winter,  after  having  concentrated  from  all 
parts  of  Prance  90,000  men  at  Dijon,  the  king  threw  himself  upon 
the  Spanish  possessions  in  Franche-Comte,  carried  Besan^on  in  two 
days,  Dole  in  four,  and  the  whole  province  in  three  weeks.  Some 
one  said,  alluding  te  the  rapidity  of  this  campaign : “ Autant  eut 
valu  envoyer  des  laquais  pour  en  prendre  possession.”  Louis  XIY. 
satisfied  with  the  brilliant  results  of  his  expedition  and  not  wishing 
to  compromise  it,  signed  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  (May  2nd). 
According  to  the  terms  of  that  agreement,  Spain  abandoned  to  Prance 
all  her  conquests  in  the  Xorth,  together  with  the  towns  of  Bergues 
and  Purnes  on  the  sea-coast;  Prance  restored  Franche-Comte,  but 
after  having  destroyed  the  fortifications  which  protected  it,  and 
reduced  it  to  a defenceless  state.  By  so  doing,  Louis  XIY.  was  fur- 
ther enabled  to  gain  the  time  he  required  for  the  preparation  of  the 
campaign  which  he  meditated  against  Holland. 

He  began  by  levying  exorbitant  duties  on  the  tonnage  of  all  ships 
coming  from  Holland  and  by  subjecting  to  a treble  duty  French 
goods  imparted  into  that  country.  In  the  meanwhile  Sweden  had 
joined  the  side  of  Prance ; through  the  mediation  of  Henrietta  of 
England,  duchess  of  Orleans,  and  sister  of  Charles  II.,  this  monarch 
had  taken  the  same  resolution ; and  finally  the  league  was 
strengthened  by  the  accession  of  the  emperor  and  of  the  princes  of 
the  confederation  of  the  Rhine  (1672). 

At  length,  when  everything  was  ready,  Louis  XIY,  at  the  head  of 
100,000  men,  crossed  the  Rhine  without  obstacle, 
straight  into  the  very  heart  of  Holland. 

Burick,  and  Orsoy,  attacked  at  once,  did  not  hold  out  four  days. 

The  French  On  the  12th  of  June  the  king  and  the  prince  of  Conde  appeared 
unexPectedly  on  the  right  bank  of  the  intermediary  branch  of  the 
Rhine,  between  the  Wahal  and  the  Yssel.  The  Hollanders  were 
expecting  the  enemy  at  the  ford  of  the  Yssel,  being  more  easy  to 
pass ; they  were  taken  by  surprise ; the  king’s  cuirassier  regiment 
dashed  into  the  river  and  crossed  it  partly  by  fording  and  partly 
by  swimming;  the  resistance  was  brief;  meanwhile  the  duke  of 


marching 
Rheinberg,  Wesel, 


Murder  of  the  brothers  Van  Witt. 


3/9 


Longueville  was  killed  and  the  prince  of  Conde  was  wounded  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life.  “ I was  present  at  the  passage, ^which  was 
hold,  vigorous,  full  of  brilliancy  and  glorious  for  the  nation,”  writes 
Louis  XIY.  Arnheim  and  Deventer  had  just  surrendered  to 
Turenne  and  Luxembourg  ; Duisbourg  resisted  the  king  for  a few 
days  ; Monsieur  was  besieging  Zutphen.  John  van  Witt  was  for 
evacuating  the  Hague  and  removing  to^Amsterdam  the  centre  of 
government  and  resistance  ; the  prince  of  Orange  had  just  abandoned 
the  province  of  Utrecht,  which  was  immediately  occupied  by  the  utrecht 
Drench  ; the  defensive  efforts  were  concentrated  upon  the  province  occupied 
of  Holland ; already  Uaarden,  three  leagues  from  Amsterdam,  was 
in  the  king’s  hands  ; “We  learn  the  surrender  of  towns  before  we 
have  heard  of  their  investment,”  wrote  Yan  Witt.  A deputation 
from  the  States  was  sent  on  the  22nd  of  June  to  the  king’s  head- 
quarters to  demand  peace.  Louis  XIY.  had  just  entered  Utrecht, 
which,  finding  itself  abandoned,  opened  its  gates  to  him.  On  the 
same  day,  John  van  Witt  received  in  a street  of  the  Hague  four 
stabs  with  a dagger  from  the  hand  of  an  assassin,  whilst  the  city  of 
Amsterdam,  but  lately  resolved  to  surrender  and  prepared  to  send 
its  magistrates  as  delegates  to  Louis  XIY.,  suddenly  decided  upon 
resistance  to  the  hitter  end. 

The  king  of  France  was  as  yet  ignorant  what  can  he  done 
amongst  a proud  people  by  patriotism  driven  to  despair;  the 
States-general  offered  him  Maestricht,  the  places  on  the  Ehine, 

Brabant  and  Dutch  Flanders,  with  a war-indemnity  of  ten  millions  ; 
it  was  an  open  door  to  the  Spanish  Low  Countries,  which  became 
a patch  enclosed  by  French  possessions ; but  the  king  wanted  to 
annihilate  the  Hollanders ; he  demanded  southern  Gueldres,  the 
island  of  Bonmel,  twenty-four  millions,  the  restoration  of  Catholic 
worship,  and,  every  year,  an  embassy  commissioned  to  thank  the 
king  for  having  a second  time  given  peace  to  the  United  Provinces. 

This  was  rather  too  much ; and,  whilst  the  deputies  were  nego- 
tiating with  heavy  hearts,  the  people  of  Holland  had  risen  in  wrath. 

The  States-general  decided  to  “reject  the  hard  and  intolerable  con- 
ditions proposed  by  their  lordships  the  kings  of  France  and  Great 
Britain,  and  to  defend  this  State  and  its  inhabitants  with  all  their 
might.”  The  province  of  Holland  in  its  entirety  followed  the 
example  of  Amsterdam  ; the  dikes  were  everywhere  broken  down, 
at  the  same  time  that  the  troops  of  the  electors  of  Brandenburg  and 
Saxony  were  advancing  to  the  aid  of  the  United  Provinces,  and 
that  the  emperor  was  signing  with  those  two  princes  a defensive  jyiur^er 
alliance  for  the  maintenance  of  the  treaties  of  Westphalia,  the  of  the 
Pyrenees  and  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The  murder  of  the  brothers  Yan  y^*witt 


Campaign 
of  1674. 
Battle  of 
Seneffe. 


The  Pala- 
tinate 
ravaged. 


A.D.  1675. 
Battle  of 
Sassbach. 
Death  of 
Turenne 
(July  27). 


380  History  of  France . 

Witt  was  an  act  wanton  cruelty  and  of  brutal  ingratitude;  the 
instinct  of  the  people  of  Holland,  however,  saw  clearly  into  the 
situation,  jfohn  van  Witt  would  have  failed  in  the  struggle  against 
France ; William  of  Orange,  prince,  politician  and  soldier,  saved 
his  country  and  Europe  from  the  yoke  of  Louis  XIY. 

Thus  was  being  undone,  link  by  link,  the  chain  of  alliances 
which  Louis  XIY.  had  buff  lately  twisted  round  Holland  ; France, 
in  her  turn,  was  finding  herself  alone,  with  all  Europe  against  her, 
scared,  and  consequently  active  and  resolute ; not  one  of  the  belli- 
gerents desired  peace  ; the  Hollanders  had  just  settled  the  heredity 
of  the  stadtholderate  in  the  House  of  Orange.  Louis  XIY.  saw 
the  danger.  “ So  many  enemies,”  says  he  in  his  Memoires , 
“ obliged  me  to  take  care  of  myself,  and  think  what  I must  do  to 
maintain  the  reputation  of  my  arms,  the  advantage  of  my  dominions 
and  my  personal  glory.”  It  was  in  Franche-Comte  that  Louis 
XIY.  went  to  seek  these  advantages.  The  whole  province  was 
reduced  to  submission  in  the  month  of  June,  1674.  Turenne  had 
kept  the  Ehine  against  the  Imperialists  ; the  marshal  alone  escaped 
the  tyranny  of  the  king  and  Louvois,  and  presumed  to  conduct  the 
campaign  in  his  own  way.  Conde  had  gained  on  the  11th  of 
August  the  bloody  victory  of  Seneffe  over  the  prince  of  Orange 
and  the  allied  generals.  Advantages  remained  balanced  in 
Flanders ; the  result  of  the  campaign  depended  on  Turenne,  who 
commanded  on  the  Ehine.  On  the  16th  of  June,  he  engaged  in 
battle  at  Sinzheim  with  the  duke  of  Lorraine,  who  was  coming  up 
with  the  advance-guard.  “ I never  saw  a more  obstinate  fight,” 
said  Turenne  : “ those  old  regiments  of  the  emperor’s  did  mighty 
well.”  He  subsequent^  entered  the  Palatinate,  quartering  his 
troops  upon  it,  whilst  the  superintendents  sent  by  Louvois  were 
burning  and  plundering  the  country,  crushed  as  it  was  under  war- 
contributions.  The  king  and  Louvois  were  disquieted  by  the 
movement  of  the  enemy’s  troops,  and  wanted  to  get  Turenne  back 
into  Lorraine.  On  the  20th  of  September,  the  burgesses  of  the 
free  city  of  Strasburg  delivered  up  the  bridge  over  the  Ehine  to  the 
Imperialists  who  were  in  the  heart  of  Alsace.  The  victory  of 
Ensheim,  the  fights  of  Mulhausen  and  Turckheim,  sufficed  to  drive 
them  back  ; but  it  was  only  on  the  22nd  of  January,  1575,  that 
Turenne  was  at  last  enabled  to  leave  Alsace  reconquered. 

The  coalition  was  proceeding  slowly  ; the  prince  of  Orange  was 
ill ; the  king  made  himself  master  of  the  citadel  of  Liege  and  some 
small  places.  Limburg  surrendered  to  the  prince  of  Conde,  with- 
out the  allies  having  been  able  to  relieve  it.  In  June  1675, 
Turenne  returned  to  his  army ; he  invaded  once  more  the  Palatinate, 


Marriage  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  3S1 

and  was  opposed  by  Montecuculli,  a general  who,  ten  years  before, 
had  defeated  the  Turks  at  the  battle  of  Saint-Gothard,  and  who 
was  considered  a consummate  tactician.  For  six  weeks  the  two 
commanders  observed  and  followed  one  another,  and  their  reputation 
was  much  increased  by  the  proof  they  thus  give  of  strategic  skill. 

At  last,  they  were  on  the  point  of  fighting,  near  the  village  of 
Sassbach,  on  a spot  which  Turenne  had  selected,  and  where  he 
made  sure  of  being  victorious,  when  the  marshal,  whilst  observing 
the  position  of  a battery,  was  killed  by  a cannon-ball,  which  carried 
off  likewise  the  arm  of  Saint- Hilaire,  lieutenant  general  of  the 
Artillery  (July  27,  1675).  His  death  was,  for  France,  a public 
calamity.  In  order  to  honour  the  best  captain  of  the  age,  Louis 
XIV.  authorized  his  being  buried  at  Saint-Denis,  in  the  midst  of 
the  sepultures  of  the  kings. 

Europe  demanded  a general  peace ; England  and  Holland  Alliance 
desired  it  passionately.  “ I am  as  anxious  as  you  lor  an  end  to  England 
be  put  to  the  war,”  said  the  prince  of  Orange  to  the  deputies  from  and  Hol- 
the  Estates,  “ provided  that  I get  out  of  it  with  honour.”  He  land* 
refused  obstinately  to  separate  from  his  allies.  William  had  just 
married  (November  15,  1677)  the  Princess  Mary,  eldest  daughter 
of  the  duke  of  York  and  Anne  Hyde.  An  alliance  offensive  and 
defensive  between  England  and  Holland  was  the  price  of  this 
union,  which  struck  Louis  XIV.  an  unexpected  blow.  He  had 
lately  made  a proposal  to  the  prince  of  Orange  to  marry  one  of 
his  natural  daughters.  “ The  first  notice  I had  of  the  marriage,” 
wrote  the  king,  “ was  through  the  bonfires  lighted  in  London.” 

“ The  loss  of  a decisive  battle  could  not  have  scared  the  king  of 
France  more,”  said  the  English  ambassador,  Lord  Montagu.  For 
more  than  a year  past  negotiations  had  been  going  on  at  Nimeguen  ; 

Louis  XIV.  resolved  to  deal  one  more  great  blow. 

The  campaign  of  1676  had  been  insignificant,  save  at  sea.  John 
Bart,  a corsair  of  Dunkerque,  scoured  the  seas  and  made  foreign 
commerce  tremble  ; he  took  ships  by  boarding,  and  killed  with  his 
own  hands  the  Dutch  captain  of  the  Neptune , who  offered  resist- 
ance. Messina,  in  revolt  against  the  Spaniards,  had  given  herjelf 
up  to  France ; the  duke  of  Vivonne,  brother  of  Madame  de 
Montespan,  who  had  been  sent  thither  as  governor,  had  extended 
his  conquests ; Duquesne,  quite  young  still,  had  triumphantly 
maintained  the  glory  of  France  against  the  great  Ruyter,  who  had 
been  mortally  wounded  off  Catana  on  the  21st-  of  April.  But 
already  the  possession  of  Sicily  was  becoming  precarious,  and  these 
distant  successes  had  paled  before  the  brilliant  campaign  of  1677  ; Campaign 
the  capture  of  Valenciennes,  Cambrai,  and  St.  Omer,  the  defence  of  1677. 


Its  results. 


A.D.  1677. 
Peace  of 
Nimeguen. 


3 $2  History  of  France . 

of  Lorraine,  the  victory  of  Cassel  gained  over  the  prince  of  Orange, 
had  confirmed  the  king  in  his  intentions.  “ We  have  done  all 
that  we  were  able  and  bound  to  do,”  wrote  William  of  Orange  to 
the  Estates  on  the  13th  of  April,  1677,  “and  we  are  very  sorry 
to  be  obliged  to  tell  your  High  Mightinesses  that  it  has  not  pleased 
God  to  bless,  on  this  occasion,  the  arms  of  the  State  under  our 
guidance.”  Ghent  was  invested  by  the  French  on  the  1st  of  March 
and  capitulated  on  the  11th;  Ypres  in  its  turn  succumbed  on  the 
25th  after  a vigorous  resistance.  Louis  XIV.  sent  his  ultimatum 
to  Nimeguen. 

On  the  10th  of  August,  in  the  evening,  the  special  peace  between 
Holland  and  France  was  signed  after  twenty-four  hours’  conference. 
The  prince  of  Orange  had  concentrated  all  his  forces  near  Mons, 
confronting  Marshal  Luxembourg,  who  occupied  the  plateau  -of 
Casteau ; he  had  no  official  news  as  yet  from  Ximeguen,  and,  on 
the  14th,  he  began  the  engagement  outside  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis. 
The  affair  was  a very  murderous  one  and  remained  indecisive : it 
did  more  honour  to  the  military  skill  of  the  prince  of  Orange  than 
to  his  loyalty.  Holland  had  not  lost  an  inch  of  her  territory  during 
this  war,  so  long,  so  desperate,  and  notoriously  undertaken  in  order 
to  destroy  her ; she  had  spent  much  money,  she  had  lost  many  men, 
she  had  shaken  the  confidence  of  her  allies  by  treating  alone  and 
being  the  first  to  treat,  but  she  had  furnished  a chief  to  the  Euro- 
pean coalition,  and  she  had  shown  an  example  of  indomitable 
resistance;  the  States-general  and  the  prince  of  Orange  alone, 
besides  Louis  XIY.,  came  the  greater  out  of  the  struggle.  The  king 
of  England  had  lost  all  consideration  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
Spain  paid  all  the  expenses  of  the  war. 

Peace  was  concluded  on  the  17th  of  September,  thanks  to  the 
energetic  intervention  of  the  Hollanders.  The  king  restored 
Courtrav,  Audenarde,  Atb,  and  Charleroi,  which  had  been  given 
him  by  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Ghent,  Limburg  and  St. 
Ghislain ; but  he  kept  by  definitive  right  St.  Omer,  Cassel,  Aire, 
Ypres,  Cambray,  Bouchain,  Yalenciennes,  and  all  Franche-Comte ; 
h^iceforth  he  possessed  in  the  north  of  France  a line  of  places 
extending  from  Dunkerque  to  the  Meuse ; the  Spanish  monarchy 
was  disarmed. 

It  still  required  a successful  campaign  under  Marshal  Crequi 
to  bring  the  emperor  and  the  German  princes  over  to  peace ; ex- 
changes of  territory  and  indemnities  re-established  the  treaty  of 
Westphalia  on  all  essential  points.  The  duke  of  Lorraine  refused 
the  conditions  on  which  the  king  proposed  to  restore  to  him  his 
duchy ; so  Louis  XIV.  kept  Lorraine. 


333 


Brilliant  successes  of  Louis  XIV . 

The  king  of  France  was  at  the  pinnacle  of  his  greatness  and 
power.  “ Singly  against  all,”  as  Louvois  said,  he  had  maintained 
the  struggle  against  Europe,  and  he  came  out  of  it  victorious ; 
everywhere,  with  good  reason,  was  displayed  his  proud  device, 

Nec  pluribus  impar.  The  prince  of  Orange  regarded  the  peace  of 
Himeguen  as  a truce,  and  a truce  fraught  with  danger  to  Europe. 

For  that  reason  did  he  soon  seek  to  form  alliances  in  order  to  secure 

the  repose  of  the  world  against  the  insatiable  ambition  of  King 

Louis  XIV.  Intoxicated  by  his  successes  and  the  adulation  of  his 

court,  the  king  no  longer  brooked  any  objections  to  his  will  or  any 

limits  to  his  desires.  Standing  at  the  king’s  side  and  exciting  his  Louis  XIV. 

pride  and  ambition,  Louvois  had  little  by  little  absorbed  all  the  c^g^y 

functions  of  prime  minister  without  bearing  the  title.  Colbert  success. 

alone  resisted  him,  and  he,  weary  of  the  struggle,  was  about  to 

succumb  before  long  (1683),  driven  to  desperation  by  the  burthens 

that  the  wars  and  the  king’s  luxury  caused  to  weigh  heavily  upon 

France.  Whilst  all  the  contending  parties  disbanded  their  troops, 

Louis  XIY.  alone  took  advantage  of  the  situation  for  the  purpose 
of  increasing  his  power  by  means  which  were  very  little  short  of 
actual  warfare.  By  virtue  of  the  last  arrangements  he  had  obtained 
the  surrender  of  a certain  number  of  towns  and  districts  together 
with  their  dependencies.  In  order  to  ascertain  what  these  depen- 
dencies were,  he  established  at  Tournay,  at  Metz,  at  Brisacli  and 
at  Besan^n  special  courts,  known  as  chambres  de  reunion , because  “Chaxnbres 
their  business  was  to  re-unite  to  France  certain  territories  alleged  , d.e 
to  have  been  dismembered  from  the  cities  of  Flanders,  Alsace,  Trois- 
eveches , and  Franche-Comte.  Some  German  princes,  the  Elector 
Palatine,  and  the  king  of  Spain  were  obliged  to  appear  by  deputy 
and  make  their  respective  titles  good ; and  sentences  supported  by 
force  gave  to  Louis  XIV.  twenty  important  military  positions,  Saru- 
briick,  Deux-Ponts,  Luxemburg,  Montbeliard,  and  especially  Stras- 
burg,  which  Vauban  fortified,  thus  making  the  strongest  barrier  of 
the  kingdom  on  the  Rhenish  frontier  (1681).  In  Italy,  Louis  XIV. 
purchased  Casal  in  the  Montferrate  from  the  duke  of  Mantua,  in 
order  to  command  the  north  of  the  peninsula  and  Piedmont,  wliicft 
he  was  already  in  a certain  sense  master  of  by  the  possession  of 
Pignerol. 

He  was,  however,  himself  about  to  deal  his  own  kingdom  a blow 
more  fatal  than  all  those  of  foreign  wars  and  of  the  European  coali- 
tion. He  had  been  carrying  matters  with  a very  high  hand  in 
other  quarters.  The  stronghold  of  the  Algerian  pirates  was  twice 
bombarded  by  Duquesne  (1683) ; the  republic  of  Genoa  which  had 
supplied  them  with  arms  and  ships,  found  itself  compelled  to  make 


3§4 


History  of  France. 


of  tlie 
edict  of 
Nantes. 


amende  honorable  in  the  person  of  the  Doge,  who,  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  the  state,  came  to  Versailles  (1685).  Pope  Innocent  XI. 
himself  incurred  the  resentment  of  the  king  for  attempting  to 
abolish  the  right  of  asylum  which  the  French  ambassadors  had  till 
then  enjoyed  in  Rome  (1687).  The  glory  of  Louis  XIV.  seemed 
to  extend  to  the  remotest  limits  of  the  known  world,  and  the  king  of 
Siam  sent  to  Versailles  an  embassy  which  created,  at  the  time,  the 
greatest  sensation.  Intoxicated  by  so  much  success  and  so  many  vic- 
tories, he  fancied  that  consciences  were  to  he  bent  like  States,  and  he 
set  about  bringing  all  his  subjects  hack  to  the  Catholic  faith.  Himself 
returning  to  a regular  life,  under  the  influence  of  age  and  of  Madame 
de  Maintenon,  he  thought  it  a fine  thing  to  establish  in  his  kingdom 
that  unity  of  religion  which  Henry  IV.  and  Richelieu  had  not  been 
able  to  bring  about.  He  set  at  nought  all  the  rights  consecrated 
by  edicts,  and  the  long  patience  of  those  Protestants  whom  Mazarin 
called  “ the  faithful  flock  ; ” in  vain  had  persecution  been  tried  for 
several  years  past;  tyranny  interf erred,  and  the  edict  of  Nantes 
A.D.  1685.  was  revoked  on  the  13th  of  October,  1685.  Some  years  later,  the 
Revocation  reformers,  by  hundreds  of  thousands  carried  into  foreign  lands  their 
industries,  their  wealth  and  their  bitter  resentments.  Protestant 
Europe,  indignant,  opened  her  doors  to  these  martyrs  to  conscience, 
living  witnesses  of  the  injustice  and  arbitrary  power  of  Louis  XIV. 
All  the  princes  felt  themselves  at  the  same  time  insulted  and 
threatened  in  respect  of  their  faith  as  well  as  of  their  puissance. 
In  the  early  months  of  1686,  the  league  of  Augsburg  united  all  the 
German  princes,  Holland  and  Sweden;  Spain  and  the  duke  of 
Savoy  were  not  slow  to  join  it.  lit  1687,  the  diet  of  Ratisbonne 
refused  to  convert  the  twenty  years’  truce  into  a definitive  peace. 
By  his  haughty  pretensions  the  king  gave  to  the  coalition  the  sup- 
port of  Pope  Innocent  XI. ; Louis  XIV.  was  once  more  single- 
handed  against  all,  when  he  invaded  the  electorate  of  Cologne  in 
the  month  of  August,  1686.  Philipsburg,  lost  by  France  in  1676, 
was  recovered  on  the  29th  of  October ; at  the  end  of  the  campaign, 
the  king’s  armies  were  masters  of  the  Palatinate.  In  the  month 
January,  1689,  war  was  officially  declared  against  Holland,  the 
emperor  and  the  empire.  The  command-in- chief  of  the  French 
forces  was  entrusted  to  the  Dauphin,  then  twenty-six  years  of  age. 
u I give  you  an  opportunity  of  making  your  merit  known,”  said 
Louis  XIV.  to  his  son : “ exhibit  it  to  all  Europe,  so  that  when  I 
come  to  die  it  shall  not  be  perceived  that  the  king  is  dead.” 

The  Dauphin  was  already  tasting  the  pleasures  of  conquest,  and 
the  coalition  had  not  stirred.  They  were  awaiting  their  chief; 
William  of  Orange  was  fighting  for  them  in  the  very  act  of  taking 


The  wa 
re-com- 
mences. 


The  Palatinate  once  more  ravaged . 385 

possession  of  the  kingdom  of  England.  The  revolution  of  1688 
was  the  answer  made  to  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes. 

Louis  XIV.  received  James  II.,  affected  to  treat  him  as  a king,  and 
commenced  extensive  preparations  for  his  re-establishment.  Hence 
a general  explosion  against  France ; war  broke  out  in  four  different 
quarters  simultaneously.  James  II.  appeared  in  Ireland,  besieged  to 
no  purpose  the  town  of  Londonderry,  and  lost  against  William  III. 
himself  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  wdiere  a regiment  of  French 
colonists,  commanded  by  Schomberg,  did  much  harm  to  the  troops 
of  Louis  XIV.  (1690).  At  the  same  time  the  French  fleet  under  Naval  en- 
the  orders  of  d’Estrees  and  Tourville  obtained  a decided  victory  at  &aSementls* 
Beachy-Head.  It  required  two  years  to  fit  out  a new  expedition, 
composed  of  thirty  vessels  and  which  was  entrusted  to  d’Estrees, 
who  had  directions  to  occupy  the  Mediterranean,  whilst  Tourville, 
with  forty-four  sail,  remained  in  the  British  Channel.  An  engage- 
ment took  place  at  La  Hogue  (1692),  which  turned  to  the  utter 
discomfiture  of  the  French,  and  completely  put  an  end  to  the  hopes 
still  entertained  by  James  II.  The  whole  fleet  of  Louis  XIV.  was 
defeated,  and  fourteen  of  the  ships  which  composed  it  were  burnt 
down.  On  the  Rhine,  the  Dauphin,  at  the  head  of  100,000  men, 
with  the  assistance  of  marshal  de  Duras,  took  Philipsburg,  Worms, 

Manheim,  and  by  the  order  of  Louvois  the  Palatinate  was  once  Second  de 
more  subjected  to  all  the  horrors  of  wholesale  destruction  by  sword 
and  fire.  This  piece  of  unwarrantable  atrocity  is  said  to  have  been  latinate. 
the  cause  of  Louvois’s  disgrace,  who  died  shortly  afterwards. 

In  Italy  Catinat  kept  his  ground  against  Victor- Amadeus,  duke 
of  Savoy,  and  against  prince  Eugene,  who,  in  consequence  of  an 
act  of  injustice  on  the  part  of  Louis  XIV.,  had  joined  the  enemy. 

The  French  general  defeated  the  allies  at  Staffarde,  and  three 
years  afterwards  at  Marsaglia  ; but  compelled  as  he  was  to  see  his 
foot  soldiers  withdrawn  from  his  command  for  the  purpose  of 
strengthening  other  divisions  of  the  French  army  ; he  was  himself 
obliged  merely  to  keep  the  defensive. 

The  most  brilliant  episodes  of  the  war  took  place  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Luxembourg,  whose  military  talents  and  whose  energy 
have  often  caused  him  to  be  compared  -with  Conde,  defeated 
the  prince  of  Waldeck  at  Fleurus  (1690),  then  took  possession 
of  Mons  under  the  eyes  of  William  III.,  who  had  come  from  Ire-  Battles  of 
land  on  purpose  to  relieve  the  town,  and  finally  made  himself  St^rde 
master  of  Namur  during  the  following  campaign  (1692).  The  king  Fleurus. 
was  present  on  both  these  occasions,  and  his  favourite  poet  Boileau 
celebrated  the  taking  of  Namur  in  an  ode  which  is  generally  con- 
sidered one  of  his  weakest  compositions.  The  battle  of  Steinkirk 

c c 


Wretched 
condition 
of  France, 


A.D  1697. 
Treaty  of 
Byswick. 


386  History  of  France. 

was  an  act  of  skill  which  reflected  the  greatest  credit  upon  Marshal 
Luxembourg.  Exhausted  by  the  fatigues  of  war  and  the  pleasures 
of  the  court,  he  died  on  the  4th  of  January,  1695,  at  sixty-seven 
years  of  age.  An  able  general,  a worthy  pupil  of  the  great  Conde, 
a courtier  of  much  wits  and  no  shame,  he  was  more  corrupt  than 
his  age,  and  his  private  life  was  injurious  to  his  fame;  he  died, 
however,  as  people  did  die  in  his  time,  turning  to  God  at  the  last 
day.  “ I haven’t  lived  like  M.  de  Luxembourg,”  said  Bourdaloue, 
“ but  I should  like  to  die  like  him.”  History  has  forgotten  Marshal 
Luxembourg’s  death  and  remembered  his  life. 

Louis  XIY.  had  lost  Conde  and  Turenne,  Luxembourg,  Colbert, 
Louvois  and  Seignelay ; with  the  exception  of  Vauban,  he  had 
exhausted  the  first  rank  ; Catinat  alone  remained  in  the  second ; 
the  king  was  about  to  be  reduced  to  the  third  : sad  fruits  of  a long 
reign,  of  an  incessant  and  devouring  activity,  which  had  speedily 
used  up  men  and  was  beginning  to  tire  out  fortune  ; grievous  result 
of  mistakes  long  hidden  by  glory,  but  glaring  out  at  last  before  the 
eyes  most  blinded  by  prejudice  ! By  detaching  the  duke  of  Savoy 
from  the  coalition,  Louis  XIY.  struck  a fatal  blow  at  the  great 
alliance:  the  campaign  of  1696  in  Germany  and  in  Flanders  had 
resolved  itself  into  mere  observations  and  insignificant  engagements ; 
Holland  and  England  were  exhausted,  and  their  commerce  was 
ruined  ; in  vain  did  Parliament  vote  fresh  and  enormous  supplies  : 
“ I should  want  ready  money,”  wrote  William  III.  to  Heinsius, 
“and  my  poverty  is  really  incredible.” 

There  was  no  less  cruel  want  in  France.  “ I calculate  that  in 
these  latter  days  more  than  a tenth  part  of  the  people,”  said 
Yauban,  “ are  reduced  to  beggary  and  in  fact  beg.”  Sweden  had 
for  a long  time  been  proffering  mediation  ; conferences  began  on  the 
9th  of  May,  1697,  at  Hieuburg,  a castle  belonging  to  William  III., 
near  the  village  of  Byswick.  Three  great  halls  opened  one  into 
another ; the  French  and  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the  coalition  of 
princes  occupied  the  two  wings,  the  mediators  sat  in  the  centre. 
Before  arriving  at  Byswick,  the  most  important  points  of  the  treaty 
between  France  and  William  III.  were  already  settled. 

France  offered  restitution  of  Strasburg,  Luxembourg,  Mons, 
Charleroi  and  Dinant,  restoration  of  the  House  of  Lorraine,  with 
the  conditions  proposed  at  Himeguen,  and  recognition  of  the  king 
of  England.  “We  have  no  equivalent  to  claim,”  said  the  French 
plenipotentiaries  haughtily  ; “ your  masters  have  never  taken  any- 
thing from  ours.” 

On  the  27th  of  July  a preliminary  deed  was  signed  between  Mar- 
shal Boufflers  and  Bentinck,  earl  of  Portland,  the  intimate  friend  of 


The  Spanish  succession.  387 

King  William  ; the  latter  left  the  army  and  retired  to  his  castle  of 
Loo  ; there  it  was  that  he  heard  of  the  capture  of  Barcelona  by  the 
duke  of  Yendome  ; Spain,  which  had  hitherto  refused  to  take  part 
in  the  negotiations,  lost  all  courage  and  loudly  demanded  peace,  but 
France  withdrew  her  concessions  on  the  subject  of  Strasburg,  and 
proposed  to  give  as  equivalent  Friburg  in  Brisgau  and  Brisach. 

William  III.  did  not  hesitate.  Heinsius  signed  the  peace  in  the 
name  of  the  States-general  on  the  20th  of  September  at  midnight; 
the  English  and  Spanish  plenipotentiaries  did  the  same ; the 
emperor  and  the  empire  were  alone  in  still  holding  out : the 

Emperor  Leopold  made  pretensions  to  regulate  in  advance  the 
Spanish  succession,  and  the  Protestant  princes  refused  to  accept 
the  maintenance  of  the  Catholic  worship  in  all  the  places  in  which 
Louis  XIY.  had  restored  it. 

Here  again  the  will  of  William  III.  prevailed  over  the  irreso-  T#ke  fron- 
0 . r ...  tiers  of 

lution  of  his  allies.  For  the  first  time  since  Cardinal  Bichelieu  France 

France  moved  back  her  frontiers  by  the  signature  of  a treaty,  moved 

She  had  gained  the  important  place  of  Strasburg,  but  she  lost  ^ack* 

nearly  all  she  had  won  by  the  treaty  of  Nimeguen  in  the  Low 

Countries  and  in  Germany  ; she  kept  Franche -Comte,  but  she  gave 

up  Lorraine.  Louis  XIY.  had  wanted  to  aggrandise  himself  at  any 

price  and  at  any  risk  ; he  was  now  obliged  to  precipitately  break 

up  the  grand  alliance,  for  King  Charles  II.  was  slowly  dying  at 

Madrid,  and  the  Spanish  succession  was  about  to  open.  Ignorant 

of  the  supreme  evils  and  sorrows  which  awaited  him  on  this  fatal 

path,  the  king  of  France  began  to  forget,  in  this  distant  prospect 

of  fresh  aggrandisement  and  war,  the  checks  that  his  glory  and  his 

policy  had  just  met  with. 

The  competitors  for  the  succession  were  numerous  ; the  king  of  The 

France  and  the  emperor  claimed  their  rights  in  the  name  of  Spanish 

x 0 succession, 

their  mothers  and  wives,  daughters  of  Philip  III.  and  Philip  IY.  ; 

the  elector  of  Bavaria  put  up  the  claims  of  his  son  by  right  of  his 
mother,  Mary  Antoinette  of  Austria,  daughter  of  the  emperor  ; for 
a short  time  Charles  II.  had  adopted  this  young  prince ; the  child 
died  suddenly  at  Madrid  in  1699.1  The  persons  most  interested 
in  the  succession  had  not  thought  proper  either  to  obtain  the 
king’s  consent  or  to  wait  for  his  demise  before  dividing  his  pos- 
sessions between  themselves ; they  had  even  made  a partition 
twice,  and  had  satisfied  none  of  the  claimants.  Charles  was 
informed  of  this  unwarrantable  arrangement,  and  under  the 
impressions  of  disgust  which  it  excited  in  him,  he  named  as 
his  successor  Philip,  duke  d’ Anjou,  grandson  of  Louis  XI Y. 

1 See  the  genealogical  tree  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

c c 2 


A D 1702. 
Death  of 
William 
III. 


Ineffi- 
ciency of 
French 
statesmen. 


388  History  of  France . 

After  a pretence  of  deliberation  the  king  accepted,  and  sending 
Philip  to  take  possession  of  his  throne  he  said  to  him  : “ For  the 
future,  the  Pyrenees  exist  no  longer.”  He  thus  betrayed  his  true 
political  designs.  Some  other  measures  quite  as  significative  roused 
once  more  the  anger  of  Europe,  and  produced  a fresh  coalition. 

Death  removed  William  III.  (1702)  shortly  after  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  organizing  a formidable  league  against  Prance  ; but  his 
system  of  policy  prevailed,  because  it  was  the  expression  of  the 
English  national  will.  Three  men,  whom  their  hatred  of  Prance 
has  rendered  illustrious,  Heinsius,  the  duke  of  Marlborough,  and 
prince  Eugene,  stepped  by  their  close  union  into  the  positions  held 
by  the  leaders  whom  the  allies  had  just  lost.  Heinsius  was  grand - 
pensioner  of  Holland,  and  directed  the  affairs  of  the  common- 
wealth with  the  authority  of  a monarch.  Marlborough  had  made 
his  debut  as  a soldier  under  Turenne  ; he  governed  queen  Anne  by 
his  wife,  the  parliament  by  his  friends,  the  cabinet  by  his  son-in- 
law  Sunderland,  secretary  of  state  for  war,  and  by  the  treasurer 
Godolphin  whom  a matrimonial  connection  had  likewise  brought 
into  his  family.  We  have  already  said  why  prince  Eugene  had 
joined  the  coalition. 

To  triumph  oyer  such  formidable  opponents  Louis  XIY.  would 
have  required  the  illustrious  generals  of  the  preceding  generation, 
but  they  were  either  dead  or  worn  out,  and  the  heavy  atmosphere 
of  Versailles  produced  none  that  could  continue  their  work.  Like 
a soil  which  has  given  too  luxuriant  a crop,  France  was  becoming 
exhausted,  and  the  king  was  on  the  point  of  seeing  soldiers  failing 
just  as  much  as  generals  and  cabinet  ministers.  The  inefficient 
Chamillard,  the  creature  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  gave  way  under 
the  double  weight  of  the  treasury  and  the  war  administration, 
which  Colbert  and  Louvois  had  divided  between  themselves. 
Louis  XIV.  thought  he  would  counteract  Chamillard’s  weakness  by 
directing  him,  and  never  indeed  did  he  show  more  activity.  But 
here,  too,  obstacles  of  another  kind  arrested  him.  He  had  no 
experience  of  either  men  or  things  ; he  hampered  his  generals  with 
directions  which  they  were  to  observe  punctually  and  which  often 
brought  about  the  worst  results.  “ Si  le  general,”  says  Voltaire, 
“ voulait  faire  quelque  grande  entreprise,  il  fallait  qu’il  en  demandat 
3a  permission  par  un  courrier,  qui  trouvait  a son  retour,  ou  l’occa- 
sion  manquee,  ou  le  general  battu.”  And  yet  some  of  the  com- 
manders whom  Prance  had  still,  Villars,  Catinat,  Boufflers,  Ven- 
dome,  deserved  more  confidence  and  greater  liberty  of  action.  It 
is  true  that  men  like  Villeroi,  Marsin,  Tallard,  La  Peuillade, 
required  advice  and  the  assistance  of  trustworthy  guides,  but  the 


Louis  XIV.  single-handed  against  Europe . 389 


fact  of  keeping  them  in  leading  strings  did  not  prevent  them  from 
inflicting  irreparable  disasters  upon  the  French  arms. 

The  campaigns  of  1702  and  1703  had  shown  Marlborough  to  be 
a prudent  and  bold  soldier,  fertile  in  resources  and  novel  concep- 
tions ; and  those  had  earned  him  the  thanks  of  Parliament  and  the 
title  of  duke.  The  campaign  of  1704  established  his  glory  upon 
the  misfortunes  of  France.  Marshals  Tallard  and  Marsin  were 
commanding  in  Germany  together  with  the  elector  of  Bavaria ; the 
emperor,  threatened  with  a fresh  insurrection  in  Hungary,  recalled 
Prince  Eugene  from  Italy  ; Marlborough  effected  a junction  with 
him  by  a rapid  march,  which  Marshal  Villeroi  would  fain  have  hin- 
dered but  to  no  purpose  ; on  the  13th  of  August,  1704,  the  hostile 
armies  met  between  Blenheim  and  Hochstett,  near  the  Danube ; 
the  forces  were  about  equal,  but  on  the  French  side  the  counsels 
were  divided,  the  various  corps  acted  independently.  Tallard  sus- 
tained single-handed  the  attack  of-  the  English  and  the  Dutch  com- 


Louis  XIV. 

fights 

Europe 

single- 

handed. 

A.D.  1704. 
Battle  of 
Blenheim 
(Aug.  13), 


manded  by  Marlborough  ; he  was  made  prisoner,  his  son  was  killed 
at  his  side  ; the  cavalry,  having  lost  their  leader  and  being  pressed 
by  the  enemy,  took  to  flight  in  the  direction  of  the  Danube  ; many 
officers  and  soldiers  perished  in  the  river  ; the  slaughter  was  awful. 

Marsin  and  the  elector,  who  had  repulsed  five  successive  charges  of 
Prince  Eugene,  succeeded  in  effecting  their  retreat ; but  the  elec- 
torates of  Bavaria  and  Cologne  were  lost,  Landau  was  recovered  by 
the  allies  after  a siege  of  two  months,  the  French  army  recrossed  the 
Ehine,  Alsace  was  uncovered  and  Germany  evacuated. 

The  defeat  of  Hochstett  in  1704  had  been  the  first  step  down 
the  ladder ; the  defeat  of  Eamilies  on  the  23rd  of  May,  1706,  was 
the  second.  The  king’s  personal  attachment  to  Marshal  Villeroi 
blinded  him  as  to  his  military  talents.  Beaten  in  Italy  by  Prince 
Eugene,  Villeroi,  as  presumptuous  as  he  was  incapable,  hoped  to 
retrieve  himself  against  Marlborough.  There  had  been  eight  hours 
fighting  at  Hochstett,  inflicting  much  damage  upon  the  enemy  ; a 
Eamilies,  the  Bavarians  took  to  their  heels  at  the  end  of  an  hour ; &.D.  1706 
the  French,  -who  felt  that  they  were  badly  commanded,  followed  Ramiliesf 
their  example  ; the  rout  was  terrible  and  the  disorder  inexpressible  : (May  23). 
Villeroi  kept  recoiling  before  the  enemy,  Marlborough  kept  advan- 
cing ; two  thirds  of  Belgium  and  sixteen  strong  places  were  lost, 
when  Louis  XIV.  sent  Chamillard  into  the  Low  Countries;  it  was 
no  longer  the  time  when  Louvois  made  armies  spring  from  the  very 
soil,  and  when  Vauban  prepared  the  defence  of  Dunkerque.  The 
king  recalled  Villeroi,  showing  him  to  the  last  unwavering  kind- 
ness. “ There  is  no  more  luck  at  our  age,  marshal,”  was  all  he  said 
to  Villeroi  on  his  arrival  at  Versailles.  The  king  summoned  Ven- 


Battle  Of 
Turin 
(Se^t.  7). 


State  of 
things  in 
Spain. 


AD.  1707. 
Battle  of 
Almanza 
(April  13). 


390  History  of  France . 

dome,  to  place  him  at  the  head  of  the  army  of  Flanders,  u in  hopes 
of  restoring  to  it  the  spirit  of  vigour  and  audacity  natural  to  the 
French  nation,’’  as  he  himself  says.  For  two  years  past,  amidst  a 
great  deal  of  ill-success,  Vendome  had  managed  to  keep  in  check 
Victor  Amadeo  and  Prince  Eugene,  in  spite  of  the  embarrassment 
caused  him  by  his  brother  the  grand  prior,  the  duke  of  La  Feuil- 
lade,  Chamillard’s  son-in-law,  and  the  orders  which  reached  h'm 
directly  from  the  king ; he  had  gained  during  his  two  campaigns  the 
name  of  taker  of  towns , and  had  just  beaten  the  Austrians  in  the 
battle  of  Cascinato.  Prince  Eugene  had,  however,  crossed  the 
Adige  and  the  Po  when  Vendome  left  Italy ; he  effected  his  junction 
with  Victor  Amadeo,  encountered  and  defeated  the  French  army 
between  the  rivers  Doria  and  Stora.  Marsin  was  killed,  discourage- 
ment spread  amongst  the  generals  and  the  troops,  and  the  siege  of 
of  Turin  was  raised  ; before  the  end  of  the  year,  nearly  all  the 
places  were  lost,  and  Dauphiny  was  threatened.  Victor  Amadeo 
refused  to  listen  to  a special  peace;  in  the  month  of  March,  1707, 
the  prince  of  Vaudemont,  governor  of  Milaness  for  the  king  of 
Spain,  signed  a capitulation  at  Mantua,  and  led  back  to  France  the 
troops  which  still  remained  to  him.  The  imperialists  were  masters 
of  Naples.  Spain  no  longer  had  any  possessions  in  Italy. 

Philip  V.  had  been  threatened  with  the  loss  of  Spain  as  well  as 
of  Italy.  For  two  years  past  Archduke  Charles,  under  the  title  of 
Charles  III.,  had,  with  the  support  of  England  and  Portugal,  been 
disputing  the  crown  with  the  young  king.  Philip  V.  had  lost 
Catalonia  and  had  just  failed  in  his  attempt  to  retake  Barcelona ; 
the  toad  to  Madrid  was  cut  off,  the  army  was  obliged  to  make  its 
way  by  Boussillon  and  Bearn  to  resume  the  campaign ; the  king 
threw  himself  in  person  into  his  capital,  whither  he  was  escorted 
by  Marshal  Berwick,  a natural  son  of  James  II.,  a Frenchman  by 
choice,  full  of  courage  and  resolution,  “ but  a great  stick  of  an 
Englishman  who  hadn’t  a word  to  say,”  and  who  was  distasteful 
to  the  young  queen  Marie-Louise.  Philip  V.  could  not  remain  at 
Madrid,  which  was  threatened  by  the  enemy  : he  removed  to 
Burgos  ; the  English  entered  the  capital  and  there  proclaimed 
Charles  III. 

This  was  too  much ; Spain  could  not  let  herself  submit  to  have 
an  Austrian  king  imposed  upon  her  by  heretics  and  Portuguese  ; 
the  campaign  of  1707  was  signalized  in  Spain  by  the  victory  of 
Almanza,  gained  on  the  13th  of  April  by  Marshal  Berwick  over  the 
Anglo-Portuguese  army,  and  by  the  capture  of  Lerida,  which  capitu- 
lated on  the  11th  of  November  into  the  hands  of  the  duke  of 
Orleans.  In  Germany,  Villars  drove  back  the  enemy  from  the 


39 1 


Campaign  of  1 707. 

banks  of  the  Rhine,  advanced  into  Suabia  and  ravaged  the  Palati- 
nate, crushing  the  country  with  requisitions,  of  which  he  openly 
reserved  a portion  for  himself.  “ Marshal  Villars  is  doing  very 
well  for  himself,”  said  somebody  one  day  to  the  king.  “ Yes,” 
answered  his  Majesty,  “ and  for  me  too.”  “I  wrote  to  the  king  that 
I really  must  fat  my  calf,”  said  Villars. 

The  inexhaustible  elasticity  and  marvellous  resources  of  Prance 
were  enough  to  restore  some  hope  in  1707.  The  invasion  of 
Provence  by  Victor  Amadeo  and  Prince  Eugene,  their  check  before 
Toulon  and  their  retreat  precipitated  by  the  rising  of  the  peasants, 
had  irritated  the  allies ; the  attempts  at  negotiation  which  the  king 
had  entered  upon  at  the  Hague  remained  without  result ; the  duke 
of  Burgundy  took  the  command  of  the  armies  of  Flanders  with 
Vendome  for  his  second.  On  the  5th  of  July,  Ghent  was  surprised  ; 
Vendome  had  intelligence  inside  the  place,  the  Belgians  were  weary 
of  their  new  masters  : “ The  States  have  dealt  so  badly  with  this 
country,”  said  Marlborough,  “that  all  the  towns  are  ready  to  play 
us  the  same  trick  as  Ghent  the  moment  they  have  the  opportunity.” 

Bruges  opened  its  gates  to  the  French.  Prince  Eugene  advanced 
to  second  Marlborough,  but  he  was  late  in  starting ; the  troops  of 
the  elector  of  Bavaria  harassed  his  march.  The  English  encoun-  ^ D 
tered  the  French  army  in  front  of  Audenarde.  The  engagement  Battle  of 
began.  Vendome,  who  commanded  the  right  wing,  sent  word  to 
the  duke  of  Burgundy.  The  latter  hesitated  and  delayed ; the  v 
generals  about  him  did  not  approve  of  Vendome’s  movement.  He 
fought  single-handed,  and  was  beaten.  The  excess  of  confidence 
of  one  leader  and  the  inertness  of  the  other  caused  failure  in  all 
the  operations  of  the  campaign  ; Prince  Eugene  and  the  duke  of 
Marlborough  laid  siege  to  Lille,  which  was  defended  by  old  Marshal 
Boufflers,  the  bravest  and  the  most  respected  of  all  the  king’s 
servants.  Lille  was  not  relieved,  and  fell  on  the  25th  of  October ; 
the  citadel  held  out  until  the  9th  of  December ; the  king  heaped 
rewards  on  Marshal  Boufflers  ; at  the  march  out  from  Lille,  Prince 
Eugene  had  ordered  all  his  army  to  pay  him  the  same  honours  as 
to  himself.  Ghent  and  Bruges  were  abandoned  to  the  imperialists. 

The  campaign  in  Spain  had  not  been  successful ; the  duke  of 
Orleans,  weary  of  his  powerlessness,  and  under  suspicion  at  the 
court  of  Philip  V.,  had  given  up  the  command  of  the  troops  ; the 
English  admiral,  Leake,  had  taken  possession  of  Sardinia,  of  the 
island  of  Minorca  and  of  Port  Mahon  ; the  archduke  was  master 
of  the  isles  and  of  the  sea.  The  destitution  in  France  was  fearful, 
and  the  winter  so  severe  that  the  poor  were  in  want  of  everything ; in 
riots  multiplied  in  the  towns ; the  king  sent  his  plate  to  the  Mint,  France. 


392 


History  of  France . 


Conditions 
of  peace 
proposed 
and  dis- 
cussed. 


\ 


War 

recom- 

mences. 


and  put  his  jewels  in  pawn ; he  likewise  took  a resolution,  which 
cost  him  even  more,  he  determined  to  ask  for  peace.  He  offered 
the  Hollanders  a very  extended  barrier  in  the  Low  Countries  and 
all  the  facilities  they  had  long  been  asking  for  their  commerce. 
He  accepted  the  abandonment  of  Spain  to  the  archduke  and  merely 
claimed  to  reserve  to  his  grandson,  Naples,  Sardinia  and  Sicily. 
This  was  what  was  secured  to  him  by  the  second  treaty  of  partition 
lately  concluded  between  England,  the  United  Province^  and 
Erance ; he  did  not  even  demand  Lorraine.  President  Rouille, 
formerly  French  envoy  to  Lisbon,  arrived  disguised  in  Holland ; 
conferences  were  opened  secretly  at  Bodegraven. 

Led  on  by  his  fidelity  to  the  allies,  distrustful  and  suspicious  as 
regarded  Erance,  burning  to  avenge  the  wrongs  put  upon  the 
republic,  Heinsius,  in  concert  with  Marlborough  and  Prince  Eugene, 
required  conditions  so  hard  that  the  French  agent  scarcely  dared 
transmit  them  to  Versailles.  What  was  demanded  was  the  abdi- 
cation pure  and  simple  of  Philip  V.  ; Holland  merely  promised  her 
good  offices  to  obtain  in  his  favour  Naples  and  Sicily;  England 
claimed  Dunkerque ; Germany  wanted  Strasburg  and  the  renewal 
of  the  peace  of  Westphalia;  Victor  Amadeo  aspired  to  recover 
Nice  and  Savoy ; to  the  Dutch  barrier  stipulated  for  at  Ryswick 
were  to  be  added  Lille,  Conde  and  Tournay.  In  vain  was  the 
matter  discussed  article  by  article ; in  their  short-sighted  resentment 
the  allies  had  overstepped  reason.  The  young  king  of  Spain  felt 
this  when  he  wrote  to  his  grandfather  : “ I am  transfixed  at  the 
chimerical  and  insolent  pretensions  of  the  English  and  Dutch 
regarding  the  preliminaries  of  peace ; never  were  seen  the  like.  I 
am  beside  myself  at  the  idea  that  anybody  could  have  so  much  as 
supposed  that  I should  be  forced  to  leave  Spain  as  long  as  I have  a 
drop  of  blood  in  my  veins.  I will  use  all  my  efforts  to  maintain 
myself  upon  a throne  on  which  God  has  placed  me  and  on  which 
you,  after  Him,  have  set  me,  and  nothing  but  death  shall  wrench 
me  from  it  or  make  me  yield  it.”  War  recommenced  on  all  sides. 
The  king  had  just  consented  at  last  to  give  Chamillard  his  discharge. 
“ Sir,  I shall  die  over  the  job,”  had  for  a long  time  been  the  com- 
plaint of  the  minister  worn  out  with  fatigue.  “ Ah  ! well,  we  will 
die  together,”  had  been  the  king’s  rejoinder. 

Erance  was  dying,  and  Chamillard  was  by  no  means  a stranger 
to  the  cause.  Louis  XIV.  put  in  his  place  Voysin,  former  super- 
intendent of  Hainault,  entirely  devoted  to  Madame  de  Maintenon. 
He  loaded  with  benefits  the  minister  from  whom  he  was  parting, 
the  only  one  whom  he  had  really  loved.  The  troops  were  destitute 
of  everything.  On  assuming  the  command  of  the  army  of  the  Low 


Malplaqitet  and  Villaviciosa. 


393 


Countries  Yillars  wrote  in  despair,  “ Imagine  the  horror  of  seeing 
an  army  without  bread  ! ” In  spite  of  such  privations  and  sufferings, 
Yillars  found  the  troops  in  excellent  spirits,  and  urged  the  king  to 
permit  him  to  give  battle.  “ M.  de  Turenne  used  to  say  that  he 
who  means  to  altogther  avoid  battle  gives  up  his  country  to  him 
who  appears  to  seek  for  it,”  the  marshal  assured  him  ; the  king  was 
afraid  of  losing  his  last  army  ; the  dukes  of  Harcourt  and  Berwick 
were  covering  the  Rhine  and  the  Alps ; Marlborough  and  Prince 
Eugene,  who  had  just  made  themselves  masters  of  Tournay,  marched 
against  Yillars,  whom  they  encountered  on  the  lltli  of  September, 
1709,  near  the  hamlet  of  Malplaquet.  Marshal  Boufflers  had  just 
reached  the  army  to  serve  as  a volunteer.  Yillars  had  entrenched 
himself  in  front  of  the  woods  ; his  men  were  so  anxious  to  get 
under  fire  that  they  threw  away  the  rations  of  bread  just  served 
out ; the  allies  looked  sulkily  at  the  works  :“We  are  going  to  fight 
moles  again,”  they  said.  The  allies  won  the  victory,  but  they  had 
lost  more  than  twenty  thousand  men,  according  to  their  official 
account.  “ It  was  too  much  for  this  victory,  which  did  not  entail 
the  advantage  of  entirely  defeating  the  enemy,  and  the  whole  fruits 
of  which  were  to  end  with  the  taking  of  Mons.” 

This  glorious  defeat  was  followed  by  a triumph  of  a more  decided 
character.  Louis  XI Y.  sent  into  Spain  the  Duke  de  Yendome  who 
was  in  disgrace  since  the  famous  campaign  of  Audenarde.  His 
name  alone  was  worth  an  army.  A number  of  volunteers  crowded 
under  his  command,  and  Philip  Y.  who  as  yet  had  not  appeared  on 
any  field  of  battle,  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  his  troops.  The 
Spaniards,  roused  up  at  the  voice  of  the  king,  began  against  the 
imperial  forces  a guerilla  warfare  which  proved  fatal  to  their 
invaders ; and,  finally,  the  archduke’s  troops,  headed  by  count 
Stahrenberg,  were  thoroughly  routed  at  Yillaviciosa  (December  9th 
1710).  It  is  reported  that  after  the  battle,  Philip  Y.  being  over- 
come with  fatigue,  Yendome  said  to  him  : “ Sire,  I shall  make  up 
for  you  the  finest  bed  that  ever  king  had  to  lie  upon;”' and, 
accordingly,  he  heaped  up  together  as  a cover  all  the  colours  that 
had  been  taken  from  the  enemy.  The  victory  of  Yillaviciosa  not 
only  saved  the  crown  of  Philip  Y.,  but  also  prevented  Louis  XIY. 
from  losing  Canada.  An  English  expedition  was  fitted  out  to 
occupy  that  colony,  but  the  success  of  Yendome  obliged  it  to  remain 
in  observation  on  the  coast  of  Spain. 

This  unexpected  act  of  vigour  on  the  part  of  a monarch  whose 
ruin  seemed  certain  astonished  the  allies  ; they,  besides,  were  becom- 
ing weary  of  the  war,  especially  the  English,  whose  finances  were  in 
a precarious  condition.  A court  intrigue,  which  ended  in  the  down- 


A.D.  1709. 
Battle  of 
Malpla- 
quet 

(Sept.  11). 


A D.  1710. 
Battle  of 
Villa- 
viciosa 
(Dec.  9). 


394  History  of  France. 

fall  of  the  Whig  administration  and  the  disgrace  of  the  duchess  of 
Marlborough,  brought  matters  to  a crisis.  The  Tories,  called  to 
the  direction  of  the  government,  tried  to  establish  their  credit  on 
peaceful  measures.  Secret  negociations  between  France  and  England 
were  begun  ; after  the  death  of  the  Emperor  (April  17th,  1711)  they 
became  public,  a suspension  of  arms  was  immediately  decided,  and 
the  preliminaries  of  peace  were  signed  in  London  on  the  8th  of 
October  following.  This  example  decided  the  allies  ; a congress 
assembled  at  Utrecht  on  the  29th  of  January,  1712.  The  new 
Emperor  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it ; but  the  forces 
were  now  equal,  and  one  campaign  proved  to  the  Emperor  that  he 
could  not  single-handed  hope  to  reduce  France. 

Disasters  The  bolts  of  Heaven  were  falling  one  after  another  upon  the  royal 
in  the  family  of  France.  On  the  14th  of  April,  1711,  Louis  XIV.  had 
Versailles  by  small-pox  his  son,  the  grand  dauphin,  a mediocre  and  sub- 
missive creature,  ever  the  most  humble  subject  of  the  king,  at  just 
fifty  years  of  age.  His  eldest  son,  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  devout, 
austere  and  capable,  the  hope  of  good  men  and  the  terror  of 
intriguers,  had  taken  the  rank  of  dauphin,  and  was  seriously  com- 
mencing his  apprenticeship  in  government,  when  he  was  carried  off 
on  the  18th  of  February,  1712,  by  spotted  fever  (wugeole  poinpree), 
six  days  after  his  wife,  the  charming  Mary  Adelaide  of  Savoy,  the 
idol  of  the  whole  court,  supremely  beloved  by  the  king,  and  by 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  who  had  brought  her  up  ; their  son,  the 
duke  of  Brittany,  four  years  old,  died  on  the  8th  of  March  ; a child 
in  the  cradle,  weakly  and  ill,  the  little  duke  of  Anjou  remained  the 
only  shoot  of  the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbons.  Dismay  seized 
upon  all  France ; poison  was  spoken  of ; the  duke  of  Orleans  was 
accused ; it  was  necessary  to  have  a post  mortem  examination ; only 
the  hand  of  God  had  left  its  traces.  Europe  in  its  turn  was 
excited.  If  the  little  duke  of  Anjou  were  to  die,  the  crown  of 
France  reverted  to  Philip  V.  The  Hollanders  and  the  ambassadors 
of  the  emperor  Charles  VI.,  recently  crowned  at  Frankfurt,  insisted 
on  the  necessity  of  a formal  renunciation.  In  accord  with  the 
English  ministers,  Louis  XIV.  wrote  to  his  grandson:  — 

Letter  of  “You  will  be  told  what  England  proposes,  that  you  should 
t^th*  renounce  your  birthright,  retaining  the  monarchy  of  Spain  and  the 

of  Spain.  S Indies,  or  renounce  the  monarchy  of  Spain,  retaining  your  rights  to 
the  succession  in  France,  and  receiving  in  exchange  for  the  crown 
of  Spain  the  kingdoms  of  Sicily  and  Naples,  the  States  of  the  duke 
of  Savoy,  Montferrat  and  the  Mantuan,  the  said  duke  of  Savoy  suc- 
ceeding you  in  Spain ; I confess  to  you  that,  notwithstanding  the 
disproportion  in  the  dominions,  I have  been  sensibly  affected  by 


Villars  in  Flanders . 


395 


the  thought  that  you  would  continue  to  reign,  that  I might  still 
regard  you  as  my  successor,  sure,  if  the  dauphin  lives,  of  a regent 
accustomed  to  command,  capable  of  maintaining  order  in  my  king- 
dom, and  of  stifling  its  cabals.  If  this  child  were  to  die,  as  his  weakly 
complexion  gives  too  much  reason  to  suppose,  you  would  enjoy  the 
succession  to  me  following  the  order  of  your  birth,  and  I should 
have  the  consolation  of  leaving  to  my  people  a virtuous  king, 
capable  of  commanding  them,  and  one  who,  on  succeeding  me, 
would  unite  to  the  crown  States  so  considerable  as  Naples,  Savoy, 
Piedmont  and  Montferrat.  If  gratitude  and  affection  towards  your 
subjects  are  to  you  pressing  reasons  for  remaining  with  them,  I may 
say  that  you  owe  me  the  same  sentiments ; you  owe  them  to  your 
own  house,  to  your  own  country,  before  Spain.  All  that  I can  do 
for  you  is  to  leave  you  once  more  the  choice,  the  necessity  for  con- 
cluding peace  becoming  every  day  more  urgent.” 

The  choice  of  Philip  V.  was  made ; he  had  already  written  to 
his  grandfather  to  say  that  he  would  renounce  all  his  rights  of  suc- 
cession to  the  throne  of  France  rather  than  give  up  the  crown  of 
Spain.  This  decision  was  solemnly  enregistered  by  the  Cortes 
The  English  required  that  the  dukes  of  Berry  and  Orleans  should 
likewise  make  renunciation  of  their  rights  to  the  crown  of  Spain. 
Negotiations  began  again,  but  war  began  again  at  the  same  time  as 
the  negotiations. 

The  king  had  given  Villars  the  command  of  the  army  of  Flanders.  Villars 

The  marshal  went  to  Marly  to  receive  his  last  orders.  “ You  see  takes 

J . command 

my  plight,  marshal,”  said  Louis  XIV.  “ There  are  few  examples  0f  the 

of  what  is  my  fate — to  lose  in  the  same  week  a grandson,  a grand-  army  in 
son’s  wife  and  their  son,  all  of  very  great  promise  and  very  tenderly 
beloved.  God  is  punishing  me  ; I have  well  deserved  it.  But  sus- 
pend we  my  griefs  at  my  own  domestic  woes,  and  look  we  to  what 
may  be  done  to  prevent  those  of  the  kingdom.  If  anything  were  to 
happen  to  the  army  you  command,  what  would  be  your  idea  of  the 
course  I should  adopt  as  regards  my  person  ? ” The  marshal  hesi- 
tated. The  king  resumed  : “ This  is  what  I think  ; you  shall  tell 
me  your  opinion  afterwards.  I know  the  courtiers’  line  of  argu- 
ment ; they  nearly  all  wish  me  to  retire  to  Blois,  and  not  wait  for 
the  enemy’s  army  to  approach  Paris,  as  it  might  do  if  mine  were 
beaten.  For  my  part,  I am  aware  that  armies  so  considerable  are 
never  defeated  to  such  an  extent  as  to  prevent  the  greater  part  of 
mine  from  retiring  upon  the  Somme.  I know  that  river,  it  is  very 
difficult  to  cross  ; there  are  forts,  too,  which  could  be  made  strong. 

I should  count  upon  getting  to  Peronne  or  St.  Quentin,  and  there 
massing  all  the  troops  I had,  making  a last  effort  with  you,  and 


History  of  France . 


Louis  XIV. 
treats  with 
England. 


A.D.  1712. 
Battle  of 
Denain 
(July  23). 


396 

falling  together  or  saving  the  kingdom ; I will  never  consent  to  let 
the  enemy  approach  my  capital  [Memoires  de  Villars,  t.  ii.  p.  362].” 

God  was  to  spare  Louis  XIV.  that  crowning  disaster  reserved  for 
other  times ; in  spite  of  all  his  faults  and  of  the  culpable  errors  of 
his  life  and  reign,  Providence  had  given  this  old  man,  overwhelmed 
by  so  many  reverses  and  sorrows,  a truly  royal  soul,  and  that  regard 
for  his  own  greatness  which  set  him  higher  as  a king  than  he  would 
have  been  as  a man.  “ He  had  too  proud  a soul  to  descend  lower 
than  his  misfortunes  had  brought  him,”  says  Montesqu'eu,  “and he 
well  knew  that  courage  may  right  a crown  and  that  infamy  never 
does.”  On  the  25th  of  May,  the  king  secretly  informed  his  pleni- 
potentiaries as  well  as  his  generals  that  the  English  were  proposing 
to  him  a suspension  of  hostilities,  and  he  added  : “ It  is  no  longer 
a time  for  flattering  the  pride  of  the  Hollanders,  but,  whilst  we  treat 
with  them  in  good  faith,  it  must  be  with  the  dignity  that  becomes 
me.”  That  which  the  king’s  pride  refused  to  the  ill  will  of  the 
Hollanders  he  granted  to  the  good  will  of  England.  The  day 
of  the  commencement  of  the  armistice  Dunkerque  was  put  as 
guarantee  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  who  recalled  their  native 
regiments  from  the  army  of  Prince  Eugene ; the  king  complained 
that  they  left  him  the  auxiliary  troops ; the  English  ministers  pro- 
posed to  prolong  the  truce,  promising  to  treat  separately  with  Erance 
if  the  allies  refused  assent  to  the  peace.  The  news  received  by 
Louis  XIV.  gave  him  assurance  of  better  conditions  than  any  one 
had  dared  to  hope  for. 

Villars  had  not  been  able  to  prevent  Prince  Eugene  from  becom- 
ing master  of  Quesnoy  on  the  3rd  of  July ; the  imperialists  were 
already  making  prep  orations  to  invade  Erance;  in  their  army  the 
causeway  which  connected  Marchiennes  with  Landrecies  was  called 
the  Paris  road.  The  marshal  resolved  to  relieve  Landrecies,  and, 
having  had  bridges  thrown  over  the  Scheldt,  he  crossed  the  river 
between  Bouchain  and  Denain  on  the  23rd  of  July,  1712;  the 
latter  little  place  was  defended  by  the  duke  of  Albemarle,  son  of 
General  Monk,  with  seventeen  battalions  of  auxiliary  troops  in  the 
pay  of  the  allies.  The  Imperialist  lines,  stretching  over  a space  of 
between  twelve  and  fifteen  leagues  were  too  straggling,  and  the  dif- 
ferent corps  too  far  separated  to  be  within  reach  of  relieving  one 
another.  Villars  took  advantage  of  this  mistake ; by  a false  attack 
towards  Landrecies,  he  deceived  the  Prince  Eugene,  and  then  march- 
ing with  all  speed  upon  Denain,  where  was  the  earl  of  Albemarle, 
he  destroyed  that  general’s  camp  and  cut  to  pieces  seventeen  batta- 
lions (July  24,  1712).  Eugene  comes  up  ; he  too  is  driven  back. 
All  the  posts  on  the  bank  of  the  Scarpe  are  successively  carried, 


Peace  concluded. 


397 


Landrecies  is  relieved,  Douai,  Marchiennes,  Bouchain  and  Le 
Quesnoy  are  taken,  and  the  frontiers  of  France  become  safe  once 
more. 

The  victory  of  Denain  hastened  the  conclusion  of  the  peace. 

Three  treaties  were  signed  : 1st,  that  of  Utrecht  (April  11th,  1713), 
between  France,  Spain,  Holland,  Savoy  and  Portugal ; 2nd,  that  of 
Eastadt  (March  7th,  1714),  between  France  and  Charles  VI.,  3rd, 
that  of  Baden  (June  7th  1714),  between  France  and  the  Empire. 

The  treaty  of  Eastadt  was  delayed  for  one  year  on  account  of  the 
obstinacy  of  Charles  VI.,  who  persisted  in  continuing  the  war 
although  his  allies  had  come  to  terms  with  Louis  XIV.  Villars, 
sent  towards  the  Ehenish  frontier  where  he  found  himself  opposed 
to  Prince  Eugene,  disconcerted  the  Imperial  troops  by  the  rapidity 
of  his  movements.  * He  retook  Landau,  scaled  at  the  head  of  his 
grenadiers  the  mountain  of  Eoskhof,  which  protected  Friburg,  and 
made  himself  master  of  this  city.  This  brilliant  success  constrained 
at  last  the  emperor  to  give  to  his  subjects  that  peace  with  which  for 
so  long  a time  they  had  ceased  to  be  acquainted.  France  kept  Lan- 
dau and  Fort  Louis,  she  restored  Spires,  Brisach  and  Friburg.  The 
emperor  refused  to  recognize  Philip  V.,  but  he  accepted  the  status 
quo  ; the  crown  of  Spain  remained  definitively  with  the  house  of  Signature 
Bourbon  ; it  had  cost  men  and  millions  enough  ; for  an  instant  the  of  the 
very  foundations  of  order  in  Europe  had  seemed  to  be  upset ; the  its  con 
old  French  monarchy  had  been  threatened ; it  had  recovered  of  ditions. 
itself  and  by  its  own  resources,  sustaining  single-handed  the  struggle 
which  was  pulling  down  all  Europe  in  coalition  against  it ; it  had 
obtained  conditions  which  restored  its  frontiers  to  the  limits  of  the 
peace  of  Eyswick  ; but  it  was  exhausted,  gasping,  at  wits’  end  for 
men  and  money  ; absolute  power  had  obtained  from  national  pride 
the  last  possible  efforts,  but  it  had  played  itself  out  in  the  struggle ; 
the  confidence  of  the  country  was  shaken ; it  had  been  seen  what 
dangers  the  will  of  a single  man  had  made  the  nation  incur ; the 
tempest  was  already  gathering  within  men’s  souls.  The  habit  of 
respect,  the  memory  of  past  glories,  the  personal  majesty  of  Louis 
XIV.  still  kept  up  about  the  aged  king  the  deceitful  appearances  of 
uncontested  power  and  sovereign  authority ; the  long  decadence  of 
his  great-grandson’s  reign  was  destined  to  complete  its  ruin. 

“I  loved  war  too  much,”  was  Louis  XIV. ’s  confession  on  His  General 

• rsmsirks 

death-bed.  He  had  loved  it  madly  and  exclusively,  but  this  fatal 
passion  which  had  ruined  and  corrupted  France  had  not  at  any 
rate  remained  fruitless.  Louis  XIV.  had  the  good  fortune  to 
profit  by  the  efforts  of  his  predecessors  as  well  as  of  his  own 
servants  : Eichelieu  and  Mazarin,  Conde  and  Turenne,  Luxem- 


39S  History  of  France. 

hours',  Catinat,  Yaubau,  Yillars  and  Louvois  all  toiled  at  the  same 
work  ; under  his  reign,  France  was  intoxicated  with  excess  of  the 
pride  of  conquest,  but  she  did  not  lose  all  its  fruits ; she  witnessed 
the  conclusion  of  five  peaces,  mostly  glorious,  the  last  sadly 
honourable  ; all  tended  to  consolidate  the  unity  and  power  of  the 
kingdom;  it  is  to  the  treaties  of  the  Pyrenees,  of  Westphalia,  of 
FTimeguen,  of  Ryswick,  and  of  Utrecht,  all  signed  in  the  name  of 
Louis  XI Y.,  that  France  owed  Roussillon,  Artois,  Alsace,  Flanders 
and  Franche-Cointe.  Her  glory  has  more  than  once  cost  her 
dear,  it  has  never  been  worth  so  much  and  such  solid  increment  to 
her  territory. 


COMPETITORS  FOR  THE  SPANISH  SUCCESSION. 


France. 


Louis  XIV.  = Maria  Theresa,  daughter  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain 
Louis,  Dauphin = Maria  Anna  of  Bavaria 


Louis,  Duke  of  Burgundy 
Louis  XV. 


Philip,  Duke  of  Anjou, 
King  of  Spain  as  Philip  V. 
Nov.  1700 


Charles,  Duke  of  Berry 


Bavaria. 

Leopold  I.  Emperor==  Maria  Margarita,  younger  daughter  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain 

Maria  Antonia,  Archduchess= Maximilian,  Elector  of  Bavaria 

Joseph  Ferdinand,  Electoral  Prince  of  Bavaria 
declared  heir  to  the  Spanish  throne,  1698,  d.  6th  February,  1699 


Austria. 

Maria  Anna, = Ferdinand  III.  Emperor 
younger  daughter  of  I 
Philip  III.  of  Spain  j 

Leopold  I.  Emperor=Maria  Margarita  daughter  of  Philip  IV. 

| — 1 — - — 

Joseph  I.  Emperor,  1706.  Charles  FJDcis  Joseph 

declared  King  of  Spain,  1700 
Emperor,  1711. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

LOUIS  XIV.— HOME  ADMINISTRATION.— LITERATURE. — THE  COURT  AND 

SOCIETY. 

It  is  King  Louis  XIV. ’s  distinction  and  heavy  burthen  in  the 

eyes  of  history  that  it  is  impossible  to  tell  of  anything  in  his  reign 

without  constantly  recurring  to  himself.  He  had  two  ministers  of 

the  higher  order,  Colbert  and  Louvois ; several  of  good  capacity, 

such  as  Seignelay  and  Torcy ; others  incompetent,  like  Ohamillard  ; Absolutism 

he  remained  as  much  master  of  the  administrators  of  the  first  rank  XIV> 

as  if  they  had  been  insignificant  clerks  ; the  home  government  of 

France,  from  1661  to  1715,  is  summed  up  in  the  king’s  relations 

with  his  ministers. 

It  was  their  genius  which  made  the  fortunes  and  the  power  of 
Louis  XIV. ’s  two  great  ministers,  Colbert  and  Louvois.  On  the 
faith  of  Cardinal  Mazarin,  the  king  knew  the  worth  of  Colbert.  Colbert. 

“ I had  all  possible  confidence  in  him,”  sqys  he,  “ because  I knew 
that  he  had  a great  deal  of  application,  intelligence  and  probity. ’’ 

Rough,  reserved,  taciturn,  indefatigable  in  work,  passionately . 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  order,  public  welfare  and  the  peaceable 
aggrandisement  of  France,  Colbert,  on  becoming  the  comptroller  of 
finance  in  1661,  brought  to  the  service  of  the  State  superior  views, 
consummate  experience  and  indomitable  perseverance.  The  position 
of  affairs  required  no  fewer  virtues.  “Disorder  reigned  everywhere,” 
says  the  king  ; “ on  casting  over  the  various  portions  of  my  king- 


400 


History  of  France . 

dom  not  eyes  of  indifference  but  the  eyes  of  a master,  I was  sensibly 
affected  not  to  see  a single  one  which  did  not  deserve  and  did  not 
press  to  be  taken  in  hand.  The  destitution  of  the  lower  orders 
was  extreme,  and  the  finances,  which  give  movement  and  activity 
to  all  this  great  framework  of  the  monarchy,  were  entirely  exhausted, 
and  in  such  plight  that  there  was  scarcely  any  resource  to  be  seen ; 
the  affluent,  to  be  seen  only  amongst  official  people,  on  the  one  hand 
cloaked  all  their  malversations  by  divers  kinds  of  artifices,  and 
uncloaked  them  on  the  other,  by  their  insolent  and  audacious 
extravagance,  as  if  they  were  afraid  to  have  me  in  ignorance  of 
them.” 

The  punishment  of  the  tax-collectors  ( traitants ),  prosecuted  at 
the  same  time  as  superintendent  Fouquet,  the  arbitrary  redemption 
reforms  ^ ren^es  (annuities)  on  the  city  of  Paris  or  on  certain  branches  of 
the  taxes,  did  not  suffice  to  alleviate  the  extreme  suffering  of  the 
people.  The  talliages  from  which  the  nobility  and  the  clergy  were 
nearly  everywhere  exempt,  pressed  upon  the  people  with  the  most 
cruel  inequality.  Colbert  proposed  to  the  king  to  remit  the  arrears 
of  that  tax,  and  devoted  all  his  efforts  to  reducing  them,  whilst 
regulating  its  collection.  His  desire  was  to  arrive  at  the  establish- 
ment everywhere  of  real  talliages,  on  landed  property,  &c.,  instead 
of  personal  talliages,  variable  imposts,  depending  upon  the  supposed 
means  of  social  position  of  the  inhabitants.  He  was  only  very 
partially  successful,  without,  however,  allowing  himself  to  be 
repelled  by  the  difficulties  presented  by  differences  of  legislation 
and  customs  in  the  provinces.  He  died  without  having  completed 
his  work  ; but  the  talliages  had  been  reduced  by  eight  millions 
of  livres,  within  the  first  two  years  of  his  administration. 

Peace  was  of  short  duration  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIY.,  and 
often  so  precarious  that  it  did  not  permit  disarmament.  At  the 
very  period  when  the  able  minister  was  trying  to  make  the  people 
feel  the  importance  of  the  diminution  in  the  talliages,  he  wrote  to 
Colbert  re- the  king:  “ I merely  entreat  your  Majesty  to  permit  me  to  say 
monstrates  that  in  war  as  well  as  in  peace  you  have  never  consulted  your 
finances  for  the  purpose  of  determining  your  expenditure,  which  is 
a thing  so  extraordinary  that  assuredly  there  is  no  example  thereof. 
For  the  past  twenty  years  during  which  I have  had  the  honour  of 
serving  your  Majesty,  though  the  receipts  have  greatly  increased, 
you  would  find  that  the  expenses  have  much  exceeded  the  receipts, 
which  might  perhaps  induce  you  to  moderate  and  retrench  such  as 
are  excessive.”  Louis  XIY.  did  not  “moderate  or  retrench  his 
expenses.”  Colbert  laboured  to  increase  the  receipts;  the  new 
imposts  excited  insurrections  in  Angoumois,  in  Guyenne,  in  Brittany, 


Taxation  and  Commerce. 


401 


and,  although  they  cost  so  much  suffering  and  severity,  brought  in  but 
2,500,000  livres  at  Colbert’s  death.  The  indirect  taxes,  which  were 
at  that  time  called  fermes  generates  (farmings-general),  amounted  taxes, 
to  37,000,000  during  the  first  two  years  of  Colbert’s  administration, 
and  rose  to  64,000,000  at  the  time  of  his  death.”1  “I  should  be 
apprehensive  of  going  too  far  and  that  the  prodigious  augmen- 
tations of  the  fermes  (farmings)  would  be  very  burdensome  to  the 
people,”  wrote  Louis  XIV.  in  1680.  The  expenses  of  recovering 
the  taxes,  which  had  but  lately  led  to  great  abuses,  were  diminished 
by  half.  “ The  bailiffs  generally,  and  especially  those  who  are  set 
over  the  recovery  of  talliages,  are  such  terrible  brutes  that,  by  way 
of  exterminating  a good  number  of  them,  you  could  not  do  anything 
more  worthy  of  you  than  suppress  those,”  wrote  Colbert  to  the 
criminal-magistrate  of  Orleans.  The  puissance  of  the  provincial 
governors,  already  curtailed  by  Eichelieu,  suffered  from  fresh  attacks 
under  Louis  XIV.  Everywhere  the  power  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  superintendents,  themselves  subjected  in  their  turn  to 
inspection  by  the  masters  of  requests.  “ Acting  on  the  infor- 
mation I had  that  in  many  provinces  the  people  were  plagued  by 
certain  folks,  who  abused  their  title  of  governors  in  order  to  make 
unjust  requisitions,”  says  the  king  in  his  Memoiresi  “ I posted 
men  in  all  quarters  for  the  express  purpose  of  keeping  myself  more 
surely  informed  of  such  exactions,  in  order  to  punish  them  as  they 
deserved.”  Order  was  restored  in  all  parts  of  France. 

“ A useless  banquet  at  a cost  of  a thousand  crowns  causes  me 
incredible  pain,”  said  Colbert  to  Louis  XIV.,  “and  yet  when  it  is  a 
question  of  millions  of  gold  for  Poland,  I would  sell  all  my  property, 

I would  pawn  my  wife  and  children  and  I would  go  a-foot  all  my 
life  to  provide  for  it  if  necessary.”  Colbert  knew  how  to  “ throw  Manufac- 
millions  about  ” when  it  was  for  endowing  Prance  with  new  manu-  tures. 
factures  and  industries.  “ One  of  the  most  important  works  of 
peace,”  he  used  to  say,  “is  the  re-establishment  of  every  kind  of 
trade  in  this  kingdom  and  to  put  it  in  a position  to  do  without 
having  resource  to  foreigners  for  the  things  necessary  for  the  use 
and  comfort  of  the  subjects.”  “We  have  no  need  of  anybody  and 
our  neighbours  have  need  of  us ; ” such  was  the  maxim  laid  down 
in  a document  of  that  date,  which  has  often  been  attributed  to 
Colbert,  and  which  he  certainly  put  incessantly  into  practice.  The 
cloth  manufactures  were  dying  out,  they  received  encouragement ; 
a protestant  Hollander,  Van  Eobais,  attracted  over  to  Abbeville  by 

1 See  at  the  end  of  this  chapter,  table  1,  Colbert’s  Budget  for  the  year 

1662. 


D D 


402 


History  of  France, 


Eoads  and 
canals. 


Public 

buildings. 


Colbert,  there  introduced  the  making  of  fine  cloths ; at  Beauvais 
and  in  the  Gobelins  establishment  at  Paris,  under  the  direction  of 
the  great  painter,  Lebrun,  the  French  tapestries  soon  threw  into 
the  shade  the  reputation  of  the  tapestries  of  Flanders  ; Venice  had 
to  yield  up  her  secrets  and  her  workmen  for  the  glass  manufactories 
of  St.  Gobain  and  Tourlaville.  The  bad  state  of  the  roads  “ was 
a dreadful  hindrance  to  traffic  ; ” Colbert  ordered  them  to  be  every- 
where improved.  “ The  superintendents  have  done  wonders,  and 
we  are  never  tired  of  singing  their  praises,”  writes  Madame  de 
Sevigne  to  her  daughter  during  one  of  her  trips  ; “ it  is  quite  extra- 
ordinary what  beautiful  roads  there  are ; there  is  not  a single 
moment’s  stoppage  ; there  are  malls  and  walks  everywhere.”  The 
magnificent  canal  of  Languedoc,  due  to  the  generous  initiative  of 
Piquet,  united  the  Ocean  to  the  Mediterranean ; the  canal  of  Orleans 
completed  the  canal  of  Briare,  commenced  by  Henry  IV.  The 
inland  custom-houses,  which  shackled  the  traffic  between  province 
and  province,  were  suppressed  at  divers  points ; many  provinces 
demurred  to  the  admission  of  this  innovation,  declaring  that,  to  set 
their  affairs  right,  “ there  was  need  of  nothing  but  order,  order,  order.” 
Colbert  also  wanted  order,  but  his  views  were  higher  and  broader 
than  those  of  Breton  or  Gascon  merchants  ; in  spite  of  his  desire 
to  “ put  the  kingdom  in  a position  to  do  without  having  recourse 
to  foreigners  for  things  necessary  for  the  use  and  comfort  of  the 
French,”  he  had  too  lofty  and  too  judicious  a mind  to  neglect  the 
extension  of  trade  ; like  Pichelieu,  he  was  for  founding  great 
trading  companies  ; he  had  five,  for  the  East  and  West  Indies, 
the  Levant,  the  North,  and  Africa ; his  efforts  were  not  useless  ; at 
his  death,  the  maritime  trade  of  France  had  developed  itself,  and 
French  merchants  were  effectually  protected  at  sea  by  ships  of  war. 
In  1692,  the  royal  navy  numbered  a hundred  and  eighty-six  vessels; 
a hundred  and  sixty  thousand  sailors  were  down  on  the  books ; the 
works  at  the  ports  of  Toulon,  Brest,  and  Pochefort,  were  in  full 
activity ; Louis  XIV.  was  in  a position  to  refuse  the  salute  of  the 
flag,  which  the  English  had  up  to  that  time  exacted  in  the  Channel 
from  all  nations. 

So  many  and  such  sustained  efforts  in  all  directions,  so  many 
vast  projects  and  of  so  great  promise  suited  the  mind  of  Louis  XIV. 
as  well  as  that  of  his  minister.  Louis  XIV.  was  the  victim  of 
three  passions  which  hampered  and  in  the  long-run  destroyed  the 
accord  between  king  and  minister  : that  for  war,  whetted  and 
indulged  by  Louvois ; that  for  kingly  and  courtly  extravagance ; 
and  that  for  building  and  costly  fancies.  Colbert  likewise  loved 
44  buildments  ” ( les  bailments),  as  the  phrase  then  was ; he  urged 


403 


Death  of  Colbert . • 

the  king  to  complete  the  Louvre,  plans  for  which  were  requested  of 
Bernini,  who  went  to  Paris  for  the  purpose ; after  two  years' 
useless  feelers  and  compliments,  the  Italian  returned  to  Pome,  and 
the  work  was  entrusted  to  Perrault,  whose  plan  for  the  beautiful 
colonnade  still  existing  had  always  pleased  Colbert.  The  comple- 
tion of  the  castle  of  St.  Germain,  the  works  at  Fontainebleau  and 
at  Chambord,  the  triumphal  arches  of  St.  Denis  and  St.  Martin, 
the  laying  out  of  the  Tuileries,  the  construction  of  the  Observatory, 
and  even  that  of  the  Palais  des  Invalides,  which  was  Louvois’s  idea, 
found  the  comptroller  of  the  finances  well  disposed  if  not  eager. 

Versailles  was  a constant  source  of  vexation  to  him.  “For  my 
part,  I confess  to  your  Majesty  that,  notwithstanding  the  repug-  ^ ^ 
nance  you  feel  to  increase  the  cash-orders  [comptants],  if  I could  orders, 
have  foreseen  that  this  expenditure  would  be  so  large,  I should  have 
advised  the  employment  of  cash-orders,  in  order  to  hide  the  know- 
ledge thereof  for  ever.”  [The  cash-orders  (ordonnances  au  comp- 
tant)  did  not  indicate  their  object  and  were  not  revised.  The  king 
merely  wrote : Pay  cash : I know  the  object  of  this  expenditure 
( Bon  au  comptant : je  sais  Vobjet  de  cette  depense).~\ 

Colbert  was  mistaken  in  his  fears  for  Louis  XIV. ’s  glory;  if  the 
expenses  of  Versailles  surpassed  his  most  gloomy  apprehensions, 
the  palace  which  rose  upon  the.site  of  Louis  XIV. ’s  former  hunting 
box  was  worthy  of  the  king  who  had  made  it  in  his  own  image 
and  who  managed  to  retain  all  his  court  around  him  there  ; he  died, 
however,  before  Versailles  was  completed;  at  sixty- four  years  of 
age  Colbert  succumbed  to  excess  of  labour  and  of  cares.  That  ^ p 1683. 
man,  so  cold  and  reserved,  whom  Madame  de  Sevigne  called  North,  Death  of 
and  Guy-Patin  the  Man  of  Marble  ( Vir  M armor eus),  felt  that  6) 

disgust  for  the  things  of  life  which  appears  so  strikingly  in  the 
seventeenth  century  amongst  those  who  were  most  ardently  engaged 
in  the  affairs  of  the  world.  He  was  suffering  from  stone  ; the  king 
sent  to  inquire  after  him  and  wrote  to  him.  The  dying  man  had 
his  eyes  closed ; he  did  not  open  them  : “ I do  not  want  to  hear 
anything  more  about  him,”  said  he,  when  the  king’s  letter  was 
brought  to  him:  “ now,  at  any  rate,  let  him  leave  me  alone.”  His 
thoughts  were  occupied  with  his  soul’s  salvation.  Madame  de 
Maintenon  used  to  accuse  him  of  always  thinking  about  his  finances 
and  very  little  about  religion.  He  repeated  bitterly,  as  the  dying 
Cardinal  Wolsey  had  previously  said  in  the  case  of  Henry  : “ If  I 
had  done  for  God  what  I have  done  for  that  man,  I had  been  saved 
twice  over ; and  now  I know  not  what  will  become  of  me.”  He 
expired  on  the  6th  of  September,  1683. 

Louvois  remained  henceforth  alone,  without  rival  and  without  Louvois. 

D d 2 


404 


'History  of  France . 


check.  The  work  he  had  undertaken  for  the  reorganization  of  the 
army  was  pretty  nearly  completed  ; he  had  concentrated  in  his  own 
hands  the  whole  direction  of  the  military  service,  the  burthen  and 
the  honour  of  which  were  both  borne  by  bim.  He  had  subjected 
to  the  same  rules  and  the  same  discipline  all  corps  and  all  grades  ; 
the  general  as  well  as  the  colonel  obeyed  him  blindly.  M.  de 
Turenne  alone  had  managed  to  escape  from  the  administrative 
level.  Order  reigned  in  the  army,  and  supplies  were  regular. 
Louvois  received  the  nickname  of  great  Victualler  ( Vivrier ).  The 
wounded  were  tended  in  hospitals  devoted  to  their  use.  “ When 
a soldier  is  once  down,  he  never  gets  up  again,”  had  but  lately  been 
the  saying.  “ Had  I been  at  my  mother’s,  in  her  own  house,  I could 
not  have  been  better  treated,”  wrote  M.  D’Alligny  on  the  contrary, 
when  he  came  out  of  one  of  the  hospitals  created  by  Louvois.  He 
conceived  the  grand  idea  of  the  Hotel  des  Invalides.  Never  had 
the  officers  of  the  army  been  under  such  strict  and  minute  super- 
vision ; promotion  went  by  seniority,  by  “the  order  on  the  list,”  as 
the  phrase  then  was,  without  any  favour  for  rank  or  birth ; com- 
Eeforms  in  manders  were  obliged  to  attend  to  their  corps.  Education  in  the 
the  army,  sch00is  f0T  cadets,  regularity  in  service,  obligation  to  keep  the  com- 
panies full  instead  of  pocketing  a portion  of  the  pay  in  the  name 
of  imaginary  soldiers  who  appeared  only  on  the  registers  and  who 
were  called  dummies  ( passe-volants ),  the  necessity  of  wearing  uni- 
form, introduced  into  the  army  customs  to  which  the  French 
nobility,  as  undisciplined  as  they  were  brave,  had  hitherto  been 
utter  strangers.1 

Artillery  and  engineering  were  developed  under  the  influence  of 
Yauban,  “the  first  of  his  own  time  and  one  of  the  first  of  all 
times  ” in  the  great  art  of  besieging,  fortifying  and  defending 
places.  Louvois  had  singled  out  Yauban  at  the  sieges  of  Lille, 
Tournay  and  Douai,  which  he  had  directed  in  chief  under  the  king’s 
Vauban.  own  eye.  The  honesty  and  moral  worth  of  Yauban  equalled  his 
genius ; he  was  as  high-minded  as  he  was  modest ; evil  reports 
had  been  spread  about  concerning  the  contractors  for  the  fortifica- 
tions of  Lille ; Yauban  demanded  an  inquiry  : “You  are  quite 
right  in  thinking,  my  lord,”  he  wrote  to  Louvois  to  whom  he  was 
united  by  a sincere  and  faithful  friendship,  “ that,  if  you  do  not 
examine  into  this  affair,  you  cannot  do  me  justice,  and,  if  you  do 
it  me  not,  that  would  be  compelling  me  to  seek  means  of  doing  it 
myself  and  of  giving  up  for  ever  fortification  and  all  its  con- 
comitants. Examine,  then,  boldly  and  severely ; away  with  all 

1 See  at  the  end  of  the  chapter,  table  No.  2,  Chronological  History  of  the 
French  Army, 


Vauban  a reformer. 


405 


tender  feeling,  for  I dare  plainly  tell  you  that  in  a question  of 
strictest  honesty  and  sincere  fidelity  I fear  neither  the  king,  nor 
you,  nor  all  the  human  race  together.  Fortune  had  me  horn  the 
poorest  gentleman  in  France,  but  in  requital  she  honoured  me  with 
an  honest  heart,  so  free  from  all  sorts  of  swindles  that  it  cannot 
bear  even  the  thought  of  them  without  a shudder.”  It  was  not  w 
until  eight  years  after  the  death  of  Louvois,  in  1699,  when  Vauban 
had  directed  fifty- three  sieges,  constructed  the  fortifications  of 
thirty-three  places,  and  repaired  those  of  three  hundred  towns, 
that  he  was  made  a marshal,  an  honour  that  no  engineer  had  yet 
obtained ; “ The  king  fancied  he  was  giving  himself  the  baton,”  it 
was  said,  “ so  often  had.  he  had  Yauban  under  his  orders  in 
besieging  places.” 

The  leisure  of  peace  was  more  propitious  to  Yauban’s  fame  than 
to  his  favour.  Generous  and  sincere  as  he  was,  a patriot  more  far- 
sighted than  his  contemporaries,  he  had  the  courage  to  present  to 
the  king  a memorial  advising  the  recall  of  the  fugitive  huguenots 
and  the  renewal,  pure  and  simple,  of  the  edict  of  Nantes.  He  had 
just  directed  the  siege  of  Brisach  and  the  defence  of  Dunkerque 
when  he  published  a great  economical  work  entitled  la  Dime  royale , His  “Dime 
the  fruit  of  the  reflections  of  his  whole  life,  fully  depicting  the  royale»” 
misery  of  the  people  and  the  system  of  imposts  he  thought  adapted 
to  relieve  it.  The  king  was  offended  ; he  gave  the  marshal  a cold 
reception  and  had  the  work  seized.  Yauban  received  his  death-blow 
from  this  disgrace:  the  royal  edict  was  dated  March  19,  1707  : 
the  great  engineer  died  on  the  30th  ; he  was  not  quite  seventy-four. 

The  king  testified  no  regret  for  the  loss  of  so  illustrious  a servant, 
with  whom  he  h^d  lived  on  terms  of  close  intimacy.  Yauban  had 
appeared  to  impugn  his  supreme  authority ; this  was  one  of  the 
crimes  that  Louis  XIY.  never  forgave. 

On  the  16th  July,  1691,  death  suddenly  removed  the  minister 
Louvois,  fallen  in  royal  favour,  detested  and  dreaded  in  France, 
universally  hated  in  Europe,  leaving,  however,  the  king,  France  and 
Europe  with  the  feeling  that  a great  power  had  fallen,  a great  deal 
of  merit  disappeared.  “ I doubt  not,”  wrote  Louis  XIY.  to  Mar-  ^ath  of* 
shal  Boufflers,  “ that,  as  you  are  very  zealous  for  my  service,  you  Louvois 
will  be  sorry  for  the  death  of  a man  who  served  me  well.”  “ Lou-  Guly  B>). 
vois,”  said  the  marquis  of  La  Fare,  “ should  never  have  been  born 
or  should  have  lived  longer.”  The  public  feeling  was  expressed  in 
an  anonymous  epitaph  : — 

“ Here  lieth  he  who  to  his  will 
Bent  everyone,  knew  everything  : 

Louvois,  beloved  by  no  one,  still 
Leaves  everybody  sorrowing.” 


40  6 


History  of  France . 


Chamil- 

lard 

minister. 


Desmarets 

and 

Voysin. 


The  king  felt  his  loss,  hut  did  not  regret  the  minister  whose 
tyranny  and  violence  were  beginning  to  be  oppressive  to  him : he 
felt  himself  to  be  more  than  ever  master  in  the  presence  of  the 
young  or  inexperienced  men  to  whom  he  henceforth  entrusted  his 
affairs.  Louvois’s  son,  Barbezieux,  had  the  reversion  of  the  war- 
department  ; Pontchartrain,  who  had  been  comptroller  of  finance 
ever  since  the  retirement  of  Lepelletier,  had  been  appointed  to  the 
navy  in  1690  at  the  death  of  Seignelay.  “M.  de  Pontchartrain 
had  begged  the  king  not  to  give  him  the  navy,”  says  Dangeau 
ingenuously,  “because  he  knew  nothing  at  all  about  it,  but  the 
king’s  will  was  absolute  that  he  should  take  it.  He  now  has  all 
that  M.  de  Colbert  had,  except  the  buildments.”  What  mattered 
the  inexperience  of  ministers?  The  king  thought  that  he  alone 
sufficed  for  all. 

God  had  left  it  to  time  to  undeceive  the  all-powerful  monarch  ; 
he  alone  held  out  amidst  the  ruins  : after  the  fathers  the  sons  were 
falling  around  him,  Seignelay  had  followed  Colbert  to  the  tomb ; 
Louvois  was  dead  after  Michael  Le  Tellier ; Barbezieux  died  in  his 
turn  in  1701.  Then  came  the  age  of  mediocrity  in  the  cabinet  as 
well  as  on  the  field  ; Chamillard  was  the  first,  the  only  one  of  his 
ministers  whom  the  king  had  ever  loved.  “ His  capacity  was  nil,” 
says  St.  Simon,  who  had  very  friendly  feelings  towards  Chamillard, 
“and  he  believed  that  he  knew  everything  and  of  every  sort”;  the 
court  bore  with  him  because  he  was  easy  and  good-natured,  but  the 
affairs  of  the  State  were  imperilled  in  his  hands;  Pontchartrain  had 
already  had  recourse  to  the  most  objectionable  proceedings  in  order 
to  obtain  money : the  mental  resources  of  Colbert  himself  had  failed 
in  presence  of  financial  embarrassments  and  increasing  estimates. 
Trade  was  languishing,  the  manufactures  founded  by  Colbert  were 
dropping  away  one  after  another ; the  revocation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes  and  the  emigration  of  Protestants  had  drained  France  of  the 
most  industrious  and  most  skilful  workmen  ; many  of  the  reformers 
had  carried  away  a great  deal  of  capital ; the  roads,  everywhere 
neglected,  were  becoming  impracticable.  The  soldiers  were  without 
victuals,  the  officers  were  not  paid,  the  abuses  but  lately  put  dowm 
by  the  strong  hand  of  Colbert  and  Louvois  were  cropping  up  again 
in  all  directions ; the  king  at  last  determined  to  listen  to  the  general 
cry  and  dismiss  Chamillard. 

Desmarets  in  the  finance  and  Yoysin  in  the  war  department, 
both  superintendents  of  finance,  the  former  a nephew  of  Colbert’s 
and  initiated  into  business  by  his  uncle,  both  of  them  capable  and 
assiduous,  succumbed,  like  their  predecessors,  beneath  the  weight 
of  the  burthens  which  were  overwhelming  and  ruining  France.  “I 


Mistakes  of  Louis  XIV, 


40  7 


know  the  state  of  my  finances/’  Louis  XIY.  had  said  to  Desmarets, 

“ I do  not  ask  you  to  do  impossibilities ; if  you  succeed,  you  will 
render  me  a great  service  : if  you  are  not  successful,  I shall  not 
hold  you  to  blame  for  circumstances/’  Desmarets  succeeded  better 
than  could  have  been  expected  without  being  able  to  rehabilitate 
the  finances  of  the  State.  Pontchartrain  had  exhausted  the  resource 
of  creating  new  offices.  “Every  time  your  Majesty  creates  a new 
post,  a fool  is  found  to  buy  it,”  he  had  said  to  the  king.  Desmarets 
had  recourse  to  the  bankers ; and  the  king  seconded  him  by  the 
gracious  favour  with  which  he  received  at  Versailles  the  greatest  of 
the  collectors  ( traitants ),  Samuel  Bernard.  “By  this  means  every- 
thing was  provided  for  up  to  the  time  of  the  general  peace,”  says  gtat0 
M.  d’Argenson.  France  kept  up  the  contest  to  the  end.  When  France  at 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht  was  signed,  the  fleet  was  ruined  and  destroyed, 
the  trade  diminished  by  two  thirds,  the  colonies  lost  or  devastated 
by  the  war,  the  destitution  in  the  country  so  frightful  that  orders 
had  to  be  given  to  sow  seed  in  the  fields ; the  exportation  of  grain, 
was  forbidden  on  pain  of  death ; meanwhile  the  peasantry  were 
reduced  to  browse  upop  the  grass  in  the  roads  and  to  tear  the  bark 
off  the  trees  and  eat  it.  Thirty  years  had  rolled  by  since  the  death 
of  Colbert,  twenty-two  since  that  of  Louvois ; everything  was  going 
to  perdition  simultaneously ; reverses  in  war  and  distress  at  home 
were  uniting  to  overwhelm  the  aged  king,  alone  upstanding  amidst 
so  many  dead  and  so  much  ruin.  “ Fifty  years’  sway  and  glory  had 
inspired  Louis  XIV.  with  the  presumptuous  belief  that  he  could 
not  only  choose  his  ministers  well  but  also  instruct  them  and  teach 
them  their  craft,”  says  M.  d’Argenson.  His  mistake  was  to  think 
that  the  title  of  king  supplied  all  the  endowments  of  nature  or 
experience ; he  was  no  financier,  no  soldier,  no  administrator,  yet 
he  would  everywhere  and  always  remain  supreme  master ; he  had 
believed  that  it  was  he  who  governed  with  Colbert  and  Louvois  ; 
those  two  great  ministers  had  scarcely  been  equal  to  the  task 
imposed  upon  them  by  war  and  peace,  by  armies,  buildments  and 
royal  extravagance ; their  successors  gave  way  thereunder  and  illu- 
sions vanished;  the  king’s  hand  was  powerless  to  sustain  the  weight 
of  affairs  becoming  more  and  more  disastrous ; the  gloom  that  per- 
vaded the  later  years  of  Louis  XIV.’s  reign  veiled  from  his  people’s 
eyes  the  splendour  of  that  reign  which  had  so  long  been  brilliant 
and  prosperous,  though  always  lying  heavy  on  the  nation,  even 
when  they  forgot  their  sufferings  in  the  intoxication  of  glory  and 
success. 

Independently  of  simple  submission  to  the  Catholic  Church,  there  neiigi0U3 
were  three  great  tendencies  which  divided  serious  minds  amongst  questions. 


408 


History  of  France . 


Three  dif- 
ferent 
views  of 
religion. 


Louis  XIV. 
violates 
the  rights 
of  con- 
science. 


The  Pro- 
testants. 


them  during  tho  reign  of  Louis  XIV.;  three  noble  passions  held 
possession  of  pious  souls  ; liberty,  faith,  and  love  were,  respectively, 
the  groundwork  as  well  as  the  banner  of  Protestantism,  Jansenism, 
and  Quietism.  It  was  in  the  name  of  the  fundamental  and  innate 
liberty  of  the  soul,  its  personal  responsibility  and  its  direct  relations 
with  God,  that  the  Reformation  had  sprung  up  and  reached  growth 
in  France,  even  more  than  in  Germany  and  in  England.  M.  de  St. 
Cyran,  the  head  and  founder  of  Jansenism,  abandoned  the  human 
soul  unreservedly  to  the  supreme  will  of  God ; his  faith  soared 
triumphant  over  flesh  and  blood,  and  his  disciples,  disdaining  the 
joys  and  the  ties  of  earth,  lived  only  for  eternity.  Madame  Guyon 
and  Fenelon,  less  ardent  and  less  austere,  discovered  in  the  tender 
mysticism  of  pure  love  that  secret  of  God’s  which  is  sought  by  all 
pious  souls  ; in  the  name  of  divine  love,  the  Quietists  renounced  all 
will  of  their  own,  just  as  the  Jansenists  in  the  name  of  faith. 

Louis  XIV.  on  one  occasion  had  solemnly  promised  that  he  would 
respect  the  rights  of  conscience ; but  from  the  very  beginning  of 
his  personal  government  he  plainly  showed  that  he  did  not  mean  to 
keep  his  word ; and  after  an  interval  of  twenty  years,  the  series  of 
arbitrary  measures  which  he  countenanced  and  even  ordered  were 
replaced  by  open  and  avowed  persecution.  To  begin  with  the 
Huguenots ; all  the  guarantees  stipulated  by  the  edict  of  Hantes 
were  successively  withdrawn,  the  mixed  chambers  established  in 
the  parliaments  of  Toulouse,  Grenoble,  and  Bordeaux  were  sup- 
pressed, and  no  protestant  could  enter  any  one  of  the  liberal  pro- 
fessions or  practise  as  physician,  lawyer,  publisher,  printer,  etc. 
Thus  debarred  from  the  pursuit  of  these  occupations,  the  persecuted 
Calvinists  had  nothing  left  open  to  them  but  trade  and  industry, 
and  in  a short  time  the  whole  commerce  of  the  kingdom  was  in 
their  hands.  Roman  Catholics  were  prohibited  from  embracing 
Calvinism  under  penalty  of  hard  labour  at  the  hulks  for  life ; and 
children  of  protestant  parents  were,  on  the  contrary,  authorized  to 
abjure  their  faith  as  early  as  the  age  of  seven  years,  “ age  auquel,” 
says  the  edict,  “ ils  sont  capables  de  raison  et  de  choix  dans  une 
matiere  aussi  importante  qui  celle  de  leur  salut.”  By  virtue  of  this 
declaration,  a great  number  of  children  were  torn  from  the  bosom 
of  their  family ; and  Madame  de  Maintenon  founded  the  convent 
of  Saint-Cyr,  near  Versailles,  for  the  reception  of  young  ladies  of 
noble  origin,  thus  converted  Missions  were  multiplied  throughout 
the  provinces,  consciences  were  bought  according  to  a certain  tariff, 
and  Pellisson,  who,  like  the  new  favourite,  had  been  originally  a 
protestant,  received  the  direction  of  a special  fund  organized  to  pay 
these  shameful  abjurations.  “ The  average  standard  was  not  very 


Persecution  of  the  Protestants. 


409 


high ; a soul  was  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  six  livres  a piece,  a little 
less  than  the  price  of  a porker.  ‘ Send  in,  send  in,’  Pellisson  wrote 
to  them,  1 you  demand  money,  here  it  is  ! five,  ten,  fifteen,  twenty- 
thousand  livres  !’  and  every  quarter  he  displayed  before  the  eyes 
of  the  monarch  these  scandalous  bargains.  It  was  pleasantly 
remarked  at  court,  that  the  golden  doctrine  of  M.  Pellisson  was 
much  more  convincing  than  that  of  Monsieur  de  Meaux.  The  pro- 
testants  called  his  coffers  the  box  of  Pandora,  whilst  he  himself 
compared  them  to  the  cruse  of  the  widow  of  Sarepta.”  Louvois 
had  recourse  to  means  still  more  persuasive ; he  sent  soldiers  to  take 
up  their  quarters  in  the  houses  of  the  protestants.  “Troops  of  all 
arms  were  employed  in  this  military  mission.  But  the  dragoons  The  f<  Dra- 
owed  to  the  excess  of  their  brutal  zeal,  or  to  the  dazzling  splendour  gonnades.’* 
of  their  uniforms,  by  which  they  were  distinguished  above  all  the 
other  corps,  the  honour  of  giving  it  their  name.  On  the  eve  of 
their  arrival  in  a town,  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  assem- 
bled the  Protestants  in  the  market  place,  to  whom,  in  an  address 
which  was  generally  wound  up  with  a threatening  announcement 
that  the  military  force  was  approaching,  they  signified  the  irrevo- 
cable will  of  the  king.  Sometimes  the  poor  frightened  people  at  once 
declared  themselves  converts  by  general  acclamation.  The  people 
of  education  signed  a profession  of  faith,  whilst  the  common  people 
only  said,  ‘ I re-unite  myself,’  or  cried  out  ‘ Ave  Maria,’  or  made 
the  sign  of  the  cross.  In  some  towns,  offices  of  conversion  were 
established,  where  the  proselytes,  after  having  their  names  registered 
on  a list,  received  a certificate  written  on  the  back  of  a playing  card , 
which  was  to  protect  them  from  the  persecution  of  the  soldiery. 

The  people  of  Nismes,  using  an  apocalyptic  phrase,  called  this  card 
the  mark  of  the  beast ; and,  indeed,  they  only  announced  a pro- 
found truth  ; for  what  is  a man  worth  who,  to  preserve  what  is 
animal  and  mortal  in  him,  gives  up  his  spiritual  being — his  soul, 
the  heavenly  and  immortal  part  of  his  nature?” 

At  last  the  fatal  blow  was  struck.  The  king  assembled  his  council : ^ D jg8g 
the  lists  of  converts  were  so  long  that  there  could  scarcely  remain  in  Revocation 
the  kingdom  more  than  a few  thousand  recalcitrants.  “ His  Majesty  Nantes* 
proposed  to  take  an  ultimate  resolution  as  regarded  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,”  writes  the  duke  of  Burgundy  in  a memorandum  found 
amongst  his  papers  : “ Monseigneur  represented  that,  according  to  an 
anonymous  letter  he  had  received  the  day  before,  the  huguenots  had 
some  expectation  of  what  was  coming  upon  them,  that  there  was  per- 
haps some  reason  to  fear  that  they  would  take  up  arms,  relying  upon 
the  protection  of  the  princes  of  their  religion,  and  that,  supposing  they 
dared  not  do  so,  a great  number  would  leave  the  kingdom,  which 


4io 


History  of  France . 


It  is  signed 
by  Le  Tel- 
lier  and 
Chateau- 
neuf. 


Its  ex- 
treme 
severity. 


would  be  injurious  to  commerce  and  agriculture  and,  for  that  same 
reason,  would  weaken  the  State.  The  king  replied  that  he  had 
foreseen  all  for  some  time  past  and  had  provided  for  all;  that 
nothing  in  the  world  would  he  more  painful  to  him  than  to  shed 
a single  drop  of  the  blood  of  his  subjects,  but  that  he  had  armies 
and  good  generals  whom  he  would  employ  in  case  of  need  against 
rebels  who  courted  their  own  destruction.  As  for  calculations 
of  interest,  he  thought  them  worthy  of  but  little  consideration  in 
comparison  with  the  advantages  of  a measure  which  would  restore 
to  religion  its  splendour,  to  the  State  its  tranquillity  and  to  authority 
all  its  rights.  A resolution  was  carried  unanimously  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.”  The  declaration,  drawn  up  by 
Chancellor  Le  Tellier  and  Chateauneuf,  was  signed  by  the  king  on 
the  15th  of  October,  1685 ; it  was  despatched  on  the  17th  to  all 
the  superintendents.  The  edict  of  pacification,  that  great  work  of 
the  liberal  and  prudent  genius  of  Henry  IV.,  respected  and  con- 
firmed in  its  most  important  particulars  by  Cardinal  Richelieu, 
recognized  over  and  over  again  by  Louis  XIV.  himself,  disappeared 
at  a single  stroke,  carrying  with  it  all  hope  of  liberty,  repose  and 
justice  for  fifteen  hundred  thousand  subjects  of  the  king.  “ Our 
pains,”  said  the  preamble  of  the  Edict,  “have  had  the  end  we  had 
proposed,  seeing  that  the  better  and  the  greater  part  of  our  subjects 
of  the  religion  styled  reformed  have  embraced  the  catholic ; the 
execution  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  consequently  remaining  useless, 
we  have  considered  that  we  could  not  do  better,  for  the  purpose  of 
effacing  entirely  the  memory  of  the  evils  which  this  false  religion 
has  caused  in  our  kingdom,  than  revoke  entirely  the  aforesaid 
Edict  of  Nantes  and  all  that  has  been  done  in  favour  of  the  said 
religion.” 

The  Edict  of  October  15,  1685,  supposed  the  religion  styled 
reformed  to  be  already  destroyed  and  abolished.  It  ordered  the 
demolition  of  all  the  chapels  that  remained  standing  and  interdicted 
any  assembly  or  worship : recalcitrant  (opiniatres)  ministers  were 
ordered  to  leave  the  kingdom  within  fifteen  days ; the  schools  were 
closed ; all  new-born  babies  were  to  be  baptised  by  the  parish- 
priests  ; religionists  were  forbidden  to  leave  the  kingdom  on  pain 
of  the  galleys  for  the  men  and  confiscation  of  person  and  property 
for  the  women.  “The  will  of  the  king,”  said  Superintendent 
Marillac  at  Rouen,  “ is  that  there  be  no  more  than  one  religion  in 
this  kingdom ; it  is  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  well-being  of  the 
State.”  Two  hours  were  allowed  the  reformers  of  Rouen  for 
making  their  abjuration. 

One  clause,  at  the  end  of  the  edict  of  October  15,  seemed  to 


The  revocation  of  the  Edict  is  useless.  4 1 1 

extenuate  its  effect;  “Those  of  our  subjects  of  the  religion  styled 

reformed  who  shall  persist  in  their  errors,  pending  the  time  when 

it  may  please  God  to  enligkten  them  like  the  rest,  shall  be  allowed 

to  remain  in  the  kingdom,  country  and  lands  which  obey  the  king, 

there  to  continue  their  trade  and  enjoy  their  property  without  being 

liable  to  be  vexed  or  hindered  on  pretext  of  prayer  or  worship  of 

the  said  religion  of  whatsoever  nature  they  may  be.”  “Never  was 

there  illusion  more  cruel  than  that  which  this  clause  caused  people,” 

says  Benoit  in  his  Histoire  de  l’ Edit  de  Nantes:  “it  was  believed 

that  the  king  meant  only  to  forbid  special  exercises,  but  that  he  Miscalcu- 

intended  to  leave  conscience  free,  since  he  granted  this  grace  to  all  *at^°ns  as 

those  who  were  still  reformers,  pending  the  time  when  it  should  suitsof  the 

please  God  to  enlighten  them.  Many  gave  up  the  measures  they  measure. 

had  taken  for  leaving  the  country  with  their  families,  many 

voluntarily  returned  from  the  retreats  where  they  had  hitherto  been 

fortunate  enough  to  lie  hid.  The  most  mistrustful  dared  not 

suppose  that  so  solemn  a promise  was  only  made  to  be  broken  on 

the  morrow.  They  were  all,  nevertheless,  mistaken ; and  those  who 

were  imprudent  enough  to  return  to  their  homes  were  only  just  in 

time  to  receive  the  dragoons  there.”  A letter  from  Louvois  to  the 

duke  of  Noailles  put  a stop  to  all  illusion.  “I  have  no  doubt,” 

he  wrote,  “ that  some  rather  heavy  billets  upon  the  few  amongst 

the  nobility  and  third  estate  still  remaining  of  the  religionists  will 

undeceive  them  as  to  the  mistake  they  are  under  about  the  Edict 

M.  de  Chateauneuf  drew  up  for  us  : his  Majesty  desires  that  you 

should  explain  yourself  very  sternly  and  that  extreme  severity 

should  be  employed  against  those  who  are  not  willing  to  become  of 

his  religion ; those  who  have  the  silly  vanity  to  glory  in  holding 

out  to  the  last  must  be  driven  to  extremity.”  The  pride  of 

Louis  XIV.  was  engaged  in  the  struggle ; those  of  his  subjects  who 

refused  to  sacrifice  their  religion  to  him  were  disobedient,  rebellious 

and  besotted  with  silly  vanity . “ It  will  be  quite  ridiculous  before 

long  to  be  of  that  religion,”  wrote  Madame  de  Maintenon. 

Even  in  his  court  and  amongst  his  most  useful  servants  the  king  Opposition, 
encountered  unexpected  opposition.  Marshal  Schomberg  with 
great  difficulty  obtained  authority  to  leave  the  kingdom  ; Duquesne 
was  refused.  All  ports  were  closed,  all  frontiers  watched.  The 
great  lords  gave  way,  one  after  another;  accustomed  to  enjoy  royal 
favours,  attaching  to  them  excessive  value,  living  at  court,  close  to 
Paris  which  was  spared  a great  deal  during  the  persecution,  they, 
without  much  effort,  renounced  a faith  which  closed  to  them  hence- 
forth the  door  to  all  offices  and  all  honours.  The  gentlemen  of  the 
provinces  were  more  resolute ; many  realized  as  much  as  they  could 


412 


History  of  France . 

of  their  property  and  went  abroad,  braving  all  dangers,  even  that 
of  the  galleys  in  case  of  arrest.  It  were  impossible  to  estimate 
precisely  the  number  of  emigrations  ,*•  it  was  probably  between 
Trade  three  and  four  hundred  thousand.  Almost  all  trade  was  stopped 

ruined.  in  Normandy.  The  little  amount  of  manufacture  that  was  possible 

rotted  away  on  the  spot  for  want  of  transport  to  foreign  countries, 
whence  vessels  were  no  longer  found  to  come  ; Rouen,  Darnetal, 
Elbeuf,  Louviers,  Caudebec,  Le  Havre,  Pont-Audemer,  Caen, 
St.  Lo,  Alenin  and  Ba.yeux  were  falling  into  decay,  the  different 
branches  of  trade  and  industry  which  had  but  lately  been  seen 
flourishing  there  having  perished  through  the  emigration  of  the 
masters  whom  their  skilled  workmen  followed  in  shoals.  The 
Norman  emigration  had  been  very  numerous,  thanks  to  the  extent 
of  its  coasts  and  to  the  habitual  communication  between  Normandy, 
England  and  Holland ; Yauban,  however,  remained  very  far  from 
the  truth  when  he  deplored,  in  1688,  “the  desertion  of  100,000 
men,  the  withdrawal  from  the  kingdom  of  sixty  millions  of  livres, 
the  enemy’s  fleets  swelled  by  9000  sailors,  the  best  in  the  kingdom, 
and  the  enemy’s  armies  by  600  officers  and  12,000  soldiers,  who 
had  seen  service.”  It  is  a natural  but  a striking  fact  that  the 
reformers  who  left  Prance  and  were  received  with  open  arms  in 
Brandenburg,  Holland,  England  and  Switzerland  carried  in  their 
hearts  a profound  hatred  for  the  king  who  drove  them  away  from 
their  country  and  everywhere  took  service  against  him,  whilst  the 
Protestants  who  remained  in  Prance,  bound  to  the  soil  by  a thorn- 
sand  indissoluble  ties,  continued  at  the  same  time  to  be  submissive 
and  faithful. 

The  peace  of  Ryswick  had  not  brought  the  Protestants  the  hoped 
for  alleviation  of  their  woes.  Louis  XIV.  haughtily  rejected  the 
petition  of  the  English  and  Dutch  plenipotentiaries  on  behalf  of 
“those  in  affliction  who  ought  to  have  their  share  in  the  happiness 
Insurrec-  °f  Europe.”  The  persecution  everywhere  continued,  with  deter- 
tion  in  the  ruination  and  legality  in  the  North,  writh  violence  and  passion  in 
Cevennes.  gou^  abandoned  to  the  tyranny  of  M.  de  Lamoignon  de 
Baville,  a crafty  and  coldbloodedly  cruel  politician,  without  the 
excuse  of  any  zealous  religious  conviction.  The  execution  -of 
several  ministers  who  had  remained  in  hiding  in  the  Cevennes  or 
had  returned  from  exile  to  instruct  and  comfort  their  flocks  raised 
to  the  highest  pitch  the  enthusiasm  of  the  reformers  of  Languedoc. 
Deprived  of  their  highly  prized  assemblies  and  of  their  pastors’ 
guidance,  men  and  women,  greybeards  and  children,  all  at  once 
fancied  themselves  animated  by  the  spirit  of  prophecy.  Young 
girls  had  celestial  visions ; the  little  peasant-lasses  poured  out  their 


Civil  zvar  in  Southern  France . 


413 


utterances  in  French,  sometimes  in  the  language  and  with  the 
sublime  eloquence  of  the  Bible,  sole  source  of  their  religious 
knowledge;  the  rumour  of  these  marvels  ran  from  village  to 
village;  meetings  were  held  to  hear  the  inspired  maidens,  in 
contempt  of  edicts,  the  galleys  and  the  stake ; a gentleman  glass- 
worker,  named  Abraham  de  la  Serre,  was  as  it  were  the  Samuel  of 
this  new  school  of  prophets.  In  vain  did  M.  de  Baville  have  three 
hundred  children  imprisoned  at  Uzes,  and  then  send  them  to  the 
galleys  ; the  religious  contagion  was  too  strong  for  the  punishments ; 

“ women  found  themselves  in  a single  day  husbandless,  childless, 
houseless  and  penniless,”  says  the  historian  Court : they  remained 
immovable  in  their  pious  ecstasy ; the  assemblies  multiplied ; the 
troops  which  had  so  long  occupied  Languedoc  had  been  summoned 
away  by  the  war  of  succession  in  Spain,  the  militia  could  no  longer 
restrain  the  reformers,  growing  every  day  more  enthusiastic  through 
the  prophetic  hopes  which  were  born  of  their  long  sufferings. 

The  insurrection  of  the*  Cevenols  or,  as  the  Catholic  peasants 
called  them,  the  Camisards , led  by  Jean  Cavalier,  Roland  and  The  “Ca- 
others,  was  put  down  by  marshal  Villars,  after  many  vicissitudes  of  misards.” 
successes  and  reverses.  Little  by  little  the  chiefs  were  killed  off 
in  petty  engagements  or  died  in  obscurity  of  their  wounds ; pro- 
visions were  becoming  scarce  ; the  country  was  wasted ; submission 
became  more  frequent  every  day.  The  principals  all  demanded 
leave  to  quit  France.  “ There  are  left  none  but  a few  brigands  in 
the  Upper  Cevennes,”  says  Villars.  Some  partial  risings  alone 
recalled,  up  to  1709,  the  fact  that  the  old  leaven  still  existed  ; the 
war  of  the  Camisards  was  over.  It  was  the  sole  attempt  in  his- 
tory on  the  part  of  French  Protestantism  since  Richelieu,  a 
strange  and  dangerous  effort  made  by  an  ignorant  and  savage 
people,  roused  to  enthusiasm  by  persecution,  believing  itself  called 
upon  by  the  spirit  of  God  to  win,  sword  in  hand,  the  freedom  of  g^n^“ 
its  creed,  under  the  leadership  of  two  shepherd-soldiers  and  prophets,  and  the 
Only  the  Scottish  Cameronians  have  presented  the  same  mixture  of  Q^meron 
warlike  ardour  and  pious  enthusiasm,  more  gloomy  and  fierce  with  ians. 
the  men  of  the  North,  more  poetical  and  prophetical  with  the 
Cevenols,  flowing  in  Scotland  as  in  Languedoc  from  religious 
oppression  and  from  constant  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The 
silence  of  death  succeeded  everywhere  in  France  to  the  plaints  of 
the  reformers  and  to  the  crash  of  arms ; Louis  XIV.  might  well 
suppose  that  Protestantism  in  his  dominions  was  dead. 

It  was  a little  before  the  time  when  the  last  of  the  Camisards, 

Abraham  Mazel  and  Claris,  perished  near  Uzes  (in  1710),  that  the 
king  struck  the  last  blow  at  Jansenism  by  destroying  its  earliest 


414 


History  of  France. 


nest  and  its  last  refuge,  the  house  of  the  nuns  of  Port-Royal  des 
Champs.  With  truces  and  intervals  of  apparent  repose,  the  struggle 
had  lasted  more  than  sixty  years  between  the  Jesuits  and  Jan- 
senism. M.  de  St.  Cyran,  who  left  the  Bastille  a few  months  after 
the  death  of  Richelieu,  had  dedicated  the  last  days  of  his  life  to 
■writing  against  Protestantism,  being  so  much  the  more  scared  by 
the  heresy  in  that,  perhaps,  he  felt  himself  attracted  thereto  by  a 
Jansenism,  secret  affinity.  He  was  already  dying  when  there  appeared  the  book 
Frequente  Communion , by  M.  Arnauld,  youngest  son  and  twentieth 
child  of  that  illustrious  family  of  Arnaulds  in  whom  Jansenism 
seemed  to  be  personified.  The  author  was  immediately  accused  at 
Rome  and  buried  himself  for  twenty  years  in  retirement.  With  his 
dying  breath  M.  de  St.  Cyran  had  said  to  M.  Guerin,  physician  to 
the  college  of  Jesuits  : “ Sir,  tell  your  Fathers,  when  I am  dead, 
not  to  triumph,  and  that  I leave  behind  me  a dozen  stronger  than 
I.”  With  all  his  penetration  the  director  of  consciences  was  mis- 
taken. M.  Arnauld  was  a great  theologian,  an  indefatigable  con- 
troversialist, the  oracle  and  guide  of  his  friends  in  their  struggle 
against  the  Jesuits  ; M.  de  Sacy  and  M.  Singlin  were  wise  and  able 
directors,  as  austere  as  M.  de  St.  Cyran  in  their  requirements,  less 
domineering  and  less  rough  than  he ; but  M.  de  St.  Cyran  alone 
was  and  could  be  the  head  of  Jansenism ; he  alone  could  have 
inspired  that  idea  of  immolation  of  the  whole  being  to  the  sovereign 
will  of  God,  as  to  the  truth  which  resides  in  Him  alone.  Once 
assured  of  this  point,  M.  de  St.  Cyran  became  immovable.  Mother 
Angelica  Angelica  pressed  him  to  appear  before  the  archbishop’s  council, 
Arnauld.  which  was  to  pronounce  upon  his  book  Theologie  familiere.  “ It 
is  always  good  to  humble  oneself,”  she  said.  “As  for  you,”  he 
replied,  “ who  are  in  that  disposition  and  would  not  in  any  respect 
compromise  the  honour  of  the  truth,  you  could  do  it ; but  as  for  me 
I should  break  down  before  the  eyes  of  God  if  I consented  thereto  ; 
the  weak  are  more  to  be  feared  sometimes  than  the  wicked.” 

Mother  Angelica  Arnauld,  to  whom  these  lines  were  addressed, 
was  the  most  perfect  image  and  the  most  accomplished  disciple  of 
M.  de  St.  Cyran.  More  gentle  and  more  human  than  he,  she  was 
quite  as  strong  and  quite  as  zealous.  A reformer  of  many  a con- 
vent since  the  day  when  she  had  closed  the  gates  of  Port-Royal 
against  her  father,  M.  Arnauld,  in  order  to  restore  the  strictness  of  the 
cloister,  Mother  Angelica  carried  rule  along  with  her,  for  she  carried 
within  herself  the  government,  rigid  no  doubt,  for  it  was  life  in  a 
convent,  but  characterized  by  generous  largeness  of  heart,  which 
caused  the  yoke  to  be  easily  borne.  She  carried  the  same  zeal  from 
convent  to  convent,  from  Port-Royal  des  Champs  to  Port-Royal 


Jansenius  and  the  A rnaulds. 


415 


de  Paris;  from  Maubuisson,  whither  her  superiors  sent  her  to 
establish  a reformation,  to  St.  Sacrement,  to  establish  union  between 
the  two  orders ; ever  devoted  to  religion,  without  having  chosen 
her  vocation  ; attracting  around  her-  all  that  were  hers  ; her  mother 
a wife  at  twelve  years  of  age,  and  astonished  to  find  herself  obeying 
after  having  commanded  her  twenty  children  for  fifty  years ; 
five  of  her  sisters ; nieces  and  cousins ; and  in  “ the  Desert,” 
beside  Port-Royal  des  Champs,  her  brothers,  her  nephews,  her 
friends,  steeped  like  herself  in  penitence. 

Mother  Angelica  was  nearing  the  repose  of  eternity,  the  only 
repose  admitted  by  her  brother  M.  Arnauld,  when  the  storm  of 
persecution  burst  upon  the  monastery.  The  Augustinus  of  Jan- 
senius, bishop  of  Ypres,  a friend  of  M.  de  St.  Cyran’s,  had  just 
been  condemned  at  Rome.  Five  propositions  concerning  grace  were 
extracted  from  the  book,  and  pronounced  heretical.  The  opposers  of 
what  was  called  Jansenist  doctrines  employed  every  means  in  their 
power  to  have  these  propositions  condemned  by  the  court  of  Rome ; 
and  having  obtained  to  this  effect  two  bulls  from  the  Popes  Inno- 
cent X.  and  Alexander  VII.,  their  next  object  was  to  secure  the  pro- 
mulgation of  these  documents  in  the  dominions  of  the  French  king. 
An  assembly  of  court-bishops  drew  up  a declaration  which  was  subse- 
quently made  more  valid  still  by  the  king’s  own  signature,  and  which 
became  obligatory  on  all  ecclesiastical  persons  throughout  France. 
This  declaration  contained  two  points  ; the  former,  to  the  effect  that 
the  five  famous  propositions  on  the  subject  of  divine  grace  were  to  be 
found  in  Jansenius  ; the  latter  maintained  the  heretical  character  of 
these  propositions.  Believing,  as  they  did,  that  the  five  proposi- 
tions were,  in  substance,  maintained  by  Jansenius,  the  solitaries  of 
Port-Royal  would  have  been  guilty  of  an  untruth  had  they  sub- 
scribed to  the  Pope’s  declaration ; on  the  other  hand,  if  they  refused 
to  sign,  they  were  lost.  In  this  dreadful  situation,  the  thought  of 
a compromise  struck  the  firmest  minds.  A negotiation  was  opened 
with  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  for  the  purpose  of  endeavouring  to 
obtain  from  him  a pastoral  letter  conceived  in  moderate  terms. 
Several  meetings  took  place  amongst  the  Jansenists,  Pascal  and 
Domat  deciding  against  all  compliance  contrary  to  Christian  truth, 
and  sincerity,  whilst  Nicole  and  Arnauld  wrote  in  favour  of  condi- 
tional obedience.  The  latter  prevailed  ; the  authority  of  Arnauld 
especially,  carried  along  with  it  the  votes  of  the  majority.  Port- 
Royal  had  breathed  its  last ! In  the  year  1709  the  monastery  was 
destroyed,  and  not  even  the  sanctity  of  the  grave  was  respected  by 
the  agents  of  Louis  XIV.  Dogs  were  seen  disputing  the  mangled 
remains  of  bodies  torn  from  what  should  have  been  their  last  rest- 
ing place. 


The  “Au- 
gustinus.” 


Discus- 
sion on  the 
“ Five  pro- 
positions.” 


Port-Royal 

destroyed. 


History  of  France . 


416 

Success  seemed  at  first  to  crown  these  deeds  of  violence,  and  the 
king  for  a short  time  thought  that  Jansenism  had  disappeared  with 
Port-Royal  des  Champs.  Nevertheless  the  publication  of  the 
Quesnel  Reflexions  sur  le  Nouveau  Testament , by  Quesnel,  a priest  of  the 
and  the  congregation  of  the  Oratory  (1671)  revived  all  the  disputes,  and 
bull  “Uni-  proved  the  vitality  of  the  doctrines  with  which  the  name  of  Jan- 
gemtus.  genjsm  haci  been  connected.  One  hundred  and  one  propositions 
extracted  from  the  work  were  condemned  at  Rome  by  the  bull 
Unigenitus,  and  Louis  XIV.,  in  1712,  bound  the  whole  French 
clergy  to  adhere  to  that  condemnation  under  penalty  of  disgrace, 
prison  and  exile.  Quietism  was  proscribed  quite  as  strictly  as  Jan- 
senism. It  is  well  known  that  a pious  but  mistaken  lady,  Madame 
Guyon,  had  endeavoured  to  spread  a kind  of  mystical  form  of  reli- 
gion introduced  previously  by  a Spanish  priest,  Michael  de  Molinos, 
and  condemned  by  Pope  Innocent  XI.  Through  the  Duke  de 
Beauvilliers  this  lady  became  acquainted  with  Fenelon.  Naturally 
inclined  to  the  contemplative  sort  of  piety  which  springs  more  from 
the  heart  than  from  the  understanding,  the  prelate  adopted  Madame 
GuyorTand  Guyon’s  views,  and  a kind  of  sect  was  soon  organized  at  court,  of 
Quietism,  which  the  dukes  de  Beauvilliers  and  de  Chevreuse,  Fenelon  and 
Madame  Guyon  were  the  leaders.  “We  must,”  said  the  Quietists, 
“ love  God  for  his  own  sake ; our  love  must  be  pure  and  disin- 
terested, inspired  neither  by  the  hope  of  everlasting  happiness,  nor 
by  the  dread  of  everlasting  condemnation.”  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
at  first  gained  over  likewise,  had  introduced  Madame  Guyon  into 
the  house  of  St.  Cyr,  and  thus  given  a sort  of  sanction  to  the  doc- 
trines of  Molinos.  The  bishop  of  Chartres,  in  whose  diocese  the 
establishment  was,  soon  perceived  what  the  consequences  would  be 
of  allowing  an  exalted,  quintessentiated  form  of  mysticism  to  spread 
through  a community  of  young  girls.  He  warned  Madame  de 
Maintenon ; and  this  lady  accordingly  desired  that  Madame  Guyon’s 
works  and  opinions  should  be  examined  by  a committee  composed 
of  Bossuet,  M.  de  Noailles,  bishop  of  Chalons,  and  Tronson,  superior 
of  the  ecclesiastical  college  of  St.  Sulpice,  in  Paris.  Fenelon  had 
openly  taken  Madame  Guyon’s  part  : he  was  therefore  quite  as 
much  on  his  trial  as  the  fair  disciple  of  Molinos  ; but  he  expressly 
declared  that  he  would  abide  by  the  decision  of  the  examiners, 
especially  that  of  Bossuet ; and,  as  a reward  for  his  submission, 
Madame  de  Maintenon  secured  his  nomination  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Cambrai.  This  appointment  was  a heavy  blow  for  Fenelon’s 
party ; the  important  diocese  of  Paris  was  just  vacant,  and  they  had 
confidently  expected  that  their  leader  would  be  nominated  to  it.  Such 
a position  would  have  given  him  the  greatest  influence,  and  enabled 
him  to  propagate  with  absolute  success  Madame  Guyon’s  doctrine. 


The  Quietists . 


417 


The  disappointment  was  general ; and  the  countess  de  Guiche, 
amongst  many  others,  is  said  to  have  been  so  mortified,  that  she 
could  not  conceal  her  tears.  In  order  to  secure  by  other  means  the 
authority  which  his  nomination  to  the  see  of  Cambrai  could  not 
give  him,  Fenelon  courted  the  Jesuits,  openly  acknowledged  his 
sympathy  for  them,  and  did  his  utmost  to  conciliate  men  whose 
power  at  Versailles  was  then  without  control. 

The  result  of  the  conference  held  at  Issy  proved  null ; Madame  Fenelon 
Guyou  persevered  in  promulgating  the  principles  of  Molinos,  and 
Quietism  seemed  to  spread  more  rapidly  than  ever.  Exasperated  at  Guyon, 
Fenelon’s  questionable  behaviour,  and  at  the  determination  with  and  *s  con* 
which  he  supported  the  condemned  doctrines,  after  having  promised 
to  yield  to  the  decision  of  the  examiners,  Bossuet  prepared  his 
celebrated  Instructions  sur  les  ffitats  d’orctison.  Fenelon,  however, 
was  ready  beforehand  ; he  refused  to  approve  the  work  of  the 
Bishop  of  Meaux,  and  published  in  support  of  his  opinions  the 
well-known  volume  containing  the  maxims  of  the  saints  on  the 
spiritual  life.  He  managed  so  cleverly  that  his  apology  was  the 
first  to  appear.  The  scandal  became  immense  ; it  seemed  necessary 
to  institute  an  appeal  to  the  Court  of  Rome.  Madame  Guyon 
was  arrested,  Eenelon  exiled  in  his  diocese,  and  the  Pope  requested 
to  pronounce  judgment  in  a case  respecting  which  there  could  hardly 
be  any  difficulty.  The  archbishop  of  Cambrai  was  condemned, 
and  whatever  may  have  been  his  errors  during  the  course  of  this 
affair,  he  redeemed  them  by  the  dignity  with  which  he  bore  his 
disgrace. 

So  many  fires  smouldering  in  the  hearts,  so  many  different  strug- 
gles going  on  in  the  souls  that  sought  to  manifest  their  personal 
and  independent  life  have  often  caused  forgetfulness  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  faithful  who  were  neither  Jansenists  nor  Quietists. 

Bossuet  was  the  real  head  and  the  pride  of  the  great  catholic  Church  Bossuet. 
of  France  in  the  seventeenth  century ; what  he  approved  of  was 
approved  of  by  the  immense  majority  of  the  French  clergy,  what 
he  condemned  was  condemned  by  them.  Moderate  and  prudent  in 
conduct  as  well  as  in  his  opinions,  pious  without  being  fervent, 
holding  discreetly  aloof  from  all  excesses,  he  was  a Gallican  without 
fear  and  without  estrangement  as  regarded  the  papal  power  to 
which  he  steadfastly  paid  homage.  It  was  with  pain  and  not 
without  having  sought  to  escape  therefrom  that  he  found  himself 
obliged,  at  the  assembly  of  the  clergy  in  1682,  to  draw  up  the 
solemn  declarations  of  the  Gallican  Church.  The  meeting  of  the 
clergy  had  been  called  forth  by  the  eternal  discussions  of  the  civil 
power  with  the  court  of  Rome  on  the  question  of  the  rights  of 

E E 


418 


History  of  France. 


regale , that  is  to  say,  the  rights  of  the  sovereign  to  receive  the 
revenues  of  vacant  bishoprics  and  to  appoint  to  benefices  belonging 
to  them.  The  French  bishops  were  of  independent  spirit ; the 
archbishop  of  Paris,  Francis  de  Harlay,  was  on  bad  terms  with 
Pope  Innocent  XI.  ; Bossuet  managed  to  moderate  the  discussions 
and  kept  within  suitable  bounds  the  declaration  which  he  could  not 
His  theo-  avoid.  He  had  always  taught  and  maintained  what  was  proclaimed 
views1  ky  the  assembly  of  the  clergy  of  France,  that  “ St.  Peter  and  his 
successors,  vicars  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  whole  Church  itself 
received  from  God  authority  over  only  spiritual  matters  and  such 
as  appertain  to  salvation,  and  not  over  temporal  and  civil  matters, 
in  such  sort  that  kings  and  sovereigns  are  not  subject  to  any  eccle- 
siastical power,  by  order  of  God,  in  temporal  matters,  and  cannot 
be  deposed  directly  or  indirectly  by  authority  of  the  keys  of  the 
Church ; finally  that,  though  the  pope  has  the  principal  part  in 
questions  of  faith,  and  though  his  decrees  concern  all  the  churches 
and  each  church  severally,  his  judgment  is,  nevertheless,  not  irre- 
fragable, unless  the  consent  of  the  Church  intervene.”  Old  doc- 
trines in  the  Church  of  France,  but  never  before  so  solemnly 
declared  and  made  incumbent  upon  the  teaching  of  all  the  facul- 
ties of  theology  in  the  kingdom. 

Constantly  occupied  in  the  dogmatic  struggle  against  Pro- 
testantism, Bossuet  had  imported  into  it  a moderation  in  form 
which,  however,  did  not  keep  out  injustice.  Without  any  inclina- 
tion towards  persecution,  he,  with  almost  unanimity  on  the  part  of 
the  bishops  of  France,  approved  of  the  king’s  piety  in  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  edict  of  Nantes. 

Bossuet  had  died  on  the  12th  of  April,  1704.  The  king  was 
about  to  bring  the  Jansenist  question  before  his  bed  of  justice, 
The  king  w^en  ill  : " I am  sorry  to  leave  the  affairs  of  the  Church  in 

throws  the  the  state  in  which  they  are,”  he  said  to  his  councillors ; “I  am 
responsi-  perfectly  ignorant  in  the  matter;  you  know  and  I call  you  to 
Church  witness  that  I have  done  nothing  therein  but  what  you  wanted,  and 
matters  that  I have  done  all  you  wanted ; it  is  you  who  will  answer  before 
visers  ^ ^ 0 ^ ^or  ^ias  heen  done,  whether  too  much  or  too  little  ; I 

charge  you  with  it  before  Him,  and  I have  a clear  conscience ; I 
am 'but  a know-nothing  who  have  left  myself  to  your  guidance.” 
An  awful  appeal  from  a dying  king  to  the  guides  of  his  conscience  ; 
he  had  dispeopled  his  kingdom,  reduced  to  exile,  despair  or  false- 
hood fifteen  hundred  thousand  of  his  subjects,  but  the  memory  of 
the  persecutions  inflicted  upon  the  Protestants  did  not  trouble 
him ; they  were,  for  him,  rather  a pledge  of  his  salvation  and  of 
his  acceptance  before  God  ; he  was  thinking  of  the  catholic  Church, 


L iterature. — Pascal. 


419 


the  holy  priests  exiled  or  imprisoned,  tlie  nuns  driven  from  tlieir 
convent,  the  division  among  the  bishops,  the  scandal  amongst  the 
faithful ; the  great  burthen  of  absolute  power  was  evident  to  his 
eyes  ; he  sought  to  let  it  fall  back  upon  the  shoulders  of  those  who 
had  enticed  him  or  urged  him  upon  that  fatal  path.  A vain 
attempt  in  the  eyes  of  men,  whatever  may  he  the  judgment  of 
God’s  sovereign  mercy  ; history  has  left  weighing  upon  Louis  XIV. 
the  crushing  weight  of  the  religious  persecutions  ordered  under 
his  reign. 

It  has  been  said  in  this  history  that  Louis  XIV.  had  the  fortune  literature, 
to  find  himself  at  the  culminating  point  of  absolute  monarchy  and 
to  profit  by  the  labours  of  his  predecessors,  reaping  a portion  of 
their  glory  ; he  had  likewise  the  honour  of  enriching  himself  with 
the  labours  of  his  contemporaries,  and  attracting  to  himself  a share 
of  their  lustre  ; the  honour,  be  it  said,  not  the  fortune,  for  he 
managed  to  remain  the  centre  of  intellectual  movement  as  well 
as  of  the  court,  of  literature  and  art  as  well  as  affairs  of  State. 

Only  the  abrupt  and  solitary  genius  of  Pascal,  or  the  prankish  and 
ingenuous  geniality  of  La  Fontaine  held  aloof  from  king  and 
court ; Eacine  and  Moliere,  Bossuet  and  Fenelon,  La  Bruyere  and 
Boileau  lived  frequently  in  the  circle  of  Louis  XIV.  and  enjoyed  in 
different  degrees  his  favour ; M.  de  la  Bochefoucauld  and  Madame 
de  Sevigne  were  of  the  court ; Lebrun,  Eigaud,  Mignard  painted 
for  the  king ; Perrault  and  Mansard  constructed  the  Louvre  and 
Versailles ; the  learned  of  all  countries  considered  it  an  honour  to 
correspond  with  the  new  academies  founded  in  France.  Louis  XIV. 
was  even  less  a man  of  letters  or  an  artist  than  an  administrator 
or  a soldier,  but  literature  and  art  as  well  as  the  superintendents 
and  the  generals  found  in  him  the  King , The  puissant  unity  of 
the  reign  is  everywhere  the  same.  The  king  and  the  nation  are 
in  harmony.  4 

Pascal,  had  he  been  born  later,  would  have  remained  indepen-  pascal, 
dent  and  proud,  from  the  nature  of  his  mind  and  of  his  character, 
as  well  as  from  the  connexion  he  had  full  early  with  Port-Eoyal, 
where  they  did  not  rear  courtiers ; he  died,  however,  at  thirty-nine, 
in  1661,  the  very  year  in  which  Louis  XIV.  began  to  govern. 

Born  at  Clermont  in  Auvergne,  educated  at  his  father’s  and  by 
his  father,  though  it  was  not  thought  desirable  to  let  him  study 
mathematics,  he  had  already  discovered  by  himself  the  first  thirty- 
two  propositions  of  Euclid,  when  Cardinal  Eichelieu,  holding  on 
his  knee  little  Jacqueline  Pascal  and  looking  at  her  brother,  said 
to  M.  Pascal,  the  two  children’s  father,  who  had  come  to  thank 
him  for  a favour,  “ Take  care  of  them  ; I mean  to  make  something 

E e 2 


420 


History  of  France . 


great  of  them.”  This  was  the  native  and  powerful  instinct  of 
genius  divining  genius  ; Richelieu,  however,  died  three  years  later, 
without  having  done  anything  for  the  children  who  had  impressed 
him,  beyond  giving  their  father  a share  in  the  superintendence  of 
Rouen ; he  thus  put  them  in  the  way  of  the  great  Corneille,  who 
was  affectionately  kind  to  Jacqueline,  but  took  no  particular  notice 
of  Blaise  Pascal.  The  latter  was  seventeen;  he  had  already 
written  his  Traite  des  Coniques  {Treatise  on  Conics)  and  begun  to 
His  mathe-  occupy  himself  with  “ his  arithmetical  machine,”  as  his  sister, 
works*1  Madame  Perier,  calls  it.  At  twenty-three  he  had  ceased  to  apply 
his  mind  to  human  sciences ; “ when  he  afterwards  discovered  the 
roidette  {cycloid),  it  was  without  thinking,”  says  Madame  Perier, 
“ and  to  distract  his  attention  from  a severe  tooth-ache  he  had.” 
He  was  not  twenty-four  when  anxiety  for  his  salvation  and  for  the 
glory  of  God  had  taken  complete  possession  of  his  soul.  It  was  to 
the  same  end  that  he  composed  the  Lettres  Provinciates,  the  first 
of  which  was  written  in  six  days,  and  the  style  of  which,  clear, 
lively,  precise,  far  removed  from  the  somewhat  solemn  gravity  of 
Port-Royal,  formed  French  prose  as  Malherbe  and  Boileau  formed 
the  poetry. 

The  Pro-  The  Provincials  could  not  satisfy  for  long  the  pious  ardour  of 
vincial  Pascal’s  soul ; he  took  in  hand  his  great  work  on  the  Verite  de  la 
religion,  but,  unfortunately,  was  unable  to  finish  it.  “ God,  who 
had  inspired  my  brother  with  this  design  and  with  all  his  thoughts,” 
writes  his  sister,  “ did  not  permit  him  to  bring  it  to  its  completion, 
for  reasons  to  us  unknown.”  A genius  unique  in  the  extent  and 
variety  of  his  faculties,  which  were  applied  with  the  same  splendid 
results  to  mathematics  and  physics,  to  philosophy  and  polemics, 
disdaining  all  preconceived  ideas,  going  unerringly  and  straight- 
forwardly to  the  bottom  of  things  with  admirable  force  and 
profundity,  independent  and  free  even  in  his  voluntary  submission 
to  the  Christian  faith,  which  he  accepts  with  his  eyes  open  after 
having  weighed  it,  measured  it  and  sounded  it  to  its  uttermost 
depths,  too  steadfast  and  too  simple  not  to  bow  his  head  before 
mysteries,  all  the  while  acknowledging  his  ignorance.  “ If  there 
were  no  darkness,”  says  he,  “ man  would  not  feel  his  corruption  ; 
if  there  were  no  light,  man  would  have  no  hope  of  remedy.  Thus, 
it  is  not  only  quite  right  but  useful  for  us  that  God  should  be  con- 
cealed in  part,  and  revealed  in  part,  since  it  is  equally  dangerous 
for  man  to  know  God  without  knowing  his  own  misery,  and  to 
know  his  own  misery  without  knowing  God.”  The  lights  of  this 
great  intellect  had  led  him  to  acquiesce  in  his  own  fogs  : “One  can  be 
quite  sure  that  there  is  a God,  without  knowing  what  He  is,”  says  he. 


BLAISE  PASCAL. 


U8RARV 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


L iterature. — Bossuet, 


421 


In  1627,  four  years  after  Pascal  and,  like  him,  in  a family  of  Bossuet. 
the  long  robe,  was  born,  at  Dijon,  his  only  rival  in  that  great  art 
of  writing  prose  which  established  the  superiority  of  the  French 
language.  At  sixteen,  Bossuet  preached  his  first  sermon  in  the 
drawing-room  of  Madame  de  Eambouillet,  and  the  great  Conde  was 
pleased  to  attend  his  theological  examinations.  He  was  already 
famous  at  court  as  a preacher  and  a polemist  when  the  king  gave 
him  the  title  of  bishop  of  Condom,  almost  immediately  inviting  him 
to  become  preceptor  to  the  Dauphin.  . 

Bossuet  laboured  conscientiously  to  instruct  his  little  prince, 
studying  for  him  and  with  him  the  classical  authors,  preparing 
grammatical  expositions,  and,  lastly,  writing  for  his  edification  the 
Traite  de  la  Connaissance  de  Dieu  et  de  soimeme  ( Treatise  on  the 
Knowledge  of  God  and  of  Self ),  the  Discours  sur  Vhistoire  universelle 
( Discourse  on  Universal  History ),  and  the  Politique  tiree  de 
VEcriture  sainte  (. Polity  derived  from  Holy  Writ).  The  labour  His  chief 
was  in  vain;  the  very  loftiness  of  his  genius,  the  extent  and  writings, 
profundity  of  his  views  rendered  Bossuet  unfit  .to  get  at  the  heart 
and  mind  of  a boy  who  was  timid,  idle  and  kept  in  fear  by  the 
king  as  well  as  by  his  governor.  The  Dauphin  was  nineteen  when 
his  marriage  restored  Bossuet  to  the  Church  and  to  the  world ; the 
king  appointed  him  almoner  to  the  dauphiness  and,  before  long, 
bishop  of  Meaux. 

The  guidance  of  the  bishop  of  Meaux,  in  fact,  answered  the 
requirements  of  spirits  that  were  pious  and  earnest  without  enthu- 
siasm ; less  ardent  in  faith  and  less  absolute  in  religious  practice  character 
than  M.  de  St.  Cyran  and  Port-Royal,  less  exacting  in  his  demands  his 
than  Father  Bourdaloue,  susceptible  now  and  then  of  mystic  ideas,  teacllin§>* 
as  is  proved  by  his  letters  to  Sister  Cornuau,  he  did  not  let  himself 
be  won  by  the  vague  ecstasies  of  absolute  (pure)  love ; he  had  a 
mind  large  enough  to  say,  like  Mother  Angelica  Arnauld  : “ I am 
of  all  saints’  order  and  all  saints  are  of  my  order;”  but  his  pre- 
ferences always  inclined  towards  those  saints  and  learned  doctors 
who  had  not  carried  any  religious  tendency  to  excess  and  who  had 
known  how  to  rest  content  with  the  spirit  of  a rule  and  a faith 
that  were  practical.  A wonderful  genius,  discovering  by  flashes 
and  as  if  by  instinct  the  most  profound  truths  of  human  nature,  and 
giving  them  expression  in  an  incomparable  style,  forcing,  straining 
the  language  to  make  it  render  his  idea,  darting  at  one  bound  to  the 
sublimest  height  by  use  of  the  simplest  terms,  which  he,  so  to  speak, 
bore  away  with  him,  wresting  them  from  their  natural  and  proper 
signification.  “ There,  in  spite  of  that  great  heart  of  hers,  is  that 
princess  so  admired  and  so  beloved  : there,  such  as  Death  has  made 
her  for  us !”  Bossuet  alone  could  speak  like  that. 


422 


History  of  France . 


Works  of 
edification. 


Bourda- 

loue. 


Male- 

bianclie. 


Flechier. 


He  was  writing  incessantly,  all  the  while  that  he  was  preaching 
at  Meanx  and  at  Paris,  making  funeral  orations  over  the  queen, 
Maria  Theresa,  over  the  Princess  Palatine,  Michael  Le  Tellier  and 
the  prince  of  Conde  ; the  edict  of  Nantes  had  just  been  revoked ; 
controversy  with  the  protestant  ministers,  headed  by  Claude  and 
Jurieu,  occupied  a great  space  in  the  life  of  the  bishop  of  Meaux ; 
he  at  that  time  wrote  his  Histoire  des  variations,  often  unjust  and 
violent,  always  able  in  its  attacks  upon  the  Reformation. 

Simultaneously  with  the  controversial  treatises,  the  1 Elevations 
sur  les  mysteres  and  the  Meditations  sur  VEvangile  were  written  at 
Meaux,  drawing  the  bishop  away  to  the  serener  regions  of  supreme 
faith.  There  might  he  have  chanced  to  meet  those  reformers,  as 
determined  as  he  in  the  strife,  as  attached,  at  bottom,  as  he,  for 
life  and  death,  to  the  mysteries  and  to  the  lights  of  a common 
hope.  “ When  God  shall  give  us  grace  to  enter  Paradise,” 
St.  Bernard  used  to  say,  “ we  shall  be  above  all  astonished  at  not 
finding  some  of  those  whom  we  had  thought  to  meet  there  and  at 
finding  others  whom  we  did  not  expect.”  Bossuet  had  a moment’s 
glimpse  of  this  higher  truth  ; in  concert  with  Leibnitz,  a great 
intellect  of  more  range  in  knowledge  and  less  steadfastness  than  he 
in  religious  faith,  he  tried  to  reconcile  the  catholic  and  protestant 
communions  in  one  and  the  same  creed.  There  were  insurmountable 
difficulties  on  both  sides ; the  attempt  remained  unsuccessful. 
Bossuet  died  at  Paris  on  the  12th  of  April,  1704,  just  when  the 
troubles  of  the  Church  were  springing  up  again.  Great  was  the 
consternation  amongst  the  bishops  of  France,  wont  as  they  were  to 
shape  themselves  by  his  counsels.  “ Men  were  astounded  at  this 
mortal’s  mortality.”  Bossuet  was  seventy- three. 

A month  later,  on  the  13th  of  May,  Father  Bourdaloue  in  his 
turn  died  : a model  of  close  logic  and  moral  austerity,  with  a stiff 
and  manly  eloquence,  so  impressed  with  the  miserable  insufficiency 
of  human  efforts,  that  he  said  as  he  was  dying,  “ My  God,  I have 
wasted  life,  it  is  just  that  Thou  recall  it.”  There  remained  only 
Fenelon  in  the  first  rank,  which  Massillon  did  not  as  yet  dispute 
with  him.  Malebranche  was  living  retired  in  his  cell  at  the 
Oratory,  seldom  speaking,  writing  his  Recherches  sur  la  verite 
(Researches  into  Truth),  and  his  Entretiens  sur  la  metaphysique 
(. Discourses  on  Metaphysics'),  bolder  in  thought  than  he  was  aware 
of  or  wished,  sincere  and  natural  in  his  meditations  as  well  as  in 
his  style.  In  spite  of  Flechier’s  eloquence  in  certain  funeral 
orations,  posterity  has  decided  against  the  modesty  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Cambrai,  who  said  at  the  death  of  the  bishop  of  Nimes, 
in  1710,  “We  have  lost  our  master.”  In  his  retirement  or  his 
exile,  after  Bossuet’s  death,  it  was  around  Fenelon  that  was  con- 


BOSSUET. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Fenelon . 4 2 3 

centrated  all  the  lustre  of  the  French  episcopate,  long  since  restored 
to  the  respect  and  admiration  it  deserved. 

Fenelon  was  born  in  Perigord,  at  the  castle  of  Fenelon,  on  the  6th  Fenelon. 
of  August,  1651.  Like  Cardinal  de  Eetz  he  belonged  to  an  ancient 
and  noble  house  and  was  destined  from  his  youth  for  the  Church. 

Brought  up  at  the  seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  lately  founded  by 
M.  Olier,  he  for  a short  time  conceived  the  idea  of  devoting  himself 
to  foreign  missions ; his  weak  health  and  his  family’s  opposition 
turned  him  ere  long  from  his  purpose,  but  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  amongst  the  heathen  continued  to  have  for  him  an  attraction 
which  is  perfectly  depicted  in  one  of  the  rare  sermons  of  his  which 
have  been  preserved.  He  had  held  himself  modestly  aloof,  occupied 
with  confirming  new  Catholics  in  their  conversion  or  with  preaching 
to  the  Protestants  of  Poitou ; he  had  written  nothing  but  his 
Traite  de  V education  des  filles,  intended  for  the  family  of  the  duke 
of  Beauvilliers,  and  a book  on  the  ministere  du  pasteur.  He  was 
in  bad  odour  with  Harlay,  archbishop  of  Paris,  who  had  said  to  him 
curtly  one  day:  “You  want  to  escape  notice,  Mi  Abbe,  and  you 
will nevertheless,  when  Louis  XIV.  chose  the  duke  of  Beau- 
villiers as  governor  to  his  grandson,  the  duke  of  Burgundy,  the 
duke  at  once  called  Fenelon,  then  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  to  the 
important  post  of  preceptor. 

Fenelon’s  best  known  work  is  Telemaque.  “ It  is  a fabulous  nar- 
rative,”  he  himself  says,  “ in  the  form  of  a heroic  poem,  like  Homer’s 
or  Virgil’s,  wherein  I have  set  forth  the  principal  actions  that  are 
meet  for  a prince,  whose  birth  points  him  out  as  destined  to  reign. 

I did  it  at  a time  when  I was  charmed  with  the  marks  of  confidence 
and  kindness  showered  upon  me  by  the  king  ; I must  have  been 
not  only  the  most  ungrateful  but  the  most  insensate  of  men  to  have 
intended  to  put  into  it  satirical  and  insolent  portraits ; I shrink 
from  the  bare  idea  of  such  a design.  It  is  true  that  I have  inserted 
in  these  adventures  all  the  verities  necessary  for  government  and 
all  the  defects  that  one  can  show  in  the  exercise  of  sovereign 
power,  but  I have  not  stamped  any  of  them  with  a peculiarity 
which  would  point  to  any  portrait  or  caricature.  The  more  the 
work  is  read,  the  more  it  will  be  seen  that  I wished  to  express 
everything  without  depicting  anybody  consecutively ; it  is  in  fact, 
a narrative  done  in  haste,  in  detached  pieces  and  at  different 
intervals  ; all  I thought  of  was  to  amuse  the  duke  of  Burgundy 
and,  whilst  amusing,  to  instruct  him,  without  ever  meaning  to  give 
the  work  to  the  public.” 

Telemaque  was  published,  without  any  author’s  name  and  by  an 
indiscretion  of  the  copyist’s,  on  the  6th  of  April,  1699.  Fenelon 


Fkaalon 
di83  ia 

disgrace. 


Madame  de 
Sevigne. 


424  History  of  France. 

was  in  exile  at  his  diocese ; public  rumour  before  long  attributed 
the  work  to  him  ; the  Maximes  des  saints  had  just  been  condemned, 
Telemaque  was  seized,  the  printers  were  punished ; some  copies 
had  escaped  the  police  : the  book  was  reprinted  in  Holland  ; all 
Europe  read  it,  finding  therein  the  allusion  and  undermeanings 
against  which  Fenelon  defended  himself.  Louis  XIY.  was  more 
than  ever  angry  with  the  archbishop. 

Fenelon  died  in  disgrace,  leaving  amongst  his  friends,  so  dimin- 
ished already  by  death,  an  immeasurable  gap,  and  amongst  his 
adversaries  themselves  the  feeling  of  a great  loss.  “ I am  sorry  for 
the  death  of  M.  de  Cambrai,”  wrote  Madame  de  Maintenon  on  the 
10th  of  January,  1715  : “he  was  a friend  I lost  through  Quietism, 
but  it  is  asserted  that  he  might  have  done  good  service  in  the  council, 
if  things  should  be  pushed  so  far.”  Fenelon  had  not  been  mistaken, 
when  he  wrote,  once  upon  a time,  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  who 
consulted  him  about  her  defects:  “You  are  good  towards  those  for 
whom  you  have  liking  and  esteem,  but  you  are  cold  as  soon  as  the 
liking  leaves  you  ; when  you  are  frigid,  your  frigidity  is  carried 
rather  far,  and,  when  you  begin  to  feel  mistrust,  your  heart  is 
withdrawn  too  brusquely  from  those  to  whom  you  had  shown  con- 
fidence.” 

Our  thoughts  may  well  linger  over  those  three  great  minds : 
Pascal,  Bossuet,  and  Fenelon,  one  layman  and  two  bishops,  all 
equally  absorbed  by  the  great  problems  of  human  life  and  immor- 
tality ; with  different  degrees  of  greatness  and  fruitfulness,  they  all 
serve  the  same  cause  ; whether  as  defenders  or  assailants  of  Jan- 
senism and  Quietism,  the  solitary  philosopher  or  the  prelates  engaged 
in  the  court  or  in  the  guidance  of  men,  all  three  of  them  serving 
God  on  behalf  of  the  soul’s  highest  interests,  remained  unique  in 
their  generation  and  without  successors  as  they  had  been  without 
predecessors. 

Leaving  the  desert  and  the  Church,  and  once  more  entering  the 
world  we  immediately  encounter,  amongst  women,  one,  and  ohe 
only  in  the  first  rank — Marie  de  Rabutin-Chantal,  marchioness  of 
Sevigne,  born  at  Paris  on  the  5th  of  February,  1627,  five  months 
before  Bossuet.  Like  a considerable  number  of  women  in  Italy  in 
the  sixteenth  century  and  in  France  in  the  seventeenth,  she  had 
received  a careful  education  : she  knew  Italian,  Latin  and  Spanish  ; 
she  had  for  masters  Menage  and  Chapelain  ; and  she  early  imbibed 
a real  taste  for  solid  reading,  which  she  owed  to  her  leaning 
towards  the  Jansenists  and  Port-Royal.  Madame  de  Sevigne  is  a 
friend  whom  we  read  over  and  over  again,  whose  emotions  we  share, 
to  whom  we  go  for  an  hour’s  distraction  and  delightful  chat ; we 


Lady  writers . 


425 


have  no  desire  to  chat  with  Madame  de  Grignan,  we  gladly  leave 
her  to  her  mother’s  exclusive  affection,  feeling  infinitely  obliged  to 
her,  however,  for  having  existed,  inasmuch  as  her  mother  wrote 
letters  to  her.  Madame  de  Sevigne’s  letters  to  her  daughter  are 
superior  to  all  her  other  letters,  charming  as  they  are ; when  she 
writes  to  M.  de  Pomponne,  to  M.  de  Coulanges,  to  M.  de  Pussy, 
the  style  is  less  familiar,  the  heart  less  open,  the  soul  less  stirred ; 
she  writes  to  her  daughter  as  she  would  speak  to  her ; it  is  not 
letters,  it  is  an  animated  and  charming  conversation,  touching  upon 
everything,  embellishing  everything  with  an  inimitable  grace.  She  racter. 
would  have  very  much  scandalized  those  gentlemen  of  Port-Royal, 
if  she  had  let  them  see  into  the  bottom  of  her  heart  as  she  showed 
it  to  her  daughter.  Pascal  used  to  say : “ There  are  but  three 
sorts  of  persons : those  who  serve  God,  having  found  him ; those 
who  employ  themselves  in  seeking  Him,  not  having  found  Him  ; 
and  those  who  live  without  seeking  Him  or  having  found  Him. 

The  first  are  reasonable  and  happy;  the  last  are  mad  and  miserable; 
the  intermediate  are  miserable  and  reasonable.”  Without  ever 
having  sought  and  found  God  in  the  absolute  sense  intended  by 
Pascal,  Madame  de  Sevigne  kept  approaching  Him  by  gentle  degrees. 

"We  are  reading  a treatise  by  M.  Hamon  of  Port-Royal  on  con- 
tinuous prayer ; though  he  is  a hundred  feet  above  my  head,  he 
nevertheless  pleases  and  charms  us.  One  is  very  glad  to  see  that 
there  have  been  and  still  are  in  the  world  people  to  whom  God 
communicates  His  Holy  Spirit  in  such  abundance;  but,  oh  God! 
when  shall  we  have  some  spark,  some  degree  of  it  1 How  sad  to 
find  oneself  so  far  from  it  and  so  near  to  something  else  ! Oh  fie  ! 

Let  us  not  speak  of  such  plight  as  that : it  calls  for  sighs  and 
groans  and  humiliations  a hundred  times  a day.” 

After  having  suffered  so  much  from  separation  and  so  often 
traversed  France  to  visit  her  daughter  in  Provence,  Madame  de 
Sevigne  had  the  happiness  to  die  in  her  house  at  Grignan.  She 
was  sixty-nine  when  an  attack  of  small-pox  carried  her  off  on  the 
19th  of  April,  1696. 

All  the  women  who  had  been  writers  in  her  time  died  before 
Madame  de  Sevigne.  Madame  de  Motteville,  a judicious  and  Mesdames 
sensible  woman,  more  independent  at  the  bottom  of  her  heart  than  ^ii^^nd 
in  externals,  had  died  in  1689,  exclusively  occupied,  from  the  time  de  Mont- 
that  she  lost  Queen  Anne  of  Austria,  in  works  of  piety  and  in  Pensier- 
drawing  up  her  Memoires.  Mdlle.  de  Montpensier,  “my  great 
Mademoiselle,”  as  Madame  de  Sevigne  used  to  call  her,  had  died 
at  Paris  on  the  5th  of  April,  1693,  after  a violent  illness,  as  feverish 
as  her  life.  Impassioned  and  haughty,  with  her  head  so  full  of 


Madame 
de  La 
Fayette. 


La  Roche- 
foucauld. 


426  History  of  France . 

her  greatness  that  she  did  not  marry  in  her  youth,  thinking  nobody 
worthy  of  her  except  the  king  and  the  emperor  who  had  no  fancy 
for  her,  and  ending  by  a private  marriage  with  the  duke  of  Lauzun, 
“a  cadet  of  Gascony,”  whom  the  king  would  not  permit  her  to 
espouse  publicly,  clever,  courageous,  hare-brained,  generous.  A few 
days  after  Mademoiselle,  died,  likewise  at  Paris,  Madelaine  de  la 
Yergne,  marchioness  of  La  Payette,  the  most  intimate  friend  of 
Madame  de  Sevigne.  Sensible,  clever,  a sweet  and  safe  acquaint- 
ance, Madame  de  La  Fayette  was  as  simple  and  as  true  in  her  rela- 
tions with  her  confidantes  as  in  her  writings.  La  Princesse  de 
Cleves  alone  has  outlived  the  times  and  the  friends  of  Madame  de 
La  Fayette.  Following  upon  the  “great  sword-thrusts”  of  La 
Calprenede  or  Mdlle.  de  Scudery,  this  delicate,  elegant  and  virtuous 
tale,  with  its  pure  and  refined  style,  enchanted  the  court,  which 
recognized  itself  at  its  best  and  painted  under  its  brightest  aspect ; 
it  was  farewell  for  ever  to  the  “ Pays  de  Tendre.” 

Madame  de  La  Fayette  had  in  her  life  one  great  sorrow  which 
had  completed  the  ruin  of  her*  health.  On  the  16th  of  March, 
1680,  after  the  closest  and  longest  of  intimacies,  she  had  lost  her 
best  friend,  the  duke  of  La  Eochefoucauld.  A meddler  and  in- 
triguer during  the  Fronde,  sceptical  and  bitter  in  his  Maximes,  the 
duke  of  La  Eochefoucauld  was  amiable  and  kindly  in  his  private 
life.  Factions  and  the  court  had  taught  him  a great  deal  about 
human  nature,  he  had  seen  it  and  judged  of  it  from  its  bad  side  ; 
witty,  shrewd,  and  often  profound,  he  was  too  severe  to  be  just : 
the  bitterness  of  his  spirit  breathed  itself  out  completely  in  his 
writings,  he  kept  for  his  friends  that  kindliness  and  that  sensitive- 
ness of  which  he  made  sport.  “ He  gave  me  wit,”  Madame  de  La 
Fayette  would  say,  “ but  I reformed  his  heart  ” He  had  lost  his 
son  at  the  passage  of  the  Ehine,  in  1672.  He  was  ill,  suffering 
cruelly.  “ I was  yesterday  at  M.  de  La  Eochefoucauld’s,”  writes 
Madame  de  Sevigne  in  1680  : “ I found  him  uttering  loud  shrieks; 
his  pain  was  such  that  his  endurance  was  quite  overcome  without 
a single  scrap  remaining ; the  excessive  pain  upset  him  to  such  a 
degree  that  he  was  setting  out  in  the  open  air  with  a violent  fever 
upon  him.  He  begged  me  to  send  you  word  and  to  assure  you  that 
the  wheel-broken  do  not  suffer  during  a single  moment  what  he 
suffers  one  half  of  his  life,  and  so  he  wishes  for  death  as  a happy 
release.”  He  died  with  Bossuet  at  his  pillow.  M.  de  La  Eoche- 
foucauld thought  worse  of  men  than  of  life.  “ I have  scarcely  any 
fear  of  things,”  he  had  said : “I  am  not  at  all  afraid  of  death.” 
With  all  his  rare  qualities  and  great  opportunities,  he  had  done 
nothing  but  frequently  embroil  matters  in  which  he  had  meddled 


De  Retz  and  La  Bruy  he. 


427 


and  had  never  been  anything  but  a great  lord  with  a good  deal  of 
wit.  Actionless  penetration  and  sceptical  severity  may  sometimes 
clear  the  judgment  and  the  thoughts,  hut  they  give  no  force  or  in- 
fluence that  has  power  over  men. 

Cardinal  de  Retz  had  more  wits,  more  courage  and  more  resolu-  Cardinal 
tion  than  the  duke  of  La  Rochefoucauld  ; he  was  more  ambitious  de  Ketz* 
and  more  hold ; he  was,  like  him,  meddlesome,  powerless  and 
dangerous  to  the  State.  He  thought  himself  capable  of  superseding 
Cardinal  Mazarin  and  far  more  worthy  than  he  of  being  premier 
minister;  but  every  time  he  found  himself  opposed  to  the  able 
Italian,  he  was  beaten.  All  that  he  displayed,  during  the  Fronde, 
of  address,  combination,  intrigue  and  resolution  would  barely  have 
sufficed  to  preserve  his  name  in  history,  if  he  had  not  devoted  his 
leisure  in  his  retirement  to  writing  his  Memoir es.  Vigorous, 
animated,  always  striking,  often  amusing,  sometimes  showing  rare 
nobleness  and  highmindedness,  his  stories  and  his  portraits  trans- 
port us  to  the  very  midst  of  the  scenes  he  desires  to  describe  and 
the  personages  he  makes  the  actors  in  them.  His  rapid,  nervous, 
picturesque  style,  is  the  very  image  of  that  little  dark,  quick,  agile 
man,  more  soldier  than  bishop,  and  more  intriguer  than  soldier, 
faithfully  and  affectionately  beloved  by  his  friends,  detested  by  his 
very  numerous  enemies  and  dreaded  by  many  people,  for  the  causti- 
city of  his  tongue,  long  after  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde  had  ceased 
and  he  was  reduced  to  be  a wanderer  in  foreign  lands,  still  arch- 
bishop of  Paris  without  being  able  to  set  foot  in  it. 

Mesdames  de  Sevigne  and  de  La  Fayette  were  of  the  court,  as 
were  the  duke  of  La  Rochefoucauld  and  Cardinal  de  Retz;  La  ^ Bru" 
Bruy  ere  lived  all  his  life  rubbing  shoulders  with  the  court ; he  knew  yere* 
it,  he  described  it,  but  he  was  not  of  it  and  could  not  be  of  it. 
Nothing  is  known  of  his  family.  He  was  born  at  Dourdan,  in 
1639,  and  had  just  bought  a post  in  the  Treasury  {tresorier  de 
France)  at  Caen,  when  Bossuet,  who  knew  him,  induced  him  to 
remove  to  Paris  as  teacher  of  history  to  the  duke,  grandson  of  the 
great  Conde.  He  remained  for  ever  attached  to  the  person  of  the 
prince,  who  gave  him  a thousand  crowns  a year,  and  he  lived  to  the 
day  of  his  death  at  Conde’s  house. 

La  Bruyere’s  “ Caracteres  ” is  a book  unique  of  its  sort,  full  of 
sagacity,  penetration  and  severity  without  bitterness ; a picture  of 
the  manners  of  the  court  and  of  the  world,  traced  by  the  hand  of 
a spectator  who  had  not  essayed  its  temptations,  but  who  guessed 
them  and  passed  judgment  on  them  all,  “ a book,”  as  M.  de  Maje- 
zieux  said  to  La  Bruy  ere,  “ which  was  sure  to  bring  its  author 
many  readers  and  many  enemies.”  Its  success  was  great  from  the 


428 


History  of  France. 


first,  and  it  excited  lively  curiosity.  The  courtiers  liked  the  por- 
traits ; attempts  were  made  to  name  them  ; the  good  sense,  shrewd- 
ness and  truth  of  the  observations  struck  everybody ; people  had 
met  a hundred  times  those  whom  La  Bruyere  had  described.  The 
form  appeared  of  a rarer  order  than  even  the  matter ; it  was  a 
brilliant,  uncommon  style,  as  varied  as  human  nature,  always 
elegant  and  pure,  original  and  animated,  rising  sometimes  to  the 
height  of  the  noblest  thoughts,  gay  and  grave,  pointed  and  serious. 
Avoiding,  by  richness  in  turns  and  expression,  the  uniformity 
native  to  the  subject,  La  Bruyere  ri vetted  attention  by  a succession 
of  touches  making  a masterly  picture. 

His  cha-  More  earnest  and  less  bitter  than  La  Rochefoucauld,  and  as 

racter  as  a brilliant  and  as  firm  as  Cardinal  de  Retz,  La  Bruvere  was  a more 

moralist  1 

sincere  believer  than  either.  “ I feel  that  there  is  a God,  and  I do 

not  feel  that  there  is  none ; that  is  enough  for  me ; the  reasoning 

of  the  world  is  useless  to  me ; I conclude  that  God  exists ; are  men 

good  enough,  faithful  enough,  equitable  enough  to  deserve  all  our 

confidence,  and  not  make  us  wish  at  least  for  the  existence  of  God 

to  whom  we  may  appeal  from  their  judgments  and  have  recourse 

when  we  are  persecuted  or  betrayed  V*  A very  strong  reason  and 

of  potent  logic,  naturally  imprinted  upon  an  upright  spirit  and  a 

sensible  mind,  irresistibly  convinced,  both  of  them,  that  justice 

alone  can  govern  the  world. 

We  pass  from  prose  to  poetry,  from  La  Bruyere  to  Corneille,  who 
had  died  in  1684,  too  late  for  his  fame,  in  spite  of  the  vigorous 
returns  of  genius  which  still  flash  forth  sometimes  in  his  feeblest 

Corneille,  works.  Throughout  the  Regency  and  the  Eronde,  Corneille  had 
continued  to  occupy  almost  alone  the  great  Trench  stage ; Rotrou, 
his  sometime  rival  with  his  piece  of  Venceslas  and  ever  tenderly 
attached  to  him,  had  died,  in  1650,  at  Dreux,  of  which  he  was 
civil  magistrate.  An  epidemic  was  ravaging  the  town,  and  he  was 
urged  to  go  away : “ I am  the  only  one  who  can  maintain  good 
order,  and  I shall  remain,”  he  replied  : V at  the  moment  of  my 
writing  to  you  the  bells  are  tolling  for  the  twenty-second  person 
to-day ; perhaps,  to-morrow  it  will  be  for  me,  but  my  conscience 
has  marked  out  my  duty;  God’s  will  be  done  !”  Two  days  later 
he  was  dead. 

Corneille  had  dedicated  Polyeuete  to  the  regent  Anne  of  Austria; 
he  published  in  a single  year  Rodogune  and  the  Mort  de  Pompee, 
dedicating  this  latter  piece  to  Mazarin,  in  gratitude,  he  said,  for 
an  act  of  generosity  with  which  his  Eminence  had  surprised  him. 
At  the  same  time  he  borrowed  from  the  Spanish  drama  the  canvas 
of  the  Menteur , the  first  really  French  comedy  which  appeared  on 


PETER  CORNEILLE. 


library 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Poetry. — Corneille  and  Racine . 429 

the  hoards,  and  which  Moliere  showed  that  he  could  appreciate  at 
its  proper  value.  After  this  attempt,  due  perhaps  to  the  desire 
felt  by  Corneille  to  triumph  over  his  rivals  in  the  style  in  which  he 
had  walked  abreast  with  them,  he  let  tragedy  resume  its  legitimate 
empire  over  a genius  formed  by  it ; he  wrote  Heraclius  and 
Nicomede , which  are  equal  in  parts  to  his  finest  master-pieces. 

But  by  this  time  the  great  genius  no  longer  soared  with  equal 
flight;  Theodore  and  Pertharite  had  been  failures.  “ I don’t  men- 
tion them,”  Corneille  would  say,  “ in  order  to  avoid  the  vexation  His  later 
of  remembering  them.”  He  had  announced  his  renunciation  of  the  works* 
stage ; he  was  translating  into  verse  the  Imitation  of  Christ.  “ It 
were  better,”  he  had  written  in  his  preface  to  Pertharite , “ that  I 
took  leave  myself  instead  of  waiting  till  it  is  taken  of  me  altogether ; 
it  is  quite  right  that  after  twenty  years’  work  I should  begin  to 
perceive  that  I am  becoming  too  old  to  he  still  in  the  fashion. 

This  resolution  is  not  so  strong  but  that  it  may  he  broken ; there 
is  every  appearance,  however,  of  my  abiding  by  it.” 

Posterity  has  done  for  Corneille  more  than  Louis  XIY.  could 
have  done ; it  has  left  in  oblivion  Agesilas , Attila,  Titus  and  Pul - 
cherie , it  has  preserved  the  memory  of  the  triumphs  only.  The 
poet  was  accustomed  to  say  with  a smile,  when  he  was  reproached 
with  his  slowness  and  emptiness  in  conversation  ; “ I am  Peter 
Corneille  all  the  same.”  The  world  has  passed  similar  judgment 
on  his  works  ; in  spite  of  the  rebuffs  of  his  latter  years,  he  has 
remained  “ the  great  Corneille.” 

When  he  died,  in  1684,  Bacine,  elected  by  the  Academy  in  1673,  Racine, 
found  himself  on  the  point  of  becoming  its  director  : he  claimed 
the  honour  of  presiding  at  the  obsequies  of  Corneille.  The  latter 
had  not  been  admitted  to  the  body  until  1641,  after  having  under- 
gone two  rebuffs.  Corneille  had  died  in  the  night.  The  Academy 
decided  in  favour  of  Abbe  de  Lavau,  the  outgoing  director.  “No- 
tody  but  you  could  pretend  to  bury  Corneille,”  said  Benserade  to 
Eacine,  “ yet  you  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  the  chance.”  It 
was  only  when  he  received  into  the  Academy  Thomas  Corneille,  in 
his  brother’s  place,  that  Eacine  could  praise,  to  his  heart’s  content, 
the  master  and  rival  who,  in  old  age,  had  done  him  the  honour  to 
dread  him.  At  that  time,  his  own  dramatic  career  was  already 
ended.  He  was  horn,  in  1639,  at  La  Perte-Milon ; he  had  made 
his  first  appearance  on  the  stage  in  1664,  with  the  Freres  ennemis , 
and  had  taken  leave  of  it  in  1673  with  Phedre  ; Esther  and  Athalie , 
played  in  1689  and  in  1691  by  the  young  ladies  of  St.  Cyr,  were 
not  regarded  by  their  author  and  his  austere  friends  as  any  dero- 
gation from  the  pious  engagements  he  had  entered  into.  If  his  first 


430 


History  of  France . 


two  plays  were  feeble  attempts,  spoilt  by  a declamatory  style,  and 
altogether  deficient  in  interest,  “ Andromaque  ” was  a masterpiece, 
and  all  the  other  subsequent  creations  of  Racine’s  pen  only  served 
to  confirm  his  reputation  as  one  of  the  great  delineators  of  the 
passions. 

Racine  for  a long  while  enjoyed  the  favours  of  the  king,  who 
went  so  far  as  to  tolerate  the  attachment  the  poet  had  always  testi- 
fied towards  Port-Royal.  Racine,  moreover,  showed  tact  in  humour- 
He  incurs  the  suscePtit>ilities  of  Louis  XIV.  and  his  counsellors.  All 
the  dis-  this  caution  did  not  prevent  him,  however,  from  displeasing  the 
Lo^'^XIV  After  a conversation  he  had  held  with  Madame  de  Main- 

’ tenon  about  the  miseries  of  the  people,  she  asked  him  for  a memo- 
randum on  the  subject.  The  king  demanded  the  name  of  the 
author  and  flew  out  at  him.  “ Because  he  is  a perfect  master  of 
verse,”  said  he,  ‘‘does  he  think  he  knows  everything1?  And,  because 
he  is  a great  poet,  does  he  want  to  be  minister  1”  On  the  21st  of 
April,  1699,  the  great  poet,  the  scrupulous  Christian,  the  noble  and 
delicate  painter  of  the  purest  passions  of  the  soul,  expired  at  Paris 
at  fifty-nine  years  of  age,  leaving  life  without  regret,  spite  of  all  the 
successes  with  which  he  had  been  crowned.  Unlike  Corneille  with> 
the  Cid,  he  did  not  take  tragedy  and  glory  by  assault,  he  conquered 
them  both  by  degrees,  raising  himself  at  each  new  effort  and 
gaining  over  little  by  little  the  most  passionate  admirers  of  his 
great  rival ; at  the  pinnacle  .of  this  reputation  and  this  victory,  at 
thirty-eight  years  of  age,  he  had  voluntarily  shut  the  door  against 
the  intoxications  and  pride  of  success,  he  had  mutilated  his  life, 
buried  his  genius  in  penitence,  obeying  simply  the  calls  of  his  con- 
science, and,  with  singular  moderation  in  the  very  midst  of  exag- 
geration, becoming  a father  of  a family  and  remaining  a courtier, 
at  the  same  time  that  he  gave  up  the  stage  and  glory.  Racine  was 
gentle  and  sensible  even  in  his  repentance  and  his  sacrifice. 
Boileau  gave  religion  the  credit  for  this  very  moderation  : “ Reason 
commonly  brings  others  to  faith,  it  was  faith  which  brought  M. 
Racine  to  reason.” 

Boileau.  Boileau  himself  had  entered  the  arena  of  letters  at  three-and- 
twenty,  after  a sickly  and  melancholy  childhood.  The  Art  Poetique 
and  the  Lutrin  appeared  in  1674 ; the  first  nine  Satires  and  several 
of  the  Epistles  had  preceded  them.  Rather  a witty,  shrewd  and 
able  versifier  than  a great  poet,  Boileau  displayed  in  the  Lutrin  a 
richness  and  suppleness  of  fancy  which  his  other  works  had  not 
foreshadowed.  The  broad  and  cynical  buffoonery  of  Scarron’s 
burlesques  had  always  shocked  his  severe  and  pure  taste.  “ Your 
father  was  weak  enough  to  read  Virgile  travesti  and  laugh  over  it,” 


La  Fontaine. — Moliere. 


431 


he  would  say  to  Louis  Bacine,  “hut  he  kept  it  dark  from  me.”  In 
the  Lutrin , Boileau  sought  the  gay  and  the  laughable  under  noble  and 
polished  forms  : the  gay  lost  by  it,  the  laughable  remained  stamped 
with  an  ineffaceable  seal.  He  survived  all  his  friends  ; La  Fontaine, 
born  in  1 621  at  Chateau-Thierry,  had  died  in  1695.  He  had  entered 
in  his  youth  the  brotherhood  of  the  Oratory,  which  he  had  soon 
quitted,  being  unable,  he  used  to  say,  to  accustom  himself  to 
theology;  he  went  and  came  between  town  and  town,  amusing 
himself  everywhere,  and  already  writing  a little.  La  Fontaine  has 
been  described  as  a solitary  being,  without  wit  and  without  external 
charm  of  any  kind.  La  Bruy  ere  has  said  : “A  certain  man  appears, 
loutish,  heavy,  stupid  ; he  can  neither  talk  nor  relate  what  he  has 
just  seen  ; he  sets  himself  to  writing,  and  it  is  a model  of  story- 
telling ; he  makes  speakers  of  animals,  trees,  stones,  everything 
that  cannot  speak ; there  is  nothing  but  lightness  and  elegance, 
nothing  but  natural  beauty  and  delicacy  in  his  works.”  We  are 
told  that  La  Fontaine  knew  nothing  of  natural  history  ; he  knew 
and  loved  animals  ; up  to  his  time,  fable-writers  had  been  merely 
philosophers  or  satirists ; he  was  the  first  who  was  a poet,  unique 
not  only  in  France  but  in  Europe,  discovering  the  deep  and  secret 
charm  of  nature,  animating  it  with  his  inexhaustible  and  graceful 
genius,  giving  lessons  to  men  from  the  example  of  animals,  without 
making  the  latter  speak  like  man,  ever  supple  and  natural,  some- 
times elegant  and  noble,  with  penetration  beneath  the  cloak  of  his 
simplicity,  inimitable  in  the  line  which  he  had  chosen  from  taste, 
from  instinct,  and  not  from  want  of  power  to  transport  his  genius 
elsewhither. 

A charming  and  a curious  being,  serious  and  simple,  profound 
and  childlike,  winning  by  reason  of  his  very  vagaries,  his  good- 
natured  originality,  his  helplessness  in  common  life,  La  Fontaine 
knew  how  to  estimate  the  literary  merits  as  well  as  the  moral 
qualities  of  his  illustrious  friends;  Moliere,  in  particular,  was 
appreciated  by  him  at  once,  and  he  commemorated  the  death  of  the 
great  comic  writer  in  a touching  epitaph. 

Shakspeare  might  dispute  with  Corneille  and  Bacine  the  sceptre 
of  tragedy,  he  had  succeeded  in  showing  himself  as  full  of  power, 
with  more  truth,  as  the  one,  and  as  full  of  tenderness,  with  more 
profundity,  as  the  other ; Moliere  is  superior  to  him  in  originality,  Moliere, 
abundance  and  perfection  of  characters ; he  yields  to  him  neither 
in  range,  nor  penetration,  nor  complete  knowledge  of  human  nature. 

The  lives  of  these  two  great  geniuses,  authors  and  actors  both 
together,  present  in  other  respects  certain  features  of  resemblance. 

Both  were  intended  for  another  career  than  that  of  the  stage ; both, 


His  first 
plays. 


‘LeMisan- 

thrope.” 


“Tartuffe” 


432  History  of  France. 

carried  away  by  an  irresistible  passion,  assembled  about  them  a few 
actors,  leading  at  first  a roving  life,  to  end  by  becoming  the  delight 
of  the  court  and  of  the  world.  In  1645  (?  1643),  Moliere  had 
formed,  with  the  ambitious  title  of  illustre  theatre,  a small  company 
of  actors  who,  being  unable  to  maintain  themselves  at  Paris,  for  a 
long  while  tramped  the  provinces,  through  all  the  troubles  of  the 
Pronde.  It  was  in  1653  that  Mofiere  brought  out  at  Lyons  his 
comedy  Vfftourdi , the  first  regular  piece  he  had  ever  composed.  The 
Depit  amoureux  was  played  at  Beziers,  in  1656,  at  the  opening  of 
the  session  of  the  States  of  Languedoc ; the  company  returned  to 
Paris  in  1658 ; in  1659,  Moliere,  who  had  obtained  a licence  from 
the  king,  gave  at  his  own  theatre  les  Precieuses  ridicules.  He 
broke  with  all  imitation  of  the  Italians  and  the  Spaniards,  and, 
taking  off  to  the  life  the  manners  of  his  own  times,  he  boldly  attacked 
the  affected  exaggeration  and  absurd  pretensions  of  the  vulgar  imi- 
tators of  the  Hotel  de  Bambouillet.  The  Fcole  des  Maris  and  the 
Fdclieux  were  played  at  Yaux.  The  JEcole  des  Femmes  the  Im- 
promptu de  Versailles , the  Critique  de  Vffcole  des  Femmes , began 
the  bellicose  period  in  the  great  comic  poet’s  life.  Accused  of  im- 
piety, attacked  in  the  honour  of  his  private  life,  Moliere,  returning 
insult  for  insult,  delivered  over  those  amongst  his  enemies  who 
offered  a butt  for  ridicule,  to  the  derision  of  the  court  and  of  pos- 
terity. The  Festin  de  Pierre  and  the  signal  punishment  of  the 
libertine  (free-thinker)  were  intended  to  clear  the  author  from  the 
reproach  of  impiety;  la  Princesse  d’ Elide  and  V Amour  medecin  were 
but  charming  interludes  in  the  great  struggle  henceforth  instituted 
between  reality  and  appearance;  in  1666,  Moliere  produced  le  Mis- 
anthrope, a frank  and  noble  spirit’s  sublime  invective  against  the 
frivolity,  perfidious  and  showy  semblances  of  court.  The  Misan- 
thrope is  a shriek  of  despair  uttered  by  virtue,  excited  and  almost 
distraught  at  the  defeat  she  forebodes.  The  Tartuffe  was  a new 
effort  in  the  same  direction,  and  bolder  in  that  it  attacked  religious 
hypocrisy  and  seemed  to  aim  its  blows  even  at  religion  itself. 
Moliere  was  a long  time  working  at  it ; the  first  acts  had  been 
performed,  in  1664,  at  court  under  the  title  of  V Hypocrite,  at  the 
same  time  as  la  Princesse  d’Plide.  Though  played  once  publicly, 
in  1667,  under  the  title  of  V Imposteur,  the  piece  did  not  appear 
definitively  on  the  stage  until  1669,  having  undoubtedly  excited 
more  scandal  by  interdiction  than  it  would  have  done  by  representa- 
tion. The  king’s  good  sense  and  judgment  at  last  prevailed  over 
the  terrors  of  the  truly  devout  and  the  resentment  of  hypocrites. 
He  had  just  seen  an  impious  piece  of  buffoonery  played.  “I  should 
very  much  like  to  know,”  said  he  to  the  prince  of  Conde,  who  stood 


Moliere. 


433 


up  for  Moliere,  an  old  fellow-student  of  his  brother’s,  the  prince  of 
Conti’s,  “ why  people  who  are  so  greatly  scandalized  at  Moliere’s 
comedy  say  nothing  about  Scaramouche  ? ” “ The  reason  of  that,” 

answered  the  prince,  “ is  that  Scaramouche  makes  fun  of  heaven 
and  religion,  about  which  those  gentry  do  not  care,  and  that  Moliere 
makes  fun  of  their  own  selves,  which  they  cannot  brook.”  The 
prince  might  have  added  that  all  the  blows  in  Tartu ffe,  a master- 
piece of  shrewdness,  force  and  fearless  and  deep  wrath,  struck  home 
at  hypocrisy. 

Whilst  waiting  for  permission  to  have  Tartujfe  played,  Moliere 
had  brought  out  le  Medecin  malgre  lui,  Amphitryon , Georges  Dandin 
and  VAvare,  lavishing  freely  upon  them  the  inexhaustible  resources 
of  his  genius,  which  was  ever  ready  to  supply  the  wants  of  kingly 
and  princely  entertainments.  Monsieur  de  Pourceaugnac  was  played 
for  the  first  time  at  Chambord  on  the  6th  of  October,  1669  ; a year 
afterwards,  on  the  same  stage,  appeared  le  Bourgeois  gentilhomme,  “ he  Bour- 
with  the  interludes  and  music  of  Lulli.  The  piece  was  a direct 
attack  upon  one  of  the  most  frequent  absurdities  of  his  day  ; many 
of  the  courtiers  felt  in  their  hearts  that  they  were  attacked  ; there 
was  a burst  of  wrath  at  the  first  representation,  by  which  the  king 
had  not  appeared  to  be  struck.  Moliere  thought  it  was  all  over 
with  him.  Louis  XIY.  desired  to  see  the  piece  a second  time ; 

“You  have  never  written  anything  yet  which  has  amused  me  so 
much;  your  comedy  is  excellent,”  said  he  to  the  poet;  the  ccurt 
was  at  once  seized  with  a fit  of  admiration. 

Psyche , Les  Fourberies  de  Scapin,  La  Comtesse  d’Fscarbagnas, 
deserve  just  a mention;  Les  Femmes  savantes  had  at  first  but  little  “ he.Ma-^ 
success  ; The  piece  was  considered  heavy  ; the  marvellous  nicety  of 
the  portraits,  the  correctness  of  the  judgments,  the  delicacy  and 
elegance  of  the  dialogue  were  not  appreciated  until  later  on.  Le 
Mcdade  imaginaire , Moliere’s  last  play,  was  also  the  last  of  that 
succession  of  blows  which  he  had  so  often  dealt  the  doctors. 

It  has  been  a labour  of  love  to  go  into  some  detail  over  the 
lives,  works  and  characters  of  the  great  writers  during  the  age  of 
Louis  XIY.  They  did  too  much  honour  to  their  time  and  their 
country,  they  had  too  great  and  too  deep  an  effect  in  France  and 
in  Europe  upon  the  successive  developments  of  the  human  intellect 
to  refuse  them  an  important  place  in  the  history  of  that  France  to 
whose  influence  and  glory  they  so  powerfully  contributed. 

In  this  brief  survey  of  French  literature  we  should  not  forget  to 
mention  the  French  Academy,  which  had  grown  and  found  its  liberty 
had  increased  under  the  sway  of  Louis  XIY. ; L held  its  sittings  at 
the  Louvre,  and,  as  regarded  complimentary  addresses  to  the  king 

F F 


434 


History  of  France . 


on  state  occasions,  it  took  rank  witli  the  sovereign  bodies.  The 
Academy  of  medals  and  inscriptions  was  founded  by  Colbert  in 
Tke  1662,  “in  order  to  render  the  acts  of  the  king  immortal  by  deciding 

Academies  the  legends  of  the  medals  struck  in  his  honour.”  Pontchartrain 
raised  to  forty  the  number  of  the  members  of  the  petite  academie, 
as  it  was  called,  extended  its  functions,  and  entrusted  it  thenceforth 
with  the  charge  of  publishing  curious  documents  relating  to  the 
history  of  Prance.  The  Academy  of  Sciences  had  already  for  many 
years  had  sittings  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  king’s  library.  Like 
the  French  Academy,  it  had  owed  its  origin  to  private  meetings  at 
•which  Descartes,  Gassendi  and  young  Pascal  were  accustomed  to  be 
present.  " There  are  in  the  world  scholars  of  two  sorts,”  said  a 
note  sent  to  Colbert  about  the  formation  of  the  new  Academy  ; 
“ some  give  themselves  up  to  science  because  it  is  a pleasure  to 
them  ; they  are  content,  as  the  fruit  of  their  labours,  with  the 
knowledge  they  acquire,  and,  if  they  are  known,  it  is  only  amongst 
those  with  whom  they  converse  unambitiously  and  for  mutual 
instruction ; these  are  bond  fide  scholars,  whom  it  is  impossible  to 
do  without  in  a design  so  great  as  that  of  the  Academie  royale. 
There  are  others  who  cultivate  science  only  as  a field  which  is  to 
give  them  sustenance,  and,  as  they  see  by  experience  that  great 
rewards  fall  only  to  those  who  make  the  most  noise  in  the  world, 
they  apply  themselves  especially,  not  to  making  new  discoveries, 
for  hitherto  that  has  not  been  recompensed,  but  to  whatever  may 
bring  them  into  notice  ; these  are  scholars  of  the  fashionable  world, 
and  such  as  one  knows  best.”  Colbert  had  the  true  scholar’s  taste  ; 
he  had  brought  Cassini  from  Italy  to  take  the  direction  of  the  new 
Observatory ; he  had  ordered  surveys  for  a general  map  of  France  ; 
he  had  founded  the  Journal  des  Savants ; literary  men,  whether 
Frenchmen  or  foreigners,  enjoyed  the  king’s  bounties ; Colbert  had 
even  conceived  the  plan  of  a universal  Academy,  a veritable  fore- 
runner of  the  Institute.  The  arts  were  not  forgotten  in  this  grand 
project ; the  academy  of  painting  and  sculpture  dated  from  the 
regency  of  Anne  of  Austria  ; the  pretensions  of  the  Masters  of  Arts 
Fine  arts.  ( maitres  es  arts),  who  placed  an  interdict  upon  artists  not  belonging 
to  their  corporation,  had  driven  Charles  Lebrun,  himself  the  son  of 
a Master,  to  agitate  for  its  foundation ; Colbert  added  to  it  the 
academy  of  music  and  the  academy  of  architecture,  and  created  the 
French  school  of  painting  at  Pome.  The  tradition  of  the  masters 
in  vogue  in  Italy,  of  the  Caracci,  of  Guido,  of  Paul  Veronese,  had 
reached  Paris  with  Simon  Vouet,  who  had  long  lived  at  Pome. 
He  was  succeeded  there  by  Le  Poussin,  whose  two  pupils,  Lesueur 
and  Claude  Gelee,  called  Lorrain,  soon  equalled  their  master. 


Painters , sculptors , engravers. 


435 


Philip  of  Champagne  deserves  a prominent  place  in  the  brilliant 
roll  of  French  seventeenth  century  artists.  He  had  passionately- 
admired  Le  Poussin,  he  had  attached  himself  to  Lesueur.  “ Never,” 
says  M.  Yitet,  “ had  he  sacrificed  to  fashion ; never  had  he  fallen 
into  the  vagaries  of  the  degenerate  Italian  style.”  This  upright, 
simple,  painstaking  soul,  this  inflexible  conscience,  looking  con- 
tinually into  the  human  face,  had  preserved  in  his  admirable  Philip  of 
portraits  the  life  and  the  expression  of  nature  which  he  was  Cham- 
incessantly  trying  to  seize  and  reproduce.  Lebrun  was  preferred  pagne# 
to  him  as  first  painter  to  the  king  by  Louis  XIY.  himself ; Philip 
of  Champagne  was  delighted  thereat;  he  lived  in  retirement,  in 
fidelity  to  his  friends  of  Port-Royal,  whose  austere  and  vigorous 
lineaments  he  loved  to  trace,  beginning  with  M.  de  St.  Cyran,  and 
ending  with  his  own  daughter,  Sister  Suzanne,  who  was  restored  to 
health  by  the  prayers  of  Mother  Agnes  Arnauld. 

Lebrun  was  as  able  a courtier  as  he  was  a good  painter : the  Lebrun, 
clever  arrangement  of  his  pictures,  the  richness  and  brilliancy  of 
his  talent,  his  faculty  for  applying  art  to  industry,  secured  him 
with  Louis  XIY.  a sway  which  lasted  as  long  as  his  life.  He  was 
first  painter  to  the  king,  he  was  director  of  the  Gobelins  and  of 
the  academy  of  painting.  He  followed  the  king’s  ideas,  being 
entirely  after  his  own  heart;  for  fourteen  years  he  worked  for 
Louis  XIY.,  representing  his  life  and  his  conquests,  at  Versailles ; 
painting  for  the  Louvre  the  victories  of  Alexander,  which  were 
engraved  almost  immediately  by  Audran  and  Edelinck.  After 
Lebrun’s  death  (1690)  Mignard  became  first  painter  to  the  king. 

He  painted  the  ceiling  of  the  Val-de-Grace,  which  was  celebrated  by 
Moliere,  but  it  was  as  a painter  of  portraits  that  he  excelled  in 
France  : “ M.  Mignard  does  them  best,”  said  Le  Poussin  not  long  jnjgnar^ 
before,  with  lofty  good-nature,  “ though  his  heads  are  all  paint, 
without  force  or  character.”  To  Mignard  succeeded  Rigaud  as 
portrait- painter,  worthy  to  preserve  the  features  of  Bossuet  and 
Fenelon.  The  unity  of  organization,  the  brilliancy  of  style,  the 
imposing  majesty  which  the  king’s  taste  had  everywhere  stamped 
about  him  upon  art  as  well  as  upon  literature,  were  by  this  time 
beginning  to  decay  simultaneously  with  the  old  age  of  Louis  XIY., 
with  the  reverses  of  his  arms  and  the  increasing  gloominess  of  his 
court ; the  artists  who  had  illustrated  his  reign  were  dying  one 
after  another  as  well  as  the  orators  and  the  poets ; the  sculptor 
James  Sarazin  had  been  gone  some  time;  Puget  and  the  Anguiers 
were  dead,  as  well  as  Mansard,  Perrault  and  Le  Notre ; Girardon 
had  but  a few  months  to  live ; only  Coysevox  was  destined  to 
survive  the  king  whose  statue  he  had  many  a time  moulded.  The 

F F 2 


436 


History  of  France . 


Society. 


Madame 
de  La 
Valliere. 


Madame  de 

Monte- 

span. 


great  age  was  disappearing  slowly  and  sadly,  throwing  out  to  the 
last  some  noble  gleams,  like  the  aged  king  who  had  constantly 
served  as  its  centre  and  guide,  like  olden  France  which  he  had 
crowned  with  its  last  and  its  most  splendid  wreath. 

Louis  XI Y.  reigned  everywhere,  over  his  people,  over  his  age, 
often  over  Europe ; hut  nowhere  did  he  reign  so  completely  as  over 
his  court.  Xever  were  the  wishes,  the  defects  and  the  vices  of  a 
man  so  completely  a law  to  other  men  as  at  the  court  of  Louis  XIY. 
during  the  whole  period  of  his  long  life.  When  near  to  him,  in 
the  palace  of  Versailles,  men  lived  and  hoped  and  trembled ; 
everywhere  else  in  France,  even  at  Paris,  men  vegetated.  The 
existence  of  the  great  lords  was  concentrated  in  the  court,  about 
the  person  of  the  king.  Scarcely  could  the  most  important  duties 
bring  them  to  absent  themselves  for  any  time.  They  returned 
quickly,  with  alacrity,  with  ardour ; only  poverty  or  a certain 
rustic  pride  kept  gentlemen  in  their  provinces.  “The  court  does 
not  make  one  happy,”  says  La  Bruyere,  “it  prevents  one  from 
being  so  anywhere  else.” 

The  principle  of  absolute  power,  firmly  fixed  in  the  young  king’s 
mind,  began  to  pervade  his  court  from  the  time  that  he  disgraced 
Fouquet  and  ceased  to  dissemble  his  affection  for  Mdlle.  de  La 
Valliere.  She  was  young,  charming  and  modest.  Of  all  the  king’s 
favourites  she  alone  loved  him  sincerely.  “ What  a pity  he  is  a 
king  !”  she  would  say.  Louis  XIV.  made  her  a duchess;  but  all 
she  cared  about  was  to  see  him  and  please  him.  When  Madame  de 
Montespan  began  to  supplant  her  in  the  king’s  favour,  the  grief  of 
Madame  de  La  Valliere  was  so  great  that  she  thought  she  should 
die  of  it.  Then  she  turned  to  God,  in  penitence  and  despair ; and, 
later  on,  it  was  at  her  side  that  Madame  de  Montespan,  in  her  turn 
forced  to  quit  the  court,  went  to  seek  advice  and  pious  consolation.. 
“ This  soul  will  be  a miracle  of  grace,”  Bossuet  had  said. 

Madame  de  Montespan  was  haughty,  passionate,  “with  hair 
dressed  in  a thousand  ringlets,  a majestic  beauty  to  show  off  to  the 
ambassadors  : ” she  openly  paraded  the  favour  she  was  in,  accepting 
and  angling  for  the  graces  the  king  was  pleased  to  do  her  and  hers, 
having  the  superintendence  of  the  household  of  the  queen,  whom 
she  insulted  without  disguise,  to  the  extent  of  wounding  the  king 
himself:  “Pray  consider  that  she  is  your  mistress,”  he  said  one 
day  to  his  favourite.  The  scandal  was  great ; Bossuet  attempted 
the  task  of  stopping  it.  It  was  the  time  of  the  Jubilee : neither 
the  king  nor  Madame  de  Montespan  had  lost  all  religious  feeling ; 
the  wrath  of  God  and  the  refusal  of  the  sacraments  had  terrors  for 
them  still. 


The  court . 


437 


Bossuet  had  acted  in  vain  “ like  a pontiff  of  the  earliest  times, 
with  a freedom  -worthy  of  the  earliest  ages  and  the  earliest  bishops 
of  the  Church,”  says  St.  Simon.  He  saw  the  inutility  of  his 
efforts ; henceforth  prudence  and  courtly  behaviour  put  a seal  upon 
his  lips.  It  was  the  time  of  the  great  king’s  omnipotence  and 
highest  splendour,  the  time  when  nobody  withstood  his  wishes. 

The  great  Mademoiselle  had  just  attempted  to  show  her  indepen- 
dence ; tired  of  not  being  married,  she  had  made  up  her  mind  to  a “LaGrande 
love-match;  she  did  not  espouse  Lauzun  just  then,  the  king  broke 
off  the  marriage.  “ I will  make  you  so  great,”  he  said  to  Lauzun,  and  Lau- 
“ that  you  shall  have  no  cause  to  regret  what  I am  taking  from  you  ; zun“ 
meanwhile,  I make  you  duke  and  peer  and  marshal  of  France.” 

“ Sir,”  broke  in  Lauzun  insolently,  “ you  have  made  so  many  dukes 
that  it  is  no  longer  an  honour  to  be  one,  and,  as  for  the  baton  of 
marshal  of  France,  your  Majesty  can  give  it  me  when  I have 
earned  it  by  my  services.”  He  was  before  long  sent  to  Pignerol, 
where  he  passed  ten  years.  There  he  met  Fouquet  and  that  mys- 
terious personage  called  the  Iron  Mask,  whose  name  has  not  yet 
been  discovered  to  a certainty  by  means  of  all  the  most  ingenious 
conjectures.  It  was  only  by  settling  all  her  property  on  the  duke 
of  Maine  after  herself  that  Mademoiselle  purchased  Lauzun’s 
release.  The  king  had  given  his  posts  to  the  prince  of  Marcillac, 
son  of  La  Rochefoucauld. 

Louis  XIV.  entered  benevolently  into  the  affairs  of  a marshal  of  £0uig  xiV 
France  ; he  paid  his  debts,  and  the  marshal  was  his  domestic  ; all  and  th9 
the  court  had  come  to  that ; the  duties  which  brought  servants  in  courtiers* 
proximity  to  the  king’s  person  were  eagerly  sought  after  by  the 
greatest  lords.  Bontemps,  his  chief  valet,  and  Fagon,  his  physician, 
as  well  as  his  surgeon  Marechal,  very  excellent  men  too,  were  all- 
powerful  amongst  the  courtiers.  Louis  XIV.  possessed  the  art  of 
making  his  slightest  favours  prized;  to  hold  the  candlestick  at 
bed-time  (an  petit  coucher),  to  appear  in  the  trips  to  Marly,  to 
play  in  the  king’s  own  game,  such  was  the  ambition  of  the  most 
distinguished ; the  possessors  of  grand  historic  castles,  of  fine 
houses  at  Paris,  crowded  together  in  attics  at  Versailles,  too  happy 
to  obtain  a lodging  in  the  palace.  The  whole  mind  of  the  greatest 
personages,  his  favourites  at  the  head,  was  set  upon  devising  means 
of  pleasing  the  king  ; Madame  de  Montespan  had  pictures  painted 
in  miniature  of  all  the  towns  he  had  taken  in  Holland  ; they  were 
made  into  a book  which  was  worth  four  thousand  pistoles,  and  of 
which  Racine  and  Boileau  wrote  the  text ; people  of  tact,  like 
M.  de  Langlee,  paid  court  to  the  master  through  those  whom  he  loved. 

All  the  style  of  living  at  court  was  in  accordance  with  the 


438 


History  of  France . 


Madame  de 
Mainte- 

non. 


Her  cha- 
racter. 


magnificence  of  the  king  and  his  courtiers ; Colbert  was  beside 
himself  at  the  sums  the  queen  lavished  on  play.  Madame  de 
Montespan  lost  and  won  back  four  millions  in  one  night  at 
bassette  ; Mdlle.  de  Fontangesgave  away  twenty  thousand  crowns’ 
worth  of  New  Year’s  gifts.  A new  power,  however,  was  beginning 
to  appear  on  the  horizon,  with  such  modesty  and  backwardness  that 
none  could  as  yet  discern  it,  least  of  all  could  the  king.  Madame 
de  Montespan  had  looked  out  for  some  one  to  take  care  of  and 
educate  her  children.  She  had  thought  of  Madame  Scarron  ; she 
considered  her  clever ; she  Avas  so  herself,  “ in  that  unique  style 
which  was  peculiar  to  the  Mortemarts,”  said  the  duke  of  St.  Simon; 
she  was  fond  of  conversation ; Madame  Scarron  had  a reputation 
for  being  rather  a blue-stocking ; this  the  king  did  not  like ; 
Madame  de  Montespan  had  her  way ; Madame  Scarron  took  charge 
of  the  children  secretly  and  in  an  isolated  house.  She  was  atten- 
tive, careful,  sensible.  The  king  was  struck  with  her  devotion  to 
the  children  entrusted  to  her.  “ She  can  love,”  he  said  : “ it 
would  be  a pleasure  to  be  loved  by  her.”  This  expression  plainly 
indicated  what  was  to  happen ; and  Madame  de  Montespan  saw 
herself  supplanted  by  Madame  Scarron.  The  widow  of  the 
deformed  poet  had  bought  the  estate  of  Maintenon  out  of  the  king’s 
bounty.  He  made  her  take  the  title.  The  recollection  of  Scarron 
was  displeasing  to  him. 

The  queen  had  died  on  the  30th  of  July,  1683,  piously  and 
gently,  as  she  had  lived.  “ This  is  the  first  sorrow  she  ever  caused 
me,”  said  the  king,  thus  rendering  homage,  in  his  superb  and 
unconscious  egotism,  to  the  patient  virtue  of  the  wife  he  had 
put  to  such  cruel  trials.  Madame  de  Maintenon  was  agitated  but 
resolute.  “ Madame  de  Montespan  has  plunged  into  the  deepest 
devoutness,”  she  wrote,  two  months  after  the  queen’s  death  : “ it 
is  quite  time  she  edified  us;  as  for  me,  I no  longer  think  of 
retiring.”  Her  strong  common-sense  and  her  far-sighted  ambition, 
far  more  than  her  virtue,  had  secured  her  against  rocks  ahead ; 
henceforth  she  saw  the  goal,  she  was  close  upon  it,  she  moved 
towards  it  with  an  even  step.  The  date  has  never  been  ascertained 
exactly  of  the  king’s  private  marriage  with  Madame  de  Maintenon. 
It  took  place  probably  eighteen  months  or  two  years  after  the 
queen’s  death ; the  king  was  forty-seven,  Madame  de  Maintenon 
fifty.  “ She  had  great  remains  of  beauty,  bright  and  sprightly 
eyes,  an  incomparable  grace,”  says  St.  Simon,  who  detested  her, 
“ an  air  of  ease  and  yet  of  restraint  and  respect,  a great  deal  of 
cleverness  with  a speech  that  was  sweet,  correct,  in  good  terms  and 
naturally  eloquent  and  brief.” 


The  duchess  of  Burgundy . . 439 

Madame  de  La  Valliere  had  held  sway  over  the  young  and  pas- 
sionate heart  of  the  prince,  Madame  de  Montespan  over  the  court* 

Madame  de  Maintenon  alone  established  her  empire  over  the  man 
and  the  king.  Alone  she  had  any  part  in  affairs,  a smaller  part 
than  has  frequently  been  made  out,  but  important,  nevertheless, 
and  sometimes  decisive.  Ministers  went  occasionally  to  do  their 
work  in  her  presence  with  the  king,  who  would  turn  to  her  when 
the  questions  were  embarrassing,  and  ask,  “ What  does  your 
Solidity  think  \ ” The  opinions  she  gave  were  generally  moderate 
and  discreet.  Whatever  the  apparent  reserve  and  modesty  with  Her  in- 
which  it  was  cloaked,  the  real  power  of  Madame  de  Maintenon  fluen°e  . 
over  the  king’s  mind  peeped  out  more  and  more  into  broad  daylight.  XIV. 

She  promoted  it  dexterously  by  her  extreme  anxiety  to  please  him 
as  well  as  by  her  natural  and  sincere  attachment  to  the  children 
whom  she  had  brought  up  and  who  had  a place  near  the  heart  of 
Louis  XIY. 

The  chief  ornament  of  the  Court  of  Versailles  was  the  Duchess  The 
of  Burgundy.  For  the  king  and  for  Madame  de  Maintenon,  the  duchess  of 
great  and  inexhaustible  attraction  of  this  young  lady  was  her  gaiety 
and  unconstrained  ease,  tempered  by  the  most  delicate  respect, 
which,  on  coming  as  quite  a child  to  France  from  the  court  of 
Savoy,  she  had  tact  enough  to  introduce  and  always  maintain 
amidst  the  most  intimate  familiarity.  “ In  public,  demure,  res- 
pectful with  the  king,  and  on  terms  of  timid  propriety  with  Madame 
de  Maintenon,  whom  she  never  called  anything  but  aunt , thus 
prettily  blending  rank  and  affection.  In  private,  chattering,  frisk- 
ing, fluttering  around  them,  at  one  time  perched  on  the  arm  of  one 
or  the  other’s  chairs,  at  another  playfully  sitting  on  their  knee,  she 
would  throw  herself  upon  their  necks,  embrace  them,  kiss  them, 
fondle  them,  pull  them  to  pieces,  chuck  them  under  the  chin,  tease 
them,  rummage  their  tables,  their  papers,  their  letters,  reading 
them  sometimes  against  their  will,  according  as  she  saw  that  they 
were  in  the  humour  to  laugh  at  it,  and  occasionally  speaking 
thereon.  Admitted  to  everything,  even  at  the  reception  of  couriers 
bringing  the  most  important  news,  going  in  to  the  king  at  any  hour, 
even  at  the  time  the  council  was  sitting,  useful  and  also  fatal  to 
ministers  themselves,  but  always  inclined  to  help,  to  excuse,  to 
benefit,  unless  she  were  violently  set  against  any  body.  The  king 
could  not  do  without  her  ; when,  rarely,  she  was  absent  from  his 
supper  in  public,  it  was  plainly  shown  by  a cloud  of  more  than 
usual  gravity  and  taciturnity  over  the  king’s  whole  person ; and  so, 
when  it  happened  that  some  ball  in  winter  or  some  party  in 
summer  made  her  break  into  the  night,  she  arranged  matters  so 


440 


History  of  France . 


Flattery 

and 

hypocrisy. 


well  that  she  was  there  to  kiss  the  king  the  moment  he  was  awake 
and  to  amuse  him  with  an  account  of  the  affair  ” \_Memoires  de  St. 
Simon. 

The  dauphiness  had  died  in  1690  ; the  duchess  of  Burgundy 
was,  therefore,  almost  from  childhood  queen  of  the  court  and  before 
long  the  idol  of  the  courtiers ; it  was  around  her  that  pleasures 
sprang  up  ; it  was  for  her  that  the  king  gave  the  entertainments  to 
which  he  had  habituated  Versailles,  not  that  for  her  sake  or  to  take 
care  of  her  health  he  would  ever  consent  to  modify  his  habits  or 
make  the  least  change  in  his  plans.  “ Thank  God,  it  is  over/’  he 
exclaimed  one  day,  after  an  accident  to  the  princess  ; “ I shall  no 
longer  be  thwarted  in  my  trips,  and  in  all  I desire  to  do,  by  the 
representations  of  physicians.  I shall  come  and  go  as  I fancy ; and 
I shall  be  left  in  peace.”  Even  in  his  court  and  amongst  his  most 
devoted  servants,  this  monstrous  egotism  astounded  and  scandalized 
everybody. 

Elattery,  at  Versailles,  ran  a risk  of  becoming  hypocrisy.  On 
returning  to  a regular  life,  the  king  was  for  imposing  the  same  upon 
his  whole  court ; the  instinct  of  order  and  regularity,  smothered 
for  a while  in  the  hey-day  of  passion,  had  resumed  all  its  sway  over 
the  naturally  proper  and  steady  mind  of  Louis  XIV.  His  dignity 
and  his  authority  were  equally  involved  in  the  cause  of  propriety 
and  regularity  at  his  court ; he  imposed  this  yoke  as  well  as  all  the 
others ; there  appeared  to  be  entire  obedience ; only  some  princes 
or  princesses  escaped  it  sometimes,  getting  about  them  a few  free- 
thinkers or  boon-companions ; good,  honest  folks  showed  ingenuous 
joy ; the  virtuous  and  far-sighted  were  secretly  uneasy  at  the  false- 
hood and  deplored  the  pressure  put  on  so  many  consciences  and  so 
many  lives.  The  king  was  sincere  in  his  repentance  for  the  past, 
many  persons  in  his  court  were  as  sincere  as  he  ; others,  who  were 
not,  affected,  in  order  to  please  him,  the  externals  of  austerity; 
absolute  power  oppressed  all  spirits,  extorting  from  them  that 
hypocritical  complaisance  which  it  is  liable  to  engender ; corrup- 
tion was  already  brooding  beneath  appearances  of  piety ; the  reign 
of  Louis  XV.  was  to  see  its  deplorable  fruits  displayed  with  a haste 
and  a scandal  which  are  to  be  explained  only  by  the  oppression 
exercised  in  the  last  years  of  King  Louis  XIV. 

Madame  de  Maintenon  was  like  the  genius  of  this  reaction 
towards  regularity,  propriety,  order;  all  the  responsibility  for  it 
has  been  thrown  upon  her;  the  good  she  did  has  disappeared 
beneath  the  evil  she  allowed  or  encouraged ; the  regard  lavished 
upon  her  by  the  king  has  caused  illusions  as  to  the  discreet  care  she 
was  continually  taking  to  please  him.  She  was  faithful  to  her 


Influence  of  women  at  Madrid  and  Versailles.  441 

friends,  so  long  as  they  were  in  favour  with  the  king  ; if  they  had 
the  misfortune  to  displease  him,  she,  at  the  very  least,  gave  up  see- 
ing them ; without  courage  or  hardihood  to  withstand  the  caprices 
and  wishes  of  Louis  XIV.,  she  had  gained  and  preserved  her  empire 
by  dint  of  dexterity  and  far-sighted  suppleness  beneath  the  externals 
of  dignity. 

It  was  through  Madame  de  Maintenon  and  her  correspondence  Tlie  prjn. 
with  the  princess  des  Ursins  that  the  private  business  between  the  cess  des 
two  courts  of  France  and  Spain  was  often  carried  on.  At  Madrid  Ursins* 
far  more  than  at  Versailles,  the  influence  of  women  was  all-power- 
ful. The  queen  ruled  her  husband,  who  was  honest  and  courageous 
but  without  wit  or  daring ; and  the  princess  des  Ursins  ruled  the 
queen,  as  intelligent  and  as  amiable  as  her  sister  the  duchess  of 
Burgundy,  but  more  ambitious  and  more  haughty.  Louis  XIV. 
had  several  times  conceived  some  misgiving  of  the  camarera  major’s 
influence  over  his  grandson ; she  had  been  disgraced  and  then 
recalled  ; she  had  finally  established  her  sway  by  her  fidelity, 
ability,  dexterity  and  indomitable  courage.  She  served  France 
habitually,  Spain  and  her  own  influence  in  Spain  always ; she  had 
been  charming,  with  an  air  of  nobility,  grace,  elegance  and  majesty 
all  together,  and  accustomed  to  the  highest  society  and  the  most 
delicate  intrigues,  during  her  sojourn  at  Borne  anu  Madrid ; she  was 
full  of  foresight  and  calculation,  but  impassioned,  ambitious, 
implacable,  pushing  to  extremes  her  amity  as  well  as  her  hatred, 
faithful  to  her  master  and  mistress  in  their  most  cruel  trials,  and 
then  hampering  and  retarding  peace  for  the  sake  of  securing  for 
herself  a principality  in  the  Low  Countries. 

But  the  time  came  for  Madame  des  Ursins  to  make  definitive  Her  power 
trial  of  fortune’s  inconstancy.  After  having  enjoyed  unlimited 
power  and  influence,  with  great  difficulty  she  obtained  an  asylum 
at  Borne,  where  she  lived  seven  years  longer,  preserving  all  her 
health,  strength,  mind  and  easy  grace  until  she  died,  in  1722,  at 
more  than  eighty  four  years  of  age,  in  obscurity  and  sadness,  not- 
withstanding her  opulence,  but  avenged  of  her  Spanish  foes,  Car- 
dinals della  Giudice  and  Alberoni,  whom  she  met  again  at  Borne, 
disgraced  and  fugitive  like  herself.  “ I do  not  know  where  I may 
die,”  she  wrote  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  at  that  time  in  retire- 
ment at  St.  Cyr.  Both  had  survived  their  power  ; the  princess  des 
Ursins  had  not  long  since  wanted  to  secure  for  herself  a dominion ; 

Madame  de  Maintenon,  more  far-sighted  and  more  modest,  had 
aspired  to  no  more  than  repose  in  the  convent  which  she  had 
founded  and  endowed.  Discreet  in  her  retirement  as  well  as  in  her 
life,  she  had  not  left  to  chance  the  selection  of  a place  where  she 
might  die. 


442  History  of  France. 

il  One  has  no  more  luck  at  our  age,”  Louis  XIV.  had  said  to  his 
old  friend  Marshal  Villars,  returning  from  his  most  disastrous  cam- 
paign. It  was  a bitter  reflection  upon  himself  which  had  put  these 
words  into  the  king’s  mouth.  After  the  most  brilliant,  the  most 
continually  and  invariably  triumphant  of  reigns,  he  began  to  see 
fortune  slipping  away  from  him  and  the  grievous  consequences  of 
his  errors  successively  overwhelming  the  State.  “ God  is  punish- 
ing me,  I have  richly  deserved  it,”  he  said  to  Marshal  Villars,  who 
was  on  the  point  of  setting  out  for  the  battle  of  Denain.  The  aged 
king,  dispirited  and  beaten,  could  not  set  down  to  men  his  misfor- 
tunes and  reverses  ; the  hand  of  God  Himself  was  raised  against  his 
The  sun  of  ^ouse  > was  knocking  double  knocks  all  round  him.  The 

Louis  XIV.  grand-dauphin  had  for  some  days  past  been  ill  of  small-pox  ; he 
sets.  die(t  in  April,  1711 ; the  duchess  of  Burgundy  was  carried  off  by 
an  attack  of  malignant  fever  in  February,  1712  ; her  husband  fol- 
lowed her  within  a week,  and  their  eldest  child,  the  duke  of 
Brittany  about  a month  afterwards. 

There  was  universal  and  sincere  mourning  in  France  and  in 
Europe.  The  most  sinister  rumours  circulated  darkly ; a base 
intrigue  caused  the  duke  of  Orleans  to  be  accused ; people  called 
to  mind  his  taste  for  chemistry  and  even  magic,  his  flagrant  impiety, 
his  scandalous  debauchery ; beside  himself  with  grief  and  anger,  he 
demanded  of  the  king  to  be  sent  to  the  Bastille  ; the  king  refused 
curtly,  coldly,  not  unmoved  in  his  secret  heart  by  the  perfidious  in- 
sinuations which  made  their  way  even  to  him,  but  too  just  and  too 
sensible  to  entertain  a hateful  lie,  which,  nevertheless,  lay  heavy  on 
the  duke  of  Orleans  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

Darkly,  but  to  more  effect,  the  same  rumours  were  renewed  before 
long.  The  duke  of  Berry  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  on  the 
4th  of  May,  1714,  of  a disease  which  presented  the  same  features  as 
the  scarlet  fever  ( rougeole  pourpree)  to  which  his  brother  and  sister- 
in-law  had  succumbed.  The  king  was  old  and  sad : the  state  of  his 
kingdom  preyed  upon  his  mind ; he  was  surrounded  by  influences 
hostile  to  his  nephew,  whom  he  himself  called  “ a vaunter  of 
crimes.”  A child  who  was  not  five  years  old  remained  sole  heir  to 
the  throne.  Madame  de  Maintenon,  as  sad  as  the  king,  “ naturally 
mistrustful,  addicted  to  jealousies,  susceptibilities,  suspicions,  aver- 
sions, spites,  and  woman’s  wiles  ” [ Lettres  de  Fenelon  au  due  de 
Clievreuse ],  being,  moreover,  sincerely  attached  to  the  king’s 
natural  children,  was  constantly  active  on  their  behalf.  On  the 
W‘ll  f l^th  of  July,  1714,  the  king  announced  to  the  premier  president 
Louis  XIV.  and  attorney-general  of  the  parliament  of  Paris  that  it  was  his 
pleasure  to  grant  to  the  duke  of  Maine  and  to  the  count  of  Tou- 
louse, for  themselves  and  their  descendants,  the  rank  of  princes  of 


LOUIS  XIV.  IN  HIS  OLD  AGE. 


1IBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


443 


The  king  s last  will . 

the  blood,  in  its  full  extent,  and  that  he  desired  that  the  deed 
should  he  enregistered  in  the  parliament  Soon  after,  still  under 
the  same  influence,  he  made  a will  which  was  kept  a profound 
secret  and  which  he  sent  to  he  deposited  in  the  strong-room  (greffe) 
of  the  parliament,  committing  the  guardianship  of  the  future  king 
to  the  duke  of  Maine,  and  placing  him,  as  well  as  his  brother,  on 
the  council  of  regency,  with  close  restrictions  as  to  the  duke  °^jtsehief 
Orleans,  who  would  be  naturally  called  to  the  government  ofciauseg3 
the  kingdom  during  the  minority.  The  will  was  darkly  talked 
about : the  effect  of  the  elevation  of  bastards  to  the  rank  of  princes 
of  the  blood  had  been  terrible.  “ There  was  no  longer  any  son  of 
Trance  : the  Spanish  branch  had  renounced  ; the  duke  of  Orleans 
had  been  carefully  placed  in  such  a position  as  not  to  dare  say  a 
word  or  show  the  least  dissatisfaction  ; his  only  son  was  a child  ; 
neither  the  duke  (of  Berry),  his  brothers,  nor  the  prince  of  Conti, 
were  of  an  age  or  of  standing,  in  the  king’s  eyes,  to  make  the  least 
trouble  in  the  world  about  it.  The  bomb-shell  dropped  all  at  once 
when  nobody  could  have  expected  it,  and  everybody  fell  on  his 
stomach,  as  is  done  when  a shell  drops  ; everybody  was  gloomy  and 
almost  wild;  the  king  himself  appeared  as  if  exhausted  by  so  great 
an  effort  of  will  and  power.”  He  had  only  just  signed  his  wflll, 
when  he  met,  at  Madame  de  Maintenon’s,  the  ex-queen  of  England. 

“ I have  made  my  will,  Madame,”  said  he : “ I have  purchased 
repose ; I know  the  impotence  and  uselessness  of  it ; we  can  do  all 
we  please  as  long  as  we  are  here ; after  we  are  gone,  we  can  do  less 
than  private  persons ; we  have  only  to  look  at  what  became  of  my 
father’s,  and  immediately  after  his  death  too,  and  of  those  of  so 
many  other  kings.  I am  quite  aware  of  that ; but,  in  spite  of  all 
that,  it  was  desired ; and  so,  Madame,  you  see  it  has  been  done ; 
come  of  it  what  may,  at  any  rate  I shall  not  be  worried  about  it 
any  more.”  It  was  the  old  man  yielding  to  the  entreaties  and 
intrigues  of  his  domestic  circle  ; the  judgment  of  the  king  remained 
steady  and  true,  without  illusions  and  without  prejudices. 

Death  was  coming,  however,  after  a reign  which  had  been  so  Last  days 
long,  and  had  occupied  so  much  room  in  the  world,  that  it  caused  °? tlie 
mistakes  as  to  the  very  age  of  the  king.  He  was  seventy-seven,  he 
continued  to  work  with  his  ministers ; the  order  so  long  and  so 
firmly  established  was  not  disturbed  by  illness  any  more  than  it  had 
been  by  the  reverses  and  sorrows  of  late.  He  said  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon  once,  “ What  consoles  me  for  leaving  you,  is  that  it  will 
not  be  long  before  w7e  meet  again.”  She  made  no  reply.  “ What 
wflll  become  of  you  ? ” he  added  : “ you  have  nothing.”  “ Do  not 
think  of  me,”  said  she  : “ I am  nobody ; think  only  of  God.’  He 


444 


History  of  France . 


A.D.  1719. 
Death  of 
Madame 
de  Main- 
tenon 
(April  15). 


a.D.  1715. 
Death  of 
the  king 
(Sept.  1). 


said  farewell  to  her  : she  still  remained  a little  while  in  his  room 
and  went  out  when  he  was  no  longer  conscious.  She  had  given 
away  here  and  there  the  few  moveables  that  belonged  to  her,  and 
now  took  the  road  to  St.  Cyr.  On  the  steps  she  met  Marshal  Yil- 
leroy : “ Good  bye,  marshal,”  she  said  curtly  and  covered  up  her 
face  in  her  coifs.  He  it  was  who  sent  her  news  of  the  king  to  the 
last  moment.  The  duke  of  Orleans,  on  becoming  regent,  went  to 
see  her  and  took  her  the  patent  ( brevet ) for  a pension  of  sixty 
thousand  livres,  “ which  her  disinterestedness  had  made  necessary 
for  her,”  said  the  preamble.  It  was  paid  her  up  to  the  last  day  of 
her  life.  History  makes  no  further  mention  of  her  name  ; she 
never  left  St.  Cyr.  Thither  the  czar  Peter  the  Great,  when  he 
visited  Paris  and  France,  went  to  see  her ; she  was  confined  to  her 
bed  ; he  sat  a little  while  beside  her.  “ What  is  your  malady1?” 
he  asked  her  through  his  interpreter.  “A  great  age,”  answered 
Madame  de  Maintenon,  smiling.  He  looked  at  her  a moment  in 
silence;  then,  closing  the  curtains,  he  went  out  abruptly.  The 
memory  he  would  have  called  up  had  vanished.  The  woman  on 
whom  the  great  king  had,  for  thirty  years,  heaped  confidence  and 
affection  was  old,  forgotten,  dying ; she  expired  at  St.  Cyr  on  the 
15th  of  April,  1719,  at  the  age  of  eighty-three. 

She  had  left  the  king  to  die  alone.  He  was  in  the  agonies  ; the 
prayers  in  extremity  were  being  repeated  around  him;  the  cere- 
monial recalled  him  to  consciousness.  He  joined  his  voice  with  the 
voices  of  those  present,  repeating  the  prayers  with  them.  Already 
the  court  was  hurrying  to  the  duke  of  Orleans  ; some  of  the  more 
confident  had  repaired  to  the  duke  of  Maine’s  ; the  king’s  servants 
were  left  almost  alone  around  his  bed ; the  tones  of  the  dying  man 
were  distinctly  heard  above  the  great  number  of  priests.  He 
several  times  repeated  : Nunc  et  in  Jiorct  mortis.  Then  he  said 
quite  loud  : “ 0 my  God,  come  Thou  to  help  me,  haste  Thee  to 
succour  me.”  Those  were  his  last  words.  He  expired  on  Sunday, 
the  1st  of  September,  1715,  at  eight  a.m.  Hext  day  he  would 
have  been  seventy-seven  years  of  age  and  he  had  reigned  seventy- 
two  of  them. 

In  spite  of  his  faults  and  his  numerous  and  culpable  errors, 
Louis  XIY.  had  lived  and  died  like  a king.  The  slow  and  grievous 
agony  of  olden  France  was  about  to  begin. 


Colbert's  Budget . 


445 


TABLE  I. — COLBERT’S  BUDGET  FOR  THE  YEAR  1662. 


Debitor’s  Account. 


livres  s.  da. 

Royal  household 7,000,000 

The  army  (at  the  rate  of 600, 000 

livres  per  month) 7,200,000 

Regiment  of  the  French  Guards  969,841 
Regiment  of  the  Swiss  Guards  1,224,810  6 8 
Light  Dragoons  (chevau-legers) 

of  the  Guard  223,205 

The  two  companies  of  Muske- 
teers  314,952 

Public  Buildings 1,600,000 

Garrison  expenses  (as  per  es- 
timate)   2,000,000 

Navy  estimates 2,000,000 

The  hulks  (galeres) 400,000 

Fortifications 300,000 

Extraordinary  expenses  of  the 

Royal  Family 300,000 

Ambassadors 250,000 

Salary  of  government  officers.  1,200,000 

Foreign  pensions 300,000 

Extraordinary  pensions,  etc.  to 
the  officers  of  the  King’s 

household  200,000 

Payment  to  the  Archduke  of 

Inspriick 1,000,000 

Artillery  and  purchase  of  am- 
munition  300,000 

Salary  of  the  Marshals  of 

France 200,000 

Gratuities  to  members  of  the 

council,  etc 300,000 

Extraordinary  and  unforeseen 

expenses 1,317,191  13  4 


Total... 30,000,000  livres 


Creditor’s  Account. 


livres  s.  ds. 

Gabelles  (salt  tax) 13,500,000 

Les  cinq  grosses  fermes^ 3,650,000 

Aides  (wine  and  spirit  taxes).  5,21 1,000 

Tolls 4,720,900 

Convoi  de  Bordeauxf 3,600,000 

Salt-taxfor  Languedoc,  Lyon- 
nais, Provence,  Dau- 
phin6,  and  customs  of 

Valence 5,570,000 

Overtax  for  Lyons 60,000 

Ditto  ( quarantieme .) 120,000 

Subvention  of  Rouen 120,000 

Patents  of  Languedoc,  Arzac 

and  Bouille 566,000 

Tax  of  thirty-five  sous  raised 

at  Brouage 335,000 

Paulette 800,000 

Farming  of  one-third  of  the 
domains  and  alienated 

rights 1,000,000 

Salt-tax  in  Roussillon 10,000 

Doma.ns  in  ditto 100,000 

Salt- tax  and  domains  of  Metz, 

Toul  and  Verdun 277,000 

Farming  of  the  King’s  do- 
mains in  Alsace 80,000 

Post  office 100,000 

Tallies  (poll-tax  and  property 

tax 45,768,807 


Total... 87, 587, 807  livres. 

* This  name  was  given  to  the  custom-house 
dues  levied  collectively  on  the  provinces  of  He 
de  France,  Normandy,  Picardy,  Champagne, 
Bourgogne,  Brosse  and  Bugey,  Bourbonnais, 
Poitou,  Anjou,  Maine  and  Touraine,  which  had 
formed  together  a kind  of  Zollverein. 

t A tax  levied  on  consideration  of  the  protec- 
tion given  by  the  King’s  navy  to  the  merchant 
ships  trading  between  Bordieaux  and  foreign 
parts. 


N.B.  This  table  is  taken  from  Mr.  Ch Cruel’s  excellent  Dicfionnaire  historique  des  institutions , 
mceurs  et  coutumes  de  la  France,  published  by  Messrs.  Hachette. 


TABLE  II.— A CHRONOLOGICAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  FRENCH  ARMY, 
DOWN  TO  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

1124.  First  instance  of  a permanent  military  force  established. 

1191.  The  supreme  command  of  the  army  given  to  the  constable  of  France, 
who  has  under  his  orders  two  marshals,  besides  the  grand-master 
of  the  cross-bowmen. 

1439.  The  cavalry  of  the  gens  d’armes  (compagnies  d’ ordonnance)  instituted  ; 
these  companies,  fifteen  in  number,  are  of  100  lances  (600  men) 
each. 

1445.  The  Francs-mchers  or  Francs-taupins  (infantry)  instituted.  The 
name  taupins  is  derived  from  the  Low  Latin  talparius , meaning  a 
man  who  works  underground,  like  a mole.  Scotch  archers  appointed 
as  part  of  the  king’s  body-guard. 


446  History  of  France . 

1478.  The  company  of  the  gentilshomm.es-d-bec-de-corbin  (infantry)  or- 
ganized. 

1496.  A body  of  Swiss  soldiers,  127  in  number,  added  to  the  king’s  house- 
hold troops  ( Les  cent  hommes  de  guerre  Suisses  de  la  garde  du  Roi). 

1532.  Provincial  legions  instituted  by  Francis  I.  These  corps,  seven  in  all, 
are  of  6000  men  each. 

1544.  A colonel-general  of  the  infantry  appointed. 

1558.  Creation  of  a corps  of  carabins  (light  cavalry). — Marshal  de  Cosse- 
Brissac  forms  a regiment  of  dragoons  destined  to  fight  both  on 
horseback  and  on  foot. 

1563.  The  provincial  legions  formed  into  regiments.  The  most  ancient  of 
these  corps  are  the  regiments  of  Picardy,  Champagne,  Navarre, 
Piedmont.  Institution  of  the  French  guards. 

1571  Appointment  of  a colonel-general  of  the  Swiss  and  Grison  troops  in 
the  French  service. 

1609.  Gens  d’armes  of  the  king’s  body-guard  instituted  (cavalry). 

1619.  First  nomination  of  a minister  of  war. 

1612  The  company  of  grey  musketeers  instituted.  (Thus  called  from  the 
colour  of  their  horses. 

1627.  The  office  of  constable  of  France  suppressed. 

1630.  Formation  of  a body  of  chevau-legers  (household  troops,  light  cavalry). 

1635.  The  musketeers  and  carbineers  formed  into  regiments. 

1660.  A company  of  black  musketeers  instituted 

1665  Generals  of  brigade  appointed  for  the  cavalry. 

1666  Louvois,  minister  of  war. 

1668.  Generals  of  brigade  appointed  for  the  infantry. 

1670.  Establishment  of  the  grn'des  marines  at  Brest,  Rochefort  and  Toulon. 

1671.  Foundation  of  the  Hotel  des  Invalides.  Introduction  of  the  bayonet. 

Regiments  of  fusiliers  formed. 

1672.  Companies  of  grenadiers  introduced  into  each  regiment. 

1686.  Grenadiers  on  foot  and  on  horseback  raised  as  part  of  the  household 
troops. 

1679-1707.  Yauban  reorganizes  military  engineering. 

1682.  Military  schools  established  ( dcoles  de  cadets). 

1691.  First  company  of  hussards  raised. 

1693.  The  order  of  Saint-Louis  created  as  a decoration  for  military  services. 

1734.  Marshal  de  Saxe  forms  a body  of  100  Uhlans  (lancers). 

1748.  Engineering  schools  established  at  Mezieres. 

1751.  A military  school  established  at  Paris. 

1764.  The  Gardes  Francises  arranged  into  six  battalions,  each  containing 
half  a company  of  grenadiers  (50  men),  and  five  companies  of 
fusiliers  (120  men  ea,ch). 

1776.  The  cent-Suisses  disbanded.  Count  de  Saint  Germain,  minister  of  war, 
introduces  many  reforms. 

1789.  Reform  of  the  army. — Creation  of  the  national  guard. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


LOUIS  XV.,  THE  REGENCY,  CARDINAL  DUBOIS  AND  CARDINAL  DE  FLEURY. 

(1715—1748). 

Under  Henry  IV.,  under  Richelieu,  under  Louis  XIV.,  events 
found  quite  naturally  their  guiding  hand  and  their  centre  ; men  as 
well  as  circumstances  formed  a group  around  the  head  of  the  nation, 
whether  king  or  minister,  to  thence  unfold  themselves  quite  clearly  Decay  0f 
before  the  eyes  of  posterity.  Starting  from  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.  the  French 
the  nation  has  no  longer  a head,  history  no  longer  a centre ; at  the  monarchy. 
same  time  with  a master  of  the  higher  order,  great  servants  also  fail 
the  French  monarchy ; it  all  at  once  collapses,  betraying  thus  the 
exhaustion  of  Louis  XIV. ’s  latter  years ; decadence  is  no  longer 
veiled  by  the  remnants  of  the  splendour  which  was  still  reflected 
from  the  great  king  and  his  great  reign ; the  glory  of  olden  France 
descends  slowly  to  its  grave.  At  the  same  time,  and  in  a future 
as  yet  obscured,  intellectual  progress  begins  to  dawn ; new  ideas  of 
justice,  of  humanity,  of  generous  equity  towards  the  masses  germi- 
nate sparsely  in  certain  minds  ; it  is  no  longer  Christianity  alone 
that  inspires  them,  though  the  honour  is  reflected  upon  it  in  a 
general  way  and  as  regards  the  principles  with  which  it  has  silently 
permeated  modern  society,  hut  they  who  contribute  ta  spread  them 
refuse  with  indignation  to  acknowledge  the  source  whence  they 
have  drawn  them.  Intellectual  movement  no  longer  appertains 
exclusively  to  the  higher  classes,  to  the  ecclesiastics,  or  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  parliaments ; vaguely  as  yet,  and  retarded  by  apathy  in 
the  government  as  well  as  by  disorder  in  affairs,  it  propagates  and 


448 


History  of  France . 

extends  itself  imperceptibly  pending  that  signal  and  terrible 
explosion  of  good  and  evil  which  is  to  characterize  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Decadence  and  progress  are  going  on  confusedly 
in  the  minds  as  well  as  in  the  material  condition  of  the  nation. 
They  must  he  distinguished  and  traced  without  any  pretence  of 
separating  them. 

There  we  have  the  reign  of  Louis  XY.  in  its  entirety. 

Regeney  of  The  regency  of  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  the  ministry  of  Cardinal 
of  Orleans  Dubois  showed  certain  traits  of  the  general  tendencies  and  to  a 
certain  extent  felt  their  influence  ; they  formed,  however,  a distinct- 
epoch,  abounding  in  original  efforts  and  bold  attempts,  which 
remained  without  result  but  which  testified  to  the  lively  reaction 
in  men’s  minds  against  the  courses  and  fundamental  principles  of 
the  reign  which  had  just  ended. 

Louis  XIY.  had  made  no  mistake  about  the  respect  which  his 
last  wishes  were  destined  to  meet  with  after  his  death.  His  will 
was  as  good  as  annulled ; it  was  opened,  it  was  read,  and  so  were 
the  two  codicils.  All  the  authority  was  entrusted  to  a council  of 
regency  of  which  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  to  be  the  head,  but  with- 
out preponderating  voice  and  without  power  to  supersede  any  of 
the  members,  all  designated  in  advance  by  Louis  XIY.  The 
person  and  the  education  of  the  young  king,  as  well  as  the  command 
of  the  household  troops,  were  entrusted  to  the  duke  of  Maine. 
The  will  of  The  Parliament  applauded  the  formation  of  the  six  councils  of 
annulled^*  foreign  affairs,  of  finance,  of  war,  of  the  marine,  of  home  or  the 
interior,  of  conscience  or  ecclesiastical  affairs ; the  Regent  was 
entrusted  with  the  free  disposal  of  graces  : “ I want  to  be  free  for 
good,”  said  he,  adroitly  repeating  a phrase  from  Telemaqiie , “ I 
consent  to  have  my  hands  tied  for  evil.” 

The  victory  was  complete.  Hot  a shred  remained  of  Louis 
XIY.’s  will.  The  duke  of  Maine,  confounded  and  humiliated, 
retired  to  his  castle  of  Sceaux,  there  to  endure  the  reproaches  of 
his  wife.  The  king’s  affection  and  Madame  de  Maintenon’s  clever 
tactics  had  not  sufficed  to  found  his  power ; the  remaining  vestiges 
of  his  greatness  were  themselves  about  to  vanish  before  long  in 
their  turn. 

On  the  12th  of  September,  the  little  king  held  a bed  of  justice  ; 
his  governess,  Madame  de  Yen  tad  our,  sat  alone  at  the  feet  of  the 
poor  orphan,  abandoned  on  the  pinnacle  of  power.  All  the  decisions 
of  September  2 were  ratified  in  the  child’s  name.  Louis  XIY. 
had  just  descended  to  the  tomb  without  pomp  and  without  regret. 
The  joy  of  the  people  broke  out  indecently  as  the  funeral  train 
passed  by ; the  nation  had  forgotten  the  glory  of  the  great  king,  it 


THE  REGENT  ORLEANS. 


1IBRARV 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Liberal  measures . 449 

remembered  only  the  evils  which  had  for  so  long  oppressed  it 
during  his  reign. 

The  new  councils  had  already  been  constituted,  when  it  was 
discovered  that  commerce  had  been  forgotten ; and  to  it  wa3 
assigned  a seventh  body.  How  singular  are  the  monstrosities  of 
inexperience  ! At  the  head  of  the  council  of  finance  a place  was  The  duke 
found  for  the  duke  of  Noailles,  active  in  mind  and  restless  in  cha-  jj-oa0jjieg 
racter,  without  any  fixed  principles,  an  adroit  and  a shameless 
courtier,  strict  in  all  religious  observances  under  Louis  XIY.  and  a 
notorious  debauchee  under  the  Regency,  but  intelligent,  insolent, 
ambitious,  hungering  and  thirsting  to  do  good  if  he  could,  but  evil 
if  need  were  and  in  order  to  arrive  at  his  ends.  His  uncle,  Cardinal 
Noailles,  who  had  been  but  lately  threatened  by  the  court  of  Rome 
t with  the  loss  of  his  hat,  and  who  had  seen  himself  forbidden  to 
approach  the  dying  king,  was  now  president  of  the  council  of  con- 
science. Marshal  d’Huxelles,  one  of  the  negotiators  who  had 
managed  the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  was  at  the  head  of  foreign  affairs. 

The  Regent  had  reserved  to  himself  one  simple  department,  the 
Academy  of  Sciences.  “I  quite  intend,”  said  he. gaily,  “ to  ask  the 
king,  on  his  majority,  to  let  me  still  be  secretary  of  State  of  the 
Academy.’* 

The  Regent's  predilection,  consolidating  the  work  of  Colbert, 
contributed  to  the  development  of  scientific  researches,  for  which 
the  neatness  and  clearness  of  French  thought  rendered  it  thence- 
forth so  singularly  well  adapted. 

The  gates  of  the  prison  were  meanwhile  being  thrown  open  to  The  Bas- 
many  a poor  creature;  the  Jansenists  left  the  Bastille;  others,  who 
had  been  for  a long  time  past  in  confinement,  were  still  ignorant  open, 
of  the  grounds  for  their  captivity,  which  was  by  this  time  forgotten 
by  everybody.  For  a while  the  Protestants  thought  they  saw  their 
advantage  in  the  clemency  with  which  the  new  reign  appeared  to 
be  inaugurated,  and  began  to  meet  again  in  their  assemblies ; the 
Regent  had  some  idea  of  doing  them  justice,  re-establishing  the 
edict  of  Nantes  and  reopening  to  the  exiles  the  doors  of  their 
country,  but  his  councillors  dissuaded  him,  the  more  virtuous,  like 
St.  Simon,  from  catholic  piety,  the  more  depraved  from  policy  and 
indifference.  However,  the  lot  of  the  Protestants  remained  under 
the  Regency  less  hard  than  it  had  been  under  Louis  XIY.  and 
than  it  became  under  the  duke  of  Bourbon.  The  chancellor,  Yoysin,  D>^gUes 
had  just  died.  To  this  post  the  Regent  summoned  the  attorney-  seau  chan- 
general,  D’Aguesseau,  beloved  and  esteemed  of  all,  learned,  eloquent,  cellor# 
virtuous,  but  too  exclusively  a man  of  parliament  for  the  functions 
which  had  been  confided  to  him. 


G G 


The 

treasury. 


John  law. 


450  History  of  France . 

The  new  system  of  government,  as  yet  untried  and  confided  to 
men  for  the  most  part  little  accustomed  to  affairs,  had  to  put  up 
With  the  most  formidable  difficulties  and  to  struggle  against  the 
most  painful  position.  The  treasury  was  empty  and  the  country 
exhausted  ; the  army  was  not  paid  and  the  most  honourable  men, 
such  as  the  duke  of  St.  Simon,  saw  no  other  remedy  for  the  evils 
of  the  State  but  a total  bankruptcy  and  the  convocation  of  the 
States-general.  Both  expedients  were  equally  repugnant  to  the 
duke  of  Orleans.  The  duke  of  Xoailles  had  entered  upon  a 
course  of  severe  economy ; the  king’s  household  was  diminished, 
twenty-five  thousand  men  were  struck  off  the  strength  of  the 
army,  exemption  from  talliage  for  six  years  was  promised  to  all 
such  discharged  soldiers  as  should  restore  a deserted  house  and 
should  put  into  cultivation  the  fields  lying  waste.  At  the  same 
time  something  wTas  being  taken  off  the  crushing  weight  <of  the 
taxes  and  the  State  was  assuming  the  charge  of  recovering  them 
directly,  without  any  regard  for  the  real  or  supposed  advances  of  the 
Keceivers-general ; their  accounts  were  submitted  to  the  revision  of 
the  brothers  Paris,  sons  of  an  innkeeper  in  the  Dauphinese  Alps, 
who  had  made  fortunes  by  military  contracts  and  were  all  four 
reputed  to  be  very  able  in  matters  of  finance.  They  were  likewise 
commissioned  to  revise  the  bills  circulating  in  the  name  of  the 
State,  in  other  words,  to  suppress  a great  number  without  re-im- 
bursement  to  the  holder,  a sort  of  bankruptcy  in  disguise,  which 
did  not  help  to  raise  the  public  credit.  At  the  same  time  also  a 
chamber  of  justice,  instituted  for  that  purpose,  was  prosecuting 
the  tax-farmers  ( traitant •f),  as  Louis  XIV.  had  done  at  the  com- 
mencement of  his  reign,  during  the  suit  against  Bouquet.  The 
resources  derived  from  this  measure,  as  well  as  from  the  revision 
of  the  State’s  debts,  remaining  very  much  below  expectation,  the 
deficit  went  on  continually  increasing.  In  order  to  re-establish 
the  finances,  the  duke  of  Noailles  demanded  fifteen  years’  imprac- 
ticable economy,  as  chimerical  as  the  increment  of  the  revenues  on 
which  he  calculated ; and  the  duke  of  Orleans  finally  suffered 
himself  to  be  led  away  by  the  brilliant  prospect  which  was  flashed 
before  his  eyes  by  the  Scotsman  Law,  who  had  now  for  more  than 
two  years  been  settled  in  France. 

Law,  born  at  Edinburgh  in  1671,  son  of  a goldsmith,  had  for  a 
long  time  been  scouring  Europe,  seeking  in  a clever  and  systematic 
course  of  gambling  a source  of  fortune  for  himself  and  the  first 
foundation  of  the  great  enterprises  he  was  revolving  in  his  singu- 
larly inventive  and  daring  mind.  Passionately  devoted  to  the 
financial  theories  he  had  conceived,  Law  had  expounded  them  to 


Financial  speculations . 4^1 

all  the  princes  of  Europe  in  succession.  “ He  says  that  of  all  the 

persons  to  whom  he  has  spoken  about  his  system  he  has  found  hut 

two  who  apprehended  it,  to  wit,  the  king  of  Sicily  and  my  son,” 

wrote  Madame,  the  Regent’s  mother.  Victor  Amadeo,  however, 

had  rejected  Law’s  proposals.  “ I am  not  powerful  enough  to 

ruin  myself,”  he  had  said.  Law  had  not  been  more  successful 

with  Louis  XIV.  The  Regent  had  not  the  same  repugnance  for 

novelties  of  foreign  origin ; so  soon  as  he  was  in  power,  he 

authorised  the  Scot  to  found  a circulating  and  discount  bank 

(banque  de  circulation  et  d'escompte ),  which  at  once  had  very  great 

success  and  did  real  service.  Encouraged  by  this  first  step,  Law  His  bank- 

reiterated  to  the  Regent  that  the  credit  of  bankers  and  merchants  in^  system* 

decupled  their  capital ; if  the  State  became  the  universal  banker 

and  centralized  all  the  values  in  circulation,  the  public  fortune 

would  naturally  be  decupled.  A radically  false  system,  fated  to 

plunge  the  State  and  consequently  the  whole  nation  into  thb  risks 

of  speculation  and  trading  without  the  guarantee  of  that  activity, 

zeal  and  prompt  resolution  which  able  men  of  business  can  import 

into  their  private  enterprises.  The  system  was  not  as  yet  applied ; 

the  discreet  routine  of  the  French  financiers  was  scared  at  such 

risky  chances,  the  pride  of  the  great  lords ' sitting  in  the  council 

was  shocked  at  the  idea  of  seeing  the  State  turning  banker,  perhaps 

even  trader.  St.  Simon  maintained  that  what  was  well  enough  for 

a free  State  could  not  take  place  under  an  absolute  government. 

Law  went  on,  however;  to  his  bank  he  had  just  added  a great 
company.  The  king  ceded  to  him  Louisiana,  which  was  said  to  be 
rich  in  gold  and  silver  mines  superior  to  those  of  Mexico  and  Peru. 

People  vaunted  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  facility  offered  for  trade 

by  the  extensive  and  rapid  stream  of  the  Mississippi ; it  was  by  the 

name  of  that  river  that  the  new  company  was  called  at  first,  though 

it  soon  took  the  title  of  Compagnie  d*  Occident,  when  it  had  obtained 

the  privilege  of  trading  in  Senegal  and  in  Guinea ; it  became  the 

Compagnie  des  Indes,  on  forming  a fusion  with  the  old  enterprises 

which  worked  the  trade  of  the  East.  For  the  generality,  and  in 

the  current  phraseology,  it  remained  the  Mississippi  ; and  that  is  “The  Mis- 

the  name  it  has  left  in  history.  Hew  Orleans  was  beginning  to  sissiPPi  ” 

arise  at  the  mouth  of  that  river.  Law  had  bought  Belle-Isle-en- 

Mer,  and  was  constructing  the  port  of  Lorient. 

The  Regent’s  councillors  were  scared  and  disquieted;  the 
chancellor  proclaimed  himself  loudly  against  the  deception  or 
illusion  which  made  of  Louisiana  a land  of  promise : he  called  to 
mind  that  Crozat  had  been  ruined  in  searching  for  mines  of  the 
precious  metals  there.  This  opposition,  resulting  from  the  purest 

Q g 2 


Financial 

schemes. 


TheHegent 
and  the 
legitima- 
tized 
princes. 


452  History  of  France . 

motives,  caused  his  temporal  disgrace ; he  was  ordered  by  the 
Regent  to  give  up  the  seals,  which  were  entrusted  to  d’Argenson. 
The  die  had  been  cast  and  the  duke  of  Orleans  outstripped  Law 
himself  in  the  application  of  his  theories.  A company,  formed 
secretly  and  protected  by  the  new  keeper  of  the  seals,  had  bought 
up.  the  general  farmings  (fermes  generates),  that  is  to  say,  all  the 
indirect  taxes,  for  the  sum  of  forty-eight  million  fifty-two  thousand 
livres ; the  Compagnie  des  Indes  re-purchased  them  for  fifty- two 
millions ; the  general  receipts  were  likewise  conceded  to  it,  and 
Law’s  bank  was  proclaimed  a Royal  Bank ; the  Company’s  shares 
already  amounted  to  the  supposed  value  of  all  the  coin  circulating 
in  the  kingdom,  estimated  at  seven  or  eight  hundred  millions. 
Law  thought  he  might  risk  everything  in  the  intoxication  which 
had  seized  all  France,  capital  and  province.  He  created  some 
fifteen  hundred  millions  of  new  shares,  promising  his  shareholders 
a dividend  of  12  per  cent.  From  all  parts  silver  and  gold  flowed 
into  his  hands ; everywhere  the  paper  of  the  bank  was  substituted 
for  coin.  The  delirium  had  mastered  all  minds.  The  street  called 
Quincampoix,  for  a long  time  past  devoted  to  the  operations  of 
bankers,  had  become  the  usual  meeting-place  of  the  greatest  lords 
as  well  as  of  discreet  burgesses.  It  had  been  found  necessary  to 
close  the  two  ends  of  the  street  with  gates,  open  from  six  a.m.  to 
nine  p.m. ; every  house  harboured  business  agents  by  the  hundred  ; 
the  smallest  room  was  let  for  its  weight  in  gold.  The  workmen 
who  made  the  paper  for  the  bank-notes  could  not  keep  up  with  the 
consumption.  The  most  modest  fortunes  suddenly  became  colossal, 
lacqueys  of  yesterday  were  millionaires  to-morrow ; extravagance 
followed  the  progress  of  this  outburst  of  riches,  and  the  price  of 
provisions  followed  the  progress  of  extravagance. 

This  extraordinary  financial  delusion  did  not,  could  not  last.  Law 
had  brought  with  him  to  France  a considerable  fortune;  he  had 
scarcely  enough  to  live  upon  when  he  retired  to  Venice,  where  he 
died  some  years  later  (1729),  convinced  to  the  last  of  the  utility  of 
his  system,  at  the  same  time  that  he  acknowledged  the  errors  he 
had  committed  in  its  application. 

Throughout  the  successive  periods  of  intoxication  and  despair 
caused  by  the  necessary  and  logical  development  of  Law’s  scheme, 
the  duke  of  Orleans  had  dealt  other  blows  and  directed  other 
affairs  of  importance.  Easy-going,  indolent,  often  absorbed  by  his 
pleasures,  the  Regent  found  no  great  difficulty  in  putting  up  with 
the  exaltation  of  the  legitimatized  princes  ; it  had  been  for  him 
sufficient  to  wrest  authority  from  the  duke  of  Maine,  he  let  him 
enjoy  the  privileges  of  a prince  of  the  blood.  “I  kept  silence 


413 


Intrigues  of  the  duchess  of  Maine . 

during  tlie  king’s  lifetime,”  he  would  say ; “ I will  not  be  mean 

enough  to  break  it  now  he  is  dead.”  But  the  duke  of  Bourbon, 

heir  of  the  House  of  Conde,  fierce  in  temper,  violent  in  his  hate, 

greedy  of  honours  as  well  as  of  money,  had  just  arrived  at  man’s  The  duke 

estate,  and  was  wroth  at  sight  of  the  bastards’  greatness.  He  of  Bourbon 

0 . . . indignant 

drew  after  him  the  count  of  Charolais  his  brother,  and  the  prince  at  the 

of  Conti  his  cousin : on  the  22nd  of  April,  1716,  all  three  presented  ,^e^'n^ss 

to  the  king  a request  for  the  revocation  of  Louis  XIY.’s  edict  tar^Si 

declaring  his  legitimatized  sons  princes  of  the  blood  and  capable  of 

succeeding  to  the  throne. 

The  Begent  saw  the  necessity  of  firmness.  “ It  is  a maxim,” 
he  declared,  “that  the  king  is  always  a major  as  regards  justice; 
that  which  was  done  without  the  states-general  has  no  need  of 
their  intervention  to  be  undone.  The  decree  of  the  council  of 
regency,  based,  on  the  same  principles,  suppressed  the  right  of  suc- 
cession to  the  crown,  and  cut  short  all  pretensions  on  the  part  of 
the  legitimatized  princes’  issue  to  the  rank  of  princes  of  the  blood ; 
the  rights  thereto  were  maintained  in  the  case  of  the  duke  of  Maine 
and  the  count  of  Toulouse,  for  their  lives,  by  the  bounty  of  the 
Begent. 

In  the  excess  of  her  indignation  and  wrath  the  duchess  of  Maine  Conspiracy 
determined  not  to  confine  herself  to  reproaches.  She  had  passed  of  Cella- 
her  life  in  elegant  entertainments,  in  sprightly  and  frivolous  intel-  mare* 
lectual  amusements ; ever  bent  on  diverting  herself,  she  made  up  her 
mind  to  taste  the  pleasure  of  vengeance,  and  set  on  foot  a con- 
spiracy, as  frivolous  as  her  diversions.  The  object,  however,  was 
nothing  less  than  to  overthrow  the  duke  of  Orleans,  and  to  confer 
the  regency  on  the  king  of  Spain,  Philip  Y.,  with  a council  and  a 
lieutenant,  who  was  to  be  the  duke  of  Maine. 

Some  scatter-brains  of  great  houses  were  mixed  up  in  the  affair : 

MM.  de  Bichelieu,  de  Laval,  and  de  Pompadour ; there  was  secret 
coming  and  going  between  the  castle  of  Sceaux  and  the  house  of  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  the  prince  of  Cellamare  ; M.  de  Malezieux,  the 
secretary  and  friend  of  the  duchess,  drew  up  a form  of  appeal  from 
the  French  nobility  to  Philip  Y.,  but  nobody  had  signed  it  or 
thought  of  doing  so.  They  got  pamphlets  written  by  Abbe  Brigault, 
whom  the  duchess  had  sent  to  Spain ; the  mystery  was  profound 
and  all  the  conspirators  were  convinced  of  the  importance  of  their 
manoeuvres ; every  day,  however,  the  Begent  was  informed  of  them 
by  his  most  influential  negotiator  with  foreign  countries,  Abbe 
Dubois,  his  late  tutor  and  the  most  depraved  of  all  those  who  were 
about  him.  Able  and  vigilant  as  he  was,  he  was  not  ignorant  of 
any  single  detail  of  the  plot,  and  was  only  giving  the  conspirators 


4$4  History  of  France. 

time  to  compromise  themselves.  At  last,  just  as  a young  abbe, 
Porto  Carrero,  was  starting  for  Spain,  carrying  important  papers, 
he  was  arrested  at  Poitiers  and  his  papers  were  seized.  Next  day, 
Dec.  7,  1718,  the  prince  of  Cellamare’s  house  was  visited  and  the 
streets  were  lined  with  troops. 

At  six  a.m.  the  king’s  men  entered  the  duke  of  Maine’s  house. 
The  Eegent  had  for  a long  time  delayed  to  act,  as  if  he  wanted  to 
leave  everybody  time  to  get  away ; but  the  conspirators  were  too 
The  duke  careless  to  take  the  trouble.  The  duchess  was  removed  to  Dijon, 
and  within  the  government  and  into  the  very  house  of  the  duke  of 

Ma°ineSS  ° * B°urbon  her  nephew,  which  was  a very  bitter  pill  for  her.  The 
arrested,  duke  of  Maine,  who  protested  his  innocence  and  his  ignorance,  was 
detained  in  the  castle  of  Dourlans  in  Picardy.  Oellamare  received 
his  passports  and  quitted  France.  The  less  illustrious  conspirators 
were  all  put  in  the  Bastille ; the  majority  did  not  remain  there 
long  and  purchased  their  liberty  by  confessions,  which  the  duchess 
of  Maine  ended  by  confirming. 

The  only  serious  result  of  Cellamare’s  conspiracy  was  to  render 
imminent  a rupture  with  Spain.  From  the  first  days  of  the  regency 
the  old  enmity  of  Philip  V.  towards  the  duke  of  Orleans  and  the 
secret  pretensions  of  both  of  them  to  the  crown  of  France,  in  case 
of  little  Louis  XY.’s  death,  rendered  the  relations  between  the  two 
courts  thorny  and  strained  at  bottom,  though  still  perfectly  smooth 
in  appearance.  It  was  from  England  that  Abbe  Dubois  urged  the 
Character  Eegent  to  seek  support.  Dubois,  born  in  the  very  lowest  position, 
Duboiif  ^ an(l  endowed  with  a soul  worthy  of  his  origin,  was  “ a little,  lean 
man,  wire-drawn,  with  a light-coloured  wig,  the  look  of  a weasel,  a 
clever  expression,”  says  St.  Simon,  who  detested  him : “ all  vices 
struggled  within  him  for  the  mastery ; they  kept  up  a constant  hub- 
bub and  strife  together.  Avarice,  debauchery,  ambition  were  his 
gods ; perfidy,  flattery,  slavishness  his  instruments ; and  complete 
unbelief  his  comfort.  He  excelled  in  low  intrigues ; the  boldest  lie 
was  second  nature  to  him,  with  an  air  of  simplicity,  straightforward- 
ness, sincerity,  and  often  bashfulness.”  In  spite  of  all  these  vices, 
and  the  depraving  influence  he  had  exercised  over  the  duke  of 
Orleans  from  his  earliest  youth,  Dubois  was  able,  often  far-sighted, 
and  sometimes  bold  ; he  had  a correct  and  tolerably  practical  mind. 
Madame,  who  was  afraid  of  him,  had  said  to  her  son  on  the  day  of 
his  elevation  to  power : “ I desire  only  the  welfare  of  the  State  and 
your  own  glory ; I have  but  one  request  to  make  for  your  honour’s 
sake,  and  I demand  your  word  for  it,  that  is,  never  to  employ  that 
scoundrel  of  an  Abbe  Dubois,  the  greatest  rascal  in  the  world,  and 
one.  who  would  sacrifice  the  State  and  you  to  the  slightest  interest.” 


CARDINAL  DUBOIS. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS! 


Petty  the  Great  in  France . 


455 


The  Regent  promised ; yet  a few  months  later  and  Dubois  was 
Church-councillor  of  State,  and  his  growing  influence  with  the 
prince  placed  him,  at  first  secretly  and  before  long  openly,  at  the 
head  of  foreign  affairs. 

Inspired  by  Dubois,  weary  of  the  weakness  and  dastardly  inca- 
pacity of  the  Pretender,  the  Regent  consented  to  make  overtures 
to  the  king  of  England.  The  Spanish  nation  was  favourable  to 
Prance,  but  the  king  was  hostile  to  the  Regent ; the  English  loved 
neither  France  nor  the  Regent,  but  their  king  had  an  interest  in 
severing  France  from  the  Pretender  for  ever.  Dubois  availed 
himself  ably  of  his  former  relations  with  Lord  Stanhope,  heretofore 
commander  of  the  English  troops  in  Spain,  for  commencing  a secret 
negotiation  which  soon  extended  to  Holland,  still  closely  knit  to 
England.  The  order  of  succession  to  the  crowns  of  France  and 
England,  conformably  to  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  was  guaranteed  in 
the  scheme  of  treaty ; that  was  the  only  important  advantage  to 
the  Regent,  who  considered  himself  to  be  thus  nailing  the  renun- 
ciation of  Philip  V. ; in  other  respects  all  the  concessions  came  from 
the  side  of  France ; her  territory  was  forbidden  ground  to  the 
Jacobites,  and  the  Pretender,  who  had  taken  refuge  at  Avignon  on 
papal  soil,  was  to  be  called  upon  to  cross  the  Alps.  The  English 
required  the  abandonment  of  the  works  upon  the  canal  of  Mardyck, 
intended  to  replace  the  harbour  of  Dunkerque;  the  Hollanders 
claimed  commercial  advantages.  Dubois  yielded  on  all  the  points, 
defending  to  the  last  with  fruitless  tenacity  the  title  of  king  of 
France,  which  the  English  still  disputed.  The  negotiations  came 
to  an  end  at  length  on  the  6th  of  January,  1717,  and  Dubois  wrote 
in  triumph  to  the  Regent : “ I signed  at  midnight ; so  there  are  you 
quit  of  servitude  (your  own  master),  and  here  am  I quit  of  fear.” 

At  the  moment  when  the  signature  was  being  put  to  the  treaty  The  czar 
of  the  triple  alliance,  the  sovereign  of  most  distinction  in  Europe  tlie 
owing  to  the  eccentric  renown  belonging  to  his  personal  merit,  visits 
the  czar  Peter  the  Great,  had  just  made  flattering  advances  to  France. 
France.  He  had  some  time  before  wished  to  take  a trip  to  Paris, 
but  Louis  XIY.  was  old,  melancholy  and  vanquished,  and  had 
declined  the  czar’s  visit.  The  Regent  could  not  do  the  same  thing, 
when,  being  at  the  Hague  in  1717,  Peter  I.  repeated  the  expression 
of  his  desire.  Marshal  Cosse  was  seni  to  meet  him,  and  the 
honours  due  to  the  king  himself  were  everywhere  paid  to  him  on 
the  road.  A singular  mixture  of  military  and  barbaric  roughness 
with  the  natural  grandeur  of  a conqueror  and  creator  of  an  empire, 
the  czar  mightily  excited  the  curiosity  of  the  Parisians.  He  testified 
towards  the  Regent  a familiar  good  grace  mingled  with  a certain 


Anecdotes 
about  him. 


Political 
side  of  his 
visit. 


Sold 

schemes  of 
Alberoni. 


456  History  of  France . 

superiority ; at  the  play,  to  which  they  went  together,  the  czar 
asked  for  beer ; the  Regent  rose,  took  the  goblet  which  was  brought 
and  handed  it  to  Peter,  who  drank  and,  without  moving,  put  the 
glass  back  on  the  tray  which  the  Regent  held  all  the  while,  with  a 
slight  inclination  of  the  head  which,  however,  surprised  the  public. 
At  his  first  interview  with  the  little  king,  he  took  up  the  child  in 
his  arms  and  kissed  him  over  and  over  again,  “ with  an  air  of 
tenderness  and  politeness  which  was  full  of  nature  and  nevertheless 
intermixed  with  a something  of  grandeur,  equality  of  rank  and, 
slightly,  superiority  of  age  ; for  ail  that  was  distinctly  perceptible  ” 
One  of  his  first  visits  was  to  the  church  of  the  Sorbonne ; when  he 
caught  sight  of  Richelieu’s  monument,  he  ran  up  to  it,  embraced 
the  statue,  and,  “ Ah  ! great  man,”  said  he,  “ if  thou  wert  still  alive, 
I would  give  thee  one  half  of  my  kingdom  to  teach  me  to  govern 
the  other.” 

Amidst  all  his  chatting,  studying,  and  information-hunting, 
Peter  the  Great  did  not  forget  the  political  object  of  his  trip.  He 
wanted  to  detach  France  from  Sweden,  her  heretofore  faithful  ally, 
still  receiving  a subsidy  which  the  czar  would  fain  have  appropriated 
to  himself.  Together  with  his  own  alliance  he  promised  that  of 
Poland  and  of  Prussia.  “France  has  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
emperor,”  he  said  : as  for  King  George,  whom  he  detested,  “ if  any 
rupture  should  take  place  between  him  and  the  Regent,  Russia 
would  suffice  to  fill  towards  France  the  place  of  England  as  well  as 
of  Sweden.” 

Thanks  to  the  ability  of  Dubois,  the  Regent  felt  himself  infeoffed 
to  England ; he  gave  a cool  reception  to  the  overtures  of  the  czar, 
who  proposed  a treaty  of  alliance  and  commerce.  Prussia  had 
already  concluded  secretly  with  France ; Poland  was  distracted  by 
intestine  struggles ; matters  were  confined  to  the  establishment  of 
amicable  relations ; France  thenceforth  maintained  an  ambassador 
in  Russia,  and  the  czar  accepted  the  Regent’s  mediation  between 
Sweden  and  himself. 

Dubois  was  struggling  everywhere  throughout  Europe  against 
the  influence  of  a broader,  bolder,  more  powerful  mind  than  his 
own,  less  adroit  perhaps  in  intrigue,  but  equally  destitute  of  scruples 
as  to  the  employment  of  means.  Alberoni  had  restored  the  finances 
and  reformed  the  administration  of  Spain ; he  was  preparing  an 
army  and  a fleet,  meditating,  he  said,  to  bring  peace  to  the  world, 
and  beginning  that  great  enterprise  by  manoeuvres  which  tended  to 
nothing  less  than  setting  fire  to  the  four  corners  of  Europe,  in  the 
name  of  an  enfeebled  and  heavy- going  king,  and  of  a queen 
ambitious,  adroit,  and  unpopular.  He  dreamed  of  reviving  the 


Treaty  of  the  quadruple  alliance . 


457 


ascendancy  of  Spain  in  Italy,  of  overthrowing  the  protestant  king 
of  England,  whilst  restoring  the  Stuarts  to  the  throne,  and  of 
raising  himself  to  the  highest  dignities  in  Church  and  State.  He 
had  already  obtained  from  Pope  Clement  XI.  the  cardinal’s  hat, 
disguising  under  pretext  of  war  against  the  Turks  the  preparations 
he  was  making  against  Italy ; he  had  formed  an  alliance  between 
Charles  XII.  and  the  czar,  intending  to  sustain  by  their  united 
forces  the  attempts  of  the  Jacobites  in  England.  His  first  enterprise, 
at  sea,  made  him  master  of  Sardinia  within  a few  days ; the  Spanish 
troops  landed  in  Sicily.  The  emperor  and  Victor  Amadeo  were  in 
commotion ; the  pope,  overwhelmed  with  reproaches  by  those 
princes,  wept,  after  his  fashion,  saying  that  he  had  damned  himself 
by  raising  Alberoni  to  the  Roman  purple ; Dubois  profited  by  the  D^ois 
disquietude  excited  in  Europe  by  the  bellicose  attitude  of  the  brings 
Spanish  minister  to  finally  draw  the  emperor  into  the  alliance  jJaStioa 
between  France  and  England.  He  was  to  renounce  his  pretensions 
to  Spain  and  the  Indies,  and  give  up  Sardinia  to  Savoy,  which  was 
to  surrender  Sicily  to  him.  The  succession  to  the  duchies  of  Parma 
and  Tuscany  was  to  be  secured  to  the  children  of  the  queen  of 
Spain.  Prance  and  England  left  Holland  and  Savoy  free  to  accede 
to  the  treaty ; but,  if  Spain  refused  to  do  so  voluntarily  within  a 
specified  time,  the  allies  engaged  to  force  her  thereto  by  arms. 

The  Hollanders  hesitated  : the  Spanish  ambassador  at  the  Hague 
had  a medal  struck  representing  the  quadruple  alliance  as  a coach 
on  the  point  of  falling,  because  it  rested  on  only  three  wheels. 

Certain  advantages  secured  to  their  commerce  at  last  decided  the 
states-general.  Victor  Amadeo  regretfully  acceded  to  the  treaty 
which  robbed  him  of  Sicily  : he  was  promised  one  of  the  Regent’s 
daughters  for  his  son. 

Alberoni  refused  persistently  to  accede  to  the  great  coalition 
brought  about  by  Dubois.  The  hope  of  a sudden  surprise  in 
England,  on  behalf  of  the  Jacobites,  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
death  of  the  king  of  Sweden,  Charles  XII.,  killed  on  the  12th  of 
December,  1718,  at  Ereiderishalt,  in  Norway  ; the  flotilla  equipped 
by  Alberoni  for  Chevalier  St.  George  had  been  dispersed  and  beaten  Cardinal 
by  the  elements ; the  Pretender  henceforth  was  considered  to  cost  Alberoni 
Spain  too  dear;  he  had  just  been  sent  away  from  her  territory  at  isolated, 
the  moment  when  the  conspiracy  of  Cellamare  failed  in  France ; 
in  spite  of  the  feverish  activity  of  his  mind  and  the  frequently 
chimerical  extent  of  his  machinations,  Alberoni  remained  isolated 
in  Europe,  without  ally  and  without  support. 

The  treaty  of  the  quadruple  alliance  had  at  last  come  to  be 
definitively  signed.  Some  days  later  appeared,  almost  at  the  same 


His  fall. 


Dubois 

archbishop 

ofCambrai. 


453  History  of  France . 

time — the  17th  of  December,  1718,  and  the  9th  of  January,  1719 
• — the  manifestoes  of  England  and  France,  proclaiming  the  resolution 
of  making  war  upon  Spain,  whilst  Philip  V.,  by  a declaration  of 
December  25  th,  1718,  pronounced  all  renunciations  illusory,  and 
proclaimed  his  right  to  the  throne  of  France  in  case  of  the  death  of 
Louis  XV.  At  the  same  time  he  made  an  appeal  to  an  assembly 
of  the  states-general  against  the  tyranny  of  the  Regent,  “ who  was 
making  alliances,”  he  said,  “ with  the  enemies  of  the  two  crowns.” 

Preparations  for  war  were  actively  carried  on  in  France;  the 
prince  of  Conti  was  nominally  at  the  head  of  the  army,  Marshal 
Berwick  was  entrusted  with  the  command.  He  accepted  it,  in  spite 
of  his  old  connexions  with  Spain,  the  benefits  which  Philip  V.  had 
heaped  upon  him,  and  the  presence  of  his  eldest  son,  the  duke  of 
Liria,  in  the  Spanish  ranks.  Fontarabia,  St.  Sebastian  and  the 
castle  of  Urgel  fell  before  long  into  the  power  of  the  French ; 
another  division  burnt,  at  the  port  of  Los  Pasages,  six  vessels  which 
chanced  to  be  on  the  stocks  ; an  English  squadron  destroyed  those 
at  Centera  and  in  the  port  of  Vigo.  Everywhere  the  depots  were 
committed  to  the  flames : this  cruel  and  destructive  war  against  an 
enemy  whose  best  troops  were  fighting  far  away  and  who  was  unable 
to  offer  more  than  a feeble  resistance,  gratified  the  passions  and  the 
interests  of  England  rather  than  of  France. 

Alberoni  attempted  in  vain  to  create  a diversion  by  hurling  into 
the  midst  of  France  the  brand  of  civil  war.  Philip  V.  was  beaten 
at  home  as  well  as  in  Sicily.  The  Regent  succeeded  in  introducing 
to  the  presence  of  the  king  of  Spain  an  unknown  agent,  who 
managed  to  persuade  the  monarch  that  the  cardinal  was  shirking 
his  responsibility  before  Europe,  asserting  that  the  king  and  queen 
had  desired  the  war  and  that  he  had  confined  himself  to  gratifying 
their  passions.  The  duke  of  Orleans  said,  at  the  same  time,  quite 
openly,  that  he  made  war  not  against  Philip  V.  or  against  Spain 
but  against  Alberoni  only.  Lord  Stanhope  declared,  in  the  name 
of  England,  that  no  peace  was  possible,  unless  its  preliminary  were 
the  dismissal  of  the  pernicious  minister. 

The  cardinal’s  fall  was  almost  as  speedy  as  that  which  he  had 
but  lately  contrived  for  his  enemy  the  princess  des  Ursins.  On 
the  4th  of  December,  1719,  he  received  orders  to  quit  Madrid 
within  eight  days  and  Spain  under  three  weeks.  So  great  success 
in  negotiation,  however  servile  had  been  his  bearing,  had  little  by 
little  increased  the  influence  of  Dubois  over  his  master.  The  Regent 
knew  and  despised  him,  but  he  submitted  to  his  sway  and  yielded 
to  his  desires,  sometimes  to  his  fancies.  Dubois  had  for  a long 
while  comprehended  that  the  higher  dignities  of  the  Church  could 


Plague  in  Southern  France . 459 

alone  bring  him  to  the  grandeur  of  which  he  was  ambitious ; he 
obtained  the  see  of  Cambrai,  strange  to  say,  through  the  influence 
of  a Protestant  king,  George  I.  The  Eegent,  as  well  as  the  whole 
court,  was  present  at  the  ceremony,  to  the  great  scandal  of  the 
people  attached  to  religion.  Dubois  received  all  the  orders  on  the 
the  same  day;  and,  when  he  was  joked  about  it,  he  brazenfacedly 
called  to  mind  the  precedent  of  St.  Ambrose.  Dubois  henceforth 
cast  his  eyes  upon  the  cardinal’s  hat,  and  his  negotiations  at  Pome 
were  as  brisk  as  those  of  Alberoni  had  but  lately  been  with  the 
same  purpose. 

Amidst  so  much  defiance  of  decency  and  public  morality,  in  the 
presence  of  such  profound  abuse  of  sacred  things,  God  did  not, 
nevertheless,  remain  without  testimony,  and  his  omnipotent  justice 
had  spoken.  On  the  21st  of  July,  1719,  the  duchess  of  Berry,  a.D.  1719. 
eldest  daughter  of  the  Eegent,  had  died  at  the  Palais-Eoyal,  at 
barely  twenty-four  years  of  age  ; her  health,  her  beauty,  and  her  0f  Berry 
wdt  were  not  proof  against  the  irregular  life  she  had  led.  Ere  long  (July  21). 
a more  terrible  cry  arose  from  one  of  the  chief  cities  of  the  kingdom  : 

“ The  plague,”  they  said,  “ is  at  Marseilles,  brought,  none  knows 
how,  on  board  a ship  from  the  East.”  The  bishop  of  Marseilles, 
Monseigner  de  Belzunce,  the  sheriffs  Esteile  and  Moustier,  and  a 
simple  officer  of  health,  Chevalier  Eoze,  sufficed  in  the  depopulated 
town  for  all  duties  and  all  acts  of  devotion.  The  example  of  the 
prelate  animated  with  courageous  emulation — not  the  clergy  of  lazy 
and  emasculated  dignitaries,  for  they  fled  at  the  first  approach  of 
danger,  but — the  parish-priests,  the  vicars,  and  the  religious  orders ; 
not  one  deserted  his  colours,  not  one  put  any  bound  to  his  fatigues 
save  with  his  life. 

Marseilles  had  lost  a third  of  its  inhabitants  ; Aix,  Toulon,  Arles,  ThePlague 
the  Cevennes,  the  Gevaudan  were  attacked  by  the  contagion ; of. Mar" 
fearful  was  the  want  in  the  decimated  towns,  long  deprived  of  every  seilles* 
resource.  Scarcely,  however,  had  they  escaped  from  the  dreadful 
scourge  which  had  laid  them  waste,  when  they  plunged  into  excesses 
of  pleasure  and  debauchery,  as  if  to  fly  from  the  memories  that 
haunted  them.  Scarcely  was  a thought  given  to  those  martyrs  to 
devotion  who  had  fallen  during  the  epidemic ; those  who  survived 
received  no  recompense  ; the  Eegent,  alone,  offered  Monseigneur  de 
Belzunce  the  bishopric  of  Laon,  the  premier  ecclesiastical  peerage 
in  the  kingdom ; the  saintly  bishop  preferred  to  remain  in  the 
midst  of  the  flock  for  which  he  had  battled  against  despair  and 
death.  It  was  only  in  1802  that  the  city  of  Marseilles  at  last 
raised  a monument  to  its  bishop  and  its  heroic  magistrates. 

Dubois,  meanwhile,  was  nearing  the  goal  of  all  his  efforts.  la 


4$0 


History  of  France . 


_ . . order  to  obtain  the  cardinal’s  hat,  he  had  embraced  the  cause  of 
Dubois 

curries  the  Court  of  Rome,  and  was  pushing  forward  the  registration  by 
fa*VthE  e -^>ar^amen^  the  Bull  Unigenitus."  The  long  opposition  of  the 
* duke  of  Noailles  at  last  yielded  to  the  desire  of  restoring  peace  in 
the  Church.  In  his  wake  the  majority  of  the  bishops  and  commu- 
nities who  had  made  appeal  to  the  contemplated  council  renounced, 
in  their  turn,  the  protests  so  often  renewed  within  the  last  few 
years.  The  Parliament  was  divided,  but  exiled  to  Pontoise,  as  a 
punishment  for  its  opposition  to  the  system  of  Law ; it  found 
itself  threatened  with  retfioval  to  Blois.  Chancellor  d’Aguesseau 
had  vainly  sought  to  interpose  his  authority ; a magistrate  of  the 
Grand  Chamber,  Perelle  by  name,  was  protesting  eloquently  against 
any  derogation  from  the  principles  of  liberty  of  the  Gallican  Church 
and  of  the  parliaments : “ Where  did  you  find  such  maxims  laid 
down?”  asked  the  chancellor  angrily.  “In  the  pleadings  of  the 
late  Chancellor  d’Aguesseau,”  answered  the  councillor  icily. 
D’Aguesseau  gave  in  his  resignation  to  the  Regent,  the  Parlia- 
ment did  not  leave  for  Blois ; after  sitting  some  weeks  at  Pon- 
toise, it  enregistered  the  formal  declaration  of  the  Bull,  and  at  last 
returned  to  Paris  on  the  20th  of  December,  1720. 

On  the  16th  of  July,  1721,  Dubois  was  at  last  elected  cardinal: 
it  was  stated  that  his  elevation  had  cost  eight  millions  of  livres ; 
he  became  premier  minister  in  name,  after  having  long  been  so  in 
fact.  His  reign  was  not  long  at  this  unparalleled  pinnacle  of  his 
greatness ; he  had  been  summoned  to  preside  at  the  assembly  of 
the  clergy,  and  had  just  been  elected  to  the  French  Academy, 
where  he  was  received  by  Fontenelle,  when  a sore  from  which  he 
had  long  suffered  reached  all  at  once  a serious  crisis ; an  operation 
was  indispensable,  but  he  set  himself  obstinately  against  it ; the 
duke  of  Orleans  obliged  him  to  submit  to  it,  and  it  was  his  death- 
blow ; the  wretched  cardinal  expired,  without  having  had  time  to 
receive  the  sacraments. 

The  elevation  and  power  of  Dubois  had  the  fatal  effect  of  lower- 
ing France  in  her  own  eyes ; she  had  felt  that  she  was  governed 
by  a man  whom  she  despised  and  had  a right  to  despise ; this  was 
a deep-seated  and  lasting  evil,  authority  never  recovered  from  the 
His  ability  blow  thus  struck  at  its  moral  influence.  Dubois,  however,  was 
as  a statts- more  atqe  anq  m0re  far-sighted  in  his  foreign  policy  than  the 
majority  of  his  predecessors  and  his  contemporaries  were;  without 
definitively  losing  the  alliance  of  Spain,  reattached  to  the  interests 
of  France  by  a double  treaty  of  marriage,  he  had  managed  to  form 
a firm  connexion  with  England,  and  to  rally  round  France  the 
European  coalition  but  lately  in  arms  against  her.  He  maintained 


Is  made  a 
Cardinal. 


His  death. 


France  in  a state  of  dissolution.  4C1 

and  made  peace  ingloriously  ; he  obtained  it  sometimes  by  mean- 
nesses in  bearing  and  modes  of  acting ; he  enriched  himself  by  his 
intrigues,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home ; his  policy  none  the  less  was 
steadfastly  French,  even  in  his  relations  with  the  court  of  Rome 
and  in  spite  of  his  eager  desire  for  the  cardinal’s  hat. 

On  the  2nd  of  December,  1723,  three  months  and  a half  after  A.D.  1723. 

the  death  of  Dubois,  the  duke  of  Orleans  succumbed  in  his  turn.  of 

the  Kegfnt 

Struck  down  by  a sudden  attack  of  apoplexy,  whilst  he  was  chatting  (j)ec.  2). 
with  his  favourite  for  the  time,  the  duchess  of  Falarie,  he  expired 
without  having  recovered  consciousness.  Lethargized  by  the 
excesses  of  the  table  and  debauchery  of  all  kinds,  more  and  more 
incapable  of  application  and  work,  the  prince  did  not  preserve 
sufficient  energy  to  give  up  the  sort  of  life  which  had  ruined  him. 

All  the  vices  thus  imputed  to  the  Regent  did  not  perish  with  him, 
when  he  succumbed  at  forty-nine  years  of  age  under  their  fatal 
effects.  “ The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them,  the  good  is  oft 
interred  with  their  bones;”  the  Regency  was  the  signal  for  an 
irregularity  of  morals  which  went  on  increasing,  like  a filthy  river, 
up  to  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XY.  ; the  fatal  seed  had  been 
germinating  for  a long  time  past  under  the  forced  and  frequently 
hypocritical  decency  of  the  old  court ; it  burst  out  under  the  easy- 
going regency  of  an  indolent  and  indulgent  prince,  himself  wholly 
given  to  the  licentiousness  which  he  excused  and  authorized  by  his 
own  example.  From  the  court  the  evil  soon  spread  to  the  nation;  Break-up 
religious  faith  still  struggled  within  the  soul,  but  it  had  for  a long  jq-ench 
while  been  tossed  about  between  contrary  and  violent  opinions,  it  nation, 
found  itself  disturbed,  attacked,  by  the  new  and  daring  ideas  which 
were  beginning  to  dawn  in  politics  as  well  as  in  philosophy.  The 
break-up  was  already  becoming  manifest,  though  nobody  could 
account  for  it,  though  no  fixed  plan  was  conceived  in  men’s  minds. 

People  devoured  the  memoirs  of  Cardinal  Retz  and  Madame  de 
Motteville,  which  had  just  appeared ; people  formed  from  them 
their  judgments  upon  the  great  persons  and  great  events  which  they 
had  seen  and  depicted.  The  University  of  Paris,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Rollin,  was  developing  the  intelligence  and  lively  powers  of 
burgessdom : and  Montesquieu,  as  yet  full  young,  was  shooting  his 
missiles  in  the  Lettres  persanes  at  the  men  and  the  things  of  his 
country  with  an  almost  cynical  freedom,  which  was  as  it  were  the 
alarum  and  prelude  of  all  the  liberties  which  he  scarcely  dared  to 
claim,  but  of  which  he  already  let  a glimpse  be  seen.  Evil  and 
good  were  growing  up  in  confusion,  like  the  tares  and  the  wheat. 

For  more  than  eighty  years  past  France  has  been  gathering  the 
harvest  of  ages  ; she  has  not  yet  separated  the  good  grain  from  the 
rubbish  which  too  often  conceals  it. 


4 62 


History  of  France. 


Cardinal 
Fleury  and 
the  duke  of 
Bourbon. 


Paris- 

Duverney. 


His 

schemes  of 
economy. 


The  Pro- 
testants 
persecuted. 


The  bishop  of  Frejus,  who  had  but  lately  been  the  modest  pre- 
ceptor of  the  king  and  was  quietly  ambitious  and  greedy  of  power, 
but  without  regard  to  his  personal  interests,  was  about  to  become 
Cardinal  Fleury  and  to  govern  France  for  twenty  years;  in  1723, 
he  was  seventy  years  old.  Whether  from  adroitness  or  prudence, 
Fleury  did  not  all  at  once  aspire  to  all-powerfulness.  Assured  in 
his  heart  of  his  sway  over  the  as  yet-  dormant  will  of  his  pupil,  he 
suffered  the  establishment  of  the  duke  of  Bourbon’s  ministry,  who 
was  in  a greater  hurry  to  grasp  the  power  he  had  so  long  coveted. 
He  kept  the  list  of  benefices,  and  he  alone,  it  was  said,  knew  how 
to  unloosen  the  king’s  tongue  ; but  he  had  not  calculated  upon  the 
pernicious  and  all-powerful  influence  of  the  marchioness  of  Prie, 
favourite  “ by  appointment  ” ( attitree ) to  the  duke.  Clever,  adroit, 
depraved,  she  aspired  to  govern,  and  chose  for  her  minister  Paris- 
Duverney,  one  of  the  four  Dauphinese  brothers  who  had  been 
engaged  under  the  regency  in  the  business  of  the  visa , and  the 
enemies  as  well  as  rivals  of  the  Scotsman  Law. 

The  strictness  of  the  views  and  of  the  character  of  this  new 
statesman  strove,  in  the  home  department,  against  the  insensate 
lavishness  of  the  duke,  and  the  venal  irregularities  of  his  favourite; 
imbued  with  the  maxims  of  order  and  regularity  formerly  impressed 
by  Colbert  upon  the  clerks  of  the  Treasury,  and  not  yet  completely 
effaced  by  a long  interregnum,  he  laboured  zealously  to  cut  down 
expenses  and  useless  posts,  to  resuscitate  and  regulate  commerce ; 
his  ardour,  systematic  and  wise  as  it  was,  hurried  him  sometimes 
into  strange  violence  and  improvidence  ; in  order  to  restore  to  their 
proper  figure  values  and  goods  which  still  felt  the  prodigious  rise 
brought  about  by  the  System,  Paris-Duverney  depreciated  the 
coinage  and  put  a tariff  on  merchandize  as  well  as  wages.  The 
commotion  amongst  the  people  was  great ; the  workmen  rioted,  the 
tradesmen  refused  to  accept  the  legal  figure  for  their  goods;  several 
men  were  killed  in  the  streets,  and  some  shops  put  the  shutters  up. 
The  misery,  which  the  administration  had  meant  to  relieve,  went 
on  increasing ; begging  was  prohibited ; refuges  and  workshops 
■were  annexed  to  the  poor-houses;  attempts  were  made  to  collect 
there  all  the  old,  infirm  and  vagabond.  All  this  rigour  was 
ineffectual;  the  useful  object  of  Paris-Duverney’s  decrees  was  not 
attained. 

Other  outrages,  not  to  be  justified  by  any  public  advantage,  were 
being  at  the  same  time  committed  against  other  poor  creatures,  for 
a long  while  accustomed  to  severities  of  all  kinds.  Without  free- 
dom, without  right  of  worship,  without  assemblies,  the  Protestants 
had,  nevertheless,  enjoyed  a sort  of  truce  from  their  woes  during 
;the  easy-going  regency  of  the  duke  of  Orleans.  Amongst  the 


Protestantism. 


463 

number  of  bis  vices  Dubois  did  not  include  hypocrisy ; he  had  not 
persecuted  the  remnants  of  French  Protestantism,  enfeebled,  dumb, 
hut  still  living  and  breathing.  Paris-Duverney  and  Madame  de 
Prie  returned  to  the  policy  of  Louis  XIV.,  they  published  in  1724 
an  edict  which  equalled  in  rigour  the  most  severe  proclamations  of  Rigorous 
the  previous  reign  ; it  placed  the  peace  and  often  the  life  of 
reformers  at  the  mercy  not  only  of  an  enemy's  denunciation,  but 
of  a priest’s  simple  deposition  ; it  destroyed  all  the  bonds  of  family 
and  substituted  for  the  natural  duties  a barbarous  and  depraving 
law,  but  general  sentiment  and  public  opinion  were  no  longer  in 
accord  with  the  royal  proclamations.  The  clergy  had  not  solicited 
the  edict,  the  work  of  an  ambitious  man  backed  up  by  certain 
fanatics;  they  were  at  first  embarrassed  by  it;  when  the  old 
hatreds  revived  and  the  dangerous  intoxications  of  power  had 
affected  the  souls  of  bishops  and  priests,  the  magistracy,  who  had 
formerly  been  more  severe  towards  the  reformers  than  even  the 
superintendents  of  the  provinces  had  been,  pronounced  on  many 
points  in  favour  of  the  persecuted ; the  judges  were  timid,  the 
legislation,  becoming  more  and  more  oppressive,  tied  their  hands, 
but  the  bias  of  their  minds  was  modified,  it  tended  to  extenuate 
and  not  to  aggravate  the  effects  of  the  edict.  The  law  was  bar- 
barous everywhere ; it  was  strictly  carried  out  only  at  certain  spots, 
owing  to  the  zeal  of  the  superintendents  or  bishops ; as  usual, 
the  South  of  France  was  the  first  to  undergo  all  the  rigours  of  it. 
Throughout  a persecution  which  lasted  nearly  forty  years,  with  alter- 
nations of  severity  and  clemency,  the  chiefs  of  French  Protestantism, 

Paul  Eabaut,  Court,  and  others  equally  distinguished,  managed 

to  control  the  often  recurring  desperation  of  their  flocks.  The  ^xeCTltj011 

execution  of  the  unhappy  Calas,  accused  of  having  killed  his  son,  0f  Calas. 

and  the  generous  indignation  of  Voltaire  cast  a momentary  gleam 

of  light  within  the  sombre  region  of  prisons  and  gibbets.  For  the 

first  time  public  opinion,  at  white  heat,  was  brought  to  bear  upon 

the  decision  of  the  persecutors.  Calas  was  dead,  but  the  decree  of 

the  Parliament  of  Toulouse,  which  had  sentenced  him,  was  quashed 

by  act  of  the  council : his  memory  was  cleared,  and  the  day  of 

toleration  for  French  Protestants  began  to  glimmer,  pending  the 

full  dawn  of  justice  and  liberty. 

The  young  king  was  growing  up,  still  a stranger  to  affairs,  solely 
occupied  with  the  pleasures  of  the  chase,  handsome,  elegant,  with 
noble  and  regular  features,  a cold  and  listless  expression.  In  the 
month  of  February  1725,  he  fell  ill;  for  two  days  there  was  great 
danger.  The  duke  thought  himself  to  be  threatened  with  the 
elevation  of  the  House  of  Orleans  to  the  throne.  “ I’ll  not  be 


464  History  of  France . 

caught  so  again,”  he  muttered  between  his  teeth,  when  he  came  one 
night  to  inquire  how  the  king  was  : “ if  he  recovers,  I’ll  have  him 
marned.”  The  king  did  recover,  hut  the  Infanta  was  only  seven 
years  old ; the  duke  and  Madame  de  Prie  were  looking  out  for  a 
queen  who  would  belong  to  them  and  would  secure  them  the  king’s 
heart.  Their  choice  fell  upon  Mary  Leckzinska,  a good,  gentle, 
simple  creature,  without  wit  or  beauty,  twenty-two  years  old  and 
living  upon  the  alms  of  France  with  her  parents,  exiles  and  refugees 
at  an  old  commandery  of  the  Templars  at  Weissenburg.  Before 
this  king  Stanislaus  had  conceived  the  idea  of  marrying  his 
daughter  to  count  d’Estrees  ; the  marriage  had  failed  through  the 
Regent's  refusal  to  make  the  young  lord  a duke  and  peer.  The 
distress  of  Stanislaus,  his  constant  begging-letters  to  the  Court  of 
France  were  warrant  for  the  modest  submissiveness  of  the  princess. 
“ Madame  de  Prie  has  engaged  a queen,  as  I might  engage  a valet 
to-morrow,”  writes  Marquis  d’Argensfcn  ; “ it  is  a pity.” 

Fleury  had  made  no  objection  to  the  marriage.  Louis  XY. 
accepted  it,  just  as  he  had  allowed  the  breaking-off  of  his  union 
with  the  Infanta  and  that  of  France  with  Spain.  Fora  while  the 
duke  had  hopes  of  reaping  all  the  fruit  of  the  unequal  marriage  he 
had  just  concluded  for  the  king  of  France ; but  the  hour  of  his 
Disgrace  of  downfall  had  arrived ; he  was  ordered  to  quit  the  court  and  retire 
Bourbon  °f  Provisi°na^y  to  Chantilly.  Madame  de  Prie  was  exiled  to  her 
estates  in  Xormandy,  where  she  soon  died  of  spite  and  anger.  The 
head  of  the  House  of  Conde  came  forth  no  more  from  the  political 
obscurity  which  befitted  his  talents.  At  length  Fleury  remained 
sole  master. 

Fleury  He  took  possession  of  it  without  fuss  or  any  external  manifesta- 
minister.  ti°n  J caring  only  for  real  authority,  he  advised  Louis  XY.  not  to 
create  any  premier  minister  and  to  govern  by  himself,  like  his 
great-grandfather.  The  king  took  this  advice,  as  every  other,  and 
left  Fleury  to  govern.  This  was  just  what  the  bishop  intended ; a 
sleepy  calm  succeeded  the  commotions  which  had  been  caused  by 
the  inconsistent  and  spasmodic  government  of  the  duke ; galas  and 
silly  expenses  gave  place  to  a wise  economy,  the  real  and  important 
blessing  of  Fleury’s  administration.  Commerce  and  industry 
recovered  confidence  ; business  was  developed  ; the  increase  of  the 
revenues  justified  a diminution  of  taxation;  war,  -which  was 
imminent  at  the  moment  of  the  duke’s  fall,  seemed  to  be  escaped  ; 
the  bishop  of  Frejus  became  Cardinal  Fleury;  the  court  of  Rome 
paid  on  the  nail  for  the  service  rendered  it  by  the  new  minister  in 
freeing  the  clergy  from  the  tax  of  the  fiftieth  impot  du  cinquan- 
iieme).  “ Consecrated  to  God  and  kept  aloof  from  the  commerce 


State  of  Poland.  465 

of  men,”  had  been  Fleury’s  expression,  “ the  dues  of  the  Church 
are  irrevocable  and  cannot  be  subject  to  any  tax  whether  of  ratifi- 
cation or  any  other.”  The  clergy  responded  to  this  pleasant  exposi- 
tion of  principles  by  a gratuitous  gift  of  five  millions.  Strife  ceased 
in  every  quarter  ; France  found  herself  at  rest,  without  lustre  as 
well  as  without  prospect. 

It  was  not,  henceforth,  at  Versailles  that  the  destinies  of  Europe 
were  discussed  and  decided.  The  dismissal  of  the  Infanta  had 
struck  a deadly  blow  at  the  frail  edifice  of  the  quadruple  alliance, 
fruit  of  the  intrigues  and  diplomatic  ability  of  Cardinal  Dubois. 

The  efforts  made  in  common  by  Fleury  and  Eobert  Walpole,  prime 
minister  of  the  king  of  England,  were  for  a long  while  successful  in 
maintaining  the  general  peace ; the  unforeseen  death  of  Augustus 
of  Saxony,  king  of  Poland,  suddenly  came  to  trouble  it.  It  was,  Affairg  0f 
thenceforth,  the  unhappy  fate  of  Poland  to  be  a constant  source  of  Poland, 
commotion  and  discord  in  Europe.  The  elector  of  Saxony,  son  of 
Augustus  II.,  was  supported  by  Austria  and  Eussia  ; the  national 
party  in  Poland  invited  Stanislaus  Leckzinski ; he  was  elected  at 
the  Diet  by  sixty  thousand  men  of  family,  and  set  out  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  throne,  reckoning  upon  the  promises  of  his  son-in- 
law,  and  on  the  military  spirit  which  was  reviving  in  France.  The 
young  men  burned  to  win  their  spurs  ; the  old  generals  of  Louis  XIV. 
were  tired  of  idleness. 

The  ardour  of  Cardinal  Fleury  did  not  respond  to  that  of  the 
friends  of  King  Stanislaus.  Eussia  and  Austria  made  an  imposing 
display  of  force  in  favour  of  the  elector  of  Saxony  ; France  sent, 
tardily,  a body  of  fifteen  hundred  men  ; this  ridiculous  reinforce- 
ment had  not  yet  arrived  when  Stanislaus,  obliged  to  withdraw 
from  Warsaw,  had  already  shut  himself  up  in  Dantzic.  The 
Austrian  general  had  invested  the  place. 

Hews  of  the  bombardment  of  Dantzic  greeted  the  little  French 
corps  as  they  approached  the  fort  of  Wechselmunde.  Their  com- 
mander saw  his  impotence  ; instead  of  landing  his  troops,  he  made 
sail  for  Copenhagen.  The  French  ambassador  at  that  court,  Count  Heroism 
Plelo,  was  indignant  to  see  his  countrymen’s  retreat,  and,  hastily  of  Count 
collecting  a hundred  volunteers,  he  summoned  to  him  the  chiefs  of  Plel0’ 
the  expeditionary  corps.  “ How  could  you  resolve  upon  not  fighting 
at  any  price ?”  he  asked.  “That  is  easy  to  say,”  rejoined  one  of 
the  officers,  roughly,  “ when  you’re  safe  in  your  closet.”  “ I shall 
not  be  there  long  ! ” exclaims  the  count,  and  presses  them  to  return 
with  him  to  Dantzic.  The  officer  in  command  of  the  detachment, 

M.  de  la  Peyrouse  Lamotte,  yields  to  his  entreaties.  They  set  out 
both  of  them,  persuaded  at  the  same  time  of  the  uselessness  of  their 

H H 


A.D.  1734. 
Death  of 
Marshal 
Berwick. 


Campaign 
in  Italy. 
Cremona 
and  Pizzi- 
ghitone 
surrender. 


466  History  of  France. 

enterprise  and  of  tlie  necessity  they  were  under,  for  the  honour  of 
France,  to  attempt  it.  Before  embarking  Count  Plelo  wrote  to  M. 
de  Chauvelin,  the  then  keeper  of  the  seals  : “ I am  sure  not  to 
return  ; I commend  to  you  my  wife  and  children.”  Scarcely  had 
the  gallant  little  band  touched  land  beneath  the  fort  of  Wechsel- 
munde,  when  they  marched  up  to  the  Russian  lines,  opening  a way 
through  the  pikes  and  muskets  in  hopes  of  joining  the  besieged, 
who  at  the  same  time  effected  a sally.  Already  the  enemy  began 
to  recoil  at  sight  of  such  audacity,  when  M.  de  Plelo  fell  mortally 
wounded;  the  enemy’s  battalions  had  hemmed  in  the  French.  La 
Peyrouse  succeeded,  however,  in  effecting  his  retreat,  and  brought 
away  his  little  band  into  the  camp  they  had  established  under 
shelter  of  the  fort.  For  a month  the  French  kept  up  a rivalry  in 
courage  with  the  defenders  of  Dantzic;  when  at  last  they  capitu- 
lated, on  the  23rd  of  June,  General  Munich  had  conceived  such 
esteem  for  their  courage  that  he  granted  them  leave  to  embark  with 
arms  and  baggage.  A few  days  later  King  Stanislaus  escaped  alone 
from  Dantzic,  which  was  at  length  obliged  to  surrender  on  the  7th 
of  July,  and  sought  refuge  in  the  dominions  of  the  king  of  Prussia. 
Some  Polish  lords  went  and  joined  him  at  Konigsberg.  Partisan 
war  continued  still,  but  the  arms  and  influence  of  Austria  and 
Russia  had  carried  the  day;  the  national  party  was  beaten  in 
Poland.  The  pope  released  the  Polish  gentry  from  the  oath  they 
had  made  never  to  entrust  the  crown  to  a foreigner.  Augustus  III., 
recognised  by  the  mass  of  the  nation,  became  the  docile  tool  of 
Russia,  whilst  in  Germany  and  in  Italy  the  Austrians  found  them- 
selves attacked  simultaneously  by  France,  Spain,  and  Sardinia. 

Marshal  Berwick  had  taken  the  fort  of  Kehl  in  the  month  of 
December,  1733  ; he  had  forced  the  lines  of  the  Austrians  at 
Erlingen  at  the  commencement  of  the  campaign  of  1734,  and  he 
had  just  opened  trenches  against  Phillipsburg,  when  he  pushed 
forward  imprudently  in  a reconnoissance  between  the  fires  of  the 
besiegers  and  besieged  : a ball  wounded  him  mortally,  and  he 
expired  immediately,  like  Marshal  Turenne;  he  was  sixty-three. 
The  duke  of  Noailles,  who  at  once  received  the  marshal’s  baton, 
succeeded  him  in  the  command  of  the  army  by  agreement  with 
Marshal  d’Asfeldt.  Philipsburg  was  taken  after  forty-eight  days* 
open  trenches,  without  Prince  Eugene,  all  the  while  within  hail, 
making  any  attempt  to  relieve  the  town.  The  campaign  of  1735 
hung  fire  in  Germany.  It  was  more  splendid  in  Italy,  where  the 
outset  of  the  war  had  been  brilliant.  Presumptuous  as  ever,  in 
spite  of  his  eighty-two  years,  Villars  had  started  for  Italy,  saying 
to  Cardinal  Fleury  : “ The  king  may  dispose  of  Italy,  I am  going 


Treaty  of  Vienna . 


467 


to  conquer  it  for  him.”  And,  indeed,  within  three  months,  nearly 
the  whole  of  Milaness  was  reduced.  Cremona  and  Pizzighitone 
had  surrendered  ; but  already  King  Charles  Emmanuel  was  relax- 
ing his  efforts  with  the  prudent  selfishness  customary  to  his 
house.  The  Sardinian  contingents  did  not  arrive  : the  Austrians 
had  seized  a passage  over  the  Po ; Villars,  however,  was  preparing 
to  force  it,  when  a large  body  of  the  enemy  came  down  upon  him. 

The  king  of  Sardinia  was  urged  to  retire  : “ That  is  not  the  way 
to  get  out  of  this,”  cried  the  Marshal,  and,  sword  in  hand,  he 
charged  at  the  head  of  the  body-guard  ; Charles  Emmanuel  fol- 
lowed his  example;  the  Austrians  were  driven  in.  “Sir,”  said 
Villars  to  the  king,  who  was  complimenting  him,  “these  are  the 
last  sparks  of  m}T  life ; thus,  at  departing,  I take  my  leave  of  it.” 

Death,  in  fact,  had  already  seized  his  prey  ; the  aged  marshal  ^ jj  nzi 
had  not  time  to  return  to  France  to  yield  up  his  last  breath  there ; Death  of 
he  was  expiring  at  Turin,  when  he  heard  of  Marshal  Berwick’s  yp^s^ 
death  before  Philipsburg;  “That  fellow  always  was  lucky,”  said  (June  17). 
he.  On  the  17th  of  June,  1734,  Villars  died,  in  his  turn,  by  a 
strange  coincidence,  in  the  very  room  in  which  he  had  been  born, 
when  his  father  was  French  ambassador  at  the  court  of  the  duke 
of  Savoy. 

Some  days  later  Marshals  Broglie  and  Coigny  defeated  the 
Austrians  before  Parma ; the  general- in-chief,  M.  de  Mercy,  had 
been  killed  on  the  19th  of  September;  the  prince  of  Wurtemberg, 
in  his  turn  succumbed  at  the  battle  of  Guastalla,  and  yet  these 
successes  on  the  part  of  the  French  produced  no  serious  result. 

The  Spaniards  had  become  masters  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples  and 
of  nearly  all  Sicily ; the  Austrians  had  fallen  back  on  the  Tyrol, 
keeping  a garrison  at  Mantua  only.  The  duke  of  Noailles,  then 
at  the  head  of  the  army,  was  preparing  for  the  siege  of  the  place, 
in  order  to  achieve  that  deliverance  of  Italy  wrhich  was  even 
then  the  dream  of  France;  but  the  king  of  Sardinia  and  the  queen 
of  Spain  were  already  disputing  for  Mantua  ; the  Sardinian  troops 
withdrew,  and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  his  forced  inactivity  that  the 
duke  of  Noailles  heard  of  the  armistice  signed  in  Germany.  Cardinal 
Fleury,  weary  of  the  war  which  he  had  entered  upon  with  regret, 
disquieted  too  at  the  new  complications  which  he  foresaw  in  Europe,  ^reat^y  ^of 
had  already  commenced  negotiations  ; the  preliminaries  were  signed  Vienna 
at  Vienna  in  the  month  of  October,  1735.  (October). 

The  conditions  of  the  treaty  astonished  Europe.  Cardinal 
Fleury  had  renounced  the  ambitious  idea  suggested  to  him  by 
Chauvelin ; he  no  longer  aspired  to  impose  upon  the  emperor  the 
complete  emancipation  of  Italy,  but  he  made  such  disposition  as 

H h 2 


463 


History  of  France. 


The 

principal 

clauses. 


The  Jan- 
senists 
and  the 
Parlia- 
ment. 


lie  pleased  of  the  States  there,  and  reconstituted  the  territories 
according  to  his  fancy.  The  kingdom  of  Naples  and  the  Two 
Sicilies  were  secured  to  Don  Carlos,  who  renounced  Tuscany  and 
the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Piacenza.  These  three  principalities 
were  to  form  the  appanage  of  duke  Francis  of  Lorraine,  betrothed 
to  .the  archduchess  Maria  Theresa.  There  it  was  that  France  was 
to  find  her  share  of  the  spoil;  in  exchange  for  the  dominions 
formed  for  him  in  Italy,  duke  Francis  ceded  the  duchies  of 
Lorraine  and  Bar  to  king  Stanislaus ; the  latter  formally  renounced 
the  throne  of  Poland,  at  the  same  time  preserving  the  title  of 
king  and  resuming  possession  of  his  property  ; after  him,  Lorraine 
and  the  Barrois  were  to  be  united  to  the  crown  of  France,  as  dower 
and  heritage  of  that  queen  who  had  been  but  lately  raised  to  the 
throne  by  a base  intrigue,  and  who  thus  secured  to  her  new  country  a 
province  so  often  taken  and  retaken,  an  object  of  so  many  treaties 
and  negotiations,  and  thenceforth  so  tenderly  cherished  by  France. 

Peace  reigned  in  Europe,  and  Cardinal  Fleury  governed  France 
without  rival  and  without  opposition.  He  had  but  lately,  like 
Richelieu,  to  whom,  however,  he  did  not  care  to  be  compared, 
triumphed  over  parliamentary  revolt.  J ealous  of  their  ancient  tra- 
ditional rights,  the  Parliament  claimed  to  share  with  the  govern- 
ment the  care  of  watching  over  the  conduct  of  the  clergy.  It  w as 
on  that  ground  that  they  had  rejected  the  introduction  of  the 
Legend  of  Gregory  VII.,  recently  canonized  at  Rome,  and  had 
sought  to  mix  themselves  up  in  the  religious  disputes  excited  just 
then  by  the  pretended  miracles  wrought  at  the  tomb  of  deacon 
Paris,  a pious  and  modest  Jansenist,  who  had  lately  died  in  the 
odour  of  sanctity  in  the  parish  of  St.  Medard.  The  cardinal  had 
ordered  the  cemetery  to  be  closed,  in  order  to  cut  short  the  strange 
spectacles  presented  by  the  convulsionists,  as  they  were  called ; and,  to 
break  down  the  opposition  of  Parliament,  the  king  had  ordered,  at  a 
bed  of  justice,  the  registration  of  all  the  papal#  bulls  succeeding  the 
Unigenitus.  In  vain  had  D’Aguesseau,  reappointed  to  the  chancel- 
lorship, exhorted  the  Parliament  to  yield  : he  had  fallen  in  public 
esteem.  A hundred  and  thirty-nine  members  received  letters  under 
the  king’s  seal  ( letty'es  de  cachet ),  exiling  them  to  the  four  quarters  of 
France.  The  Grand  Chamber  had  been  spared  ; the  old  councillors, 
alone  remaining,  enregistered  purely  and  simply  the  declarations  of 
the  keeper  of  the  seals.  Once  more  the  Parliament  was  subdued, 
it  had  testified  its  complete  political  impotence  ; the  iron  hand  of 
Richelieu,  the  perfect  address  of  Mazarin,  were  no  longer  neces- 
sary to  silence  it  ; the  prudent  moderation,  the  reserved  frigidity 
of  Cardinal  Fleury  had  sufficed  for  the  purpose. 


Frederick  the  Great . 


469 

It  was  amidst  this  state  of  things  that  the  death  of  the  Emperor  A D 
Charles  YI.  on  the  20th  of  October,  1740,  occurred  to  throw  Europe  Death  of 
into  a new  ferment  of  discord  and  war.  Maria  Theresa,  the  emperor’s  tlie  eB> 
eldest  daughter,  was  twenty-three  years  old,  beautiful,  virtuous,  and  Charles VI. 
of  a lofty  and  resolute  character  ; her  rights  to  the  paternal  heritage  (0ct-  20h 
had  been  guaranteed  by  all  Europe.  Europe,  however,  soon  rose,  aboutUie 
almost  in  its  entirety,  to  oppose  them.  The  elector  of  Bavaria  succession, 
claimed  the  domains  of  the  House  of  Austria,  by  virtue  of  a will  of 
Ferdinand  I.,  father  of  Charles  Y.  The  king  of  Poland  urged  the 
rights  of  his  wife,  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  I.  Spain  put 
forth  her  claims  to  Hungary  and  Bohemia,  appanage  of  the  elder 
branch  of  flhe  House  of  Austria.  Sardinia  desired  her  share  in 
Italy  ; Prussia  had  a new  sovereign,  who  spoke  but  little,  but  was 
the  first  to  act. 

Kept  for  a long  while  by  his  father  in  cruel  captivity,  always 
carefully  held  aloof  from  affairs,  and,  to  pass  the  time,  obliged  to  ^ ^ ^ 

engage  in  literature  and  science,  Frederick  IE  had  ascended  the'  jj  t king. 
throne  in  August,  1740,  with  the  reputation  of  a mind  cultivated,  of  Prussia, 
liberal  and  accessible  to  noble  ideas.  Yoltaire,  with  whom  he^had 
become  connected,  had  trumpeted  his  praises  everywhere  : the  first 
act  of  the  new  king  revealed  qualities  of  which  Yoltaire  had  no  con- 
ception. On  the  23rd  of  December,  after  leaving  a masked  ball,  he 
started  post-haste  for  the  frontier  of  Silesia,  where  he  had  collected 
thirty  thousand  men.  Without  preliminary  notice,  without  declara- 
tion of  war,  he  at  once  entered  the  Austrian  territory,  which  wras 
scantily  defended  by  three  thousand  men  and  a few  garrisons.  Before 
the  end  of  January,  1741,  the  Prussians  were  masters  of  Silesia.  “ I 
am  going,  I fancy,  to  play  your  game,”  Frederick  had  said,  as  he  set 
off,  to  the  French  ambassador : “ if  the  aces  come  to  me  we  will  share.” 

Meanwhile  France,  as  well  as  the  majority  of  the  other  nations, 
had  recognized  the  young  queen  of  Hungary.  She  had  been  pro- 
claimed at  Yienna  on  the  7th  of  November,  1740;  all  her  father’s 
States  had  sworn  alliance  and  homage  to  her.  Cardinal  Fleury’s 
intentions  remained  as  yet  vague  and  secret.  Naturally  and  stub- 
bornly pacific,  he  felt  himself  bound  by  the  confirmation  of  the 
Pragmatic-Sanction,  lately  renewed,  at  the  time  of  the  treaty  of 
Yienna.  And  yet  prudent,  economizing,  timid  as  he  was,  he  had 
taken  a liking  for  a man  of  adventurous  and  sometimes  chimerical 
spirit.  “ Count  Belle-Isle,  grandson  of  Fouquet,”  says  M.  d’Argen-  Count 
son,  “had  more  wit  than  judgment,  and  more  fire  than  force,  but  Belle-Isle, 
he  aimed  very  high.”  He  dreamed  of  revising  the  map  of  Europe, 
and  of  forming  a zone  of  small  States  destined  to  protect  France 
against  the  designs  of  Austria.  Louis  XY.  pretended  to  nothing, 


470 


History  of  France . 


demanded  nothing  for  the  price  of  his  assistance ; hut  Trance  had 
been  united  from  time  immemorial  to  Bavaria  : she  was  hound  to 
raise  the  elector  to  the  imperial  throne.  If  it  happened  afterwards, 
in  the  dismemberment  of  the  Austrian  dominions,  that  tbe  Low 
Countries  fell  to  the  share  of  France,  it  was  the  natural  sequel  of 
past  conquests  of  Flanders,  Lorraine  and  the  Three  Bishoprics. 
Count  Belle-Isle  did  not  disturb  with  his  dreams  the  calm  of  the 
aged  cardinal ; he  was  modest  in  his  military  aspirations.  The 
French  navy  was  ruined,  the  king  had  hardly  twenty  vessels  to 
France  and  send  to  sea  ; that  mattered  little,  as  England  and  Holland  took  no 
Spain jcin  part  in  the  contest;  Austria  was  not  a maritime  power;  Spain 
together.  j0jne(j  wtth  France  to  support  the  elector.  A body  of*  forty  thou- 
sand men  was  put  under  the  orders  of  that  prince,  who  received  the 
title  of  lieutenant-general  of  the  armies  of  the  king  of  France. 
Louis  XV.  acted  only  in  the  capacity  of  Bavaria’s  ally  and  auxiliary. 
Meanwhile  Marshal  Belle-Isle,  the  king’s  ambassador  and  plenipo- 
tentiary in  Germany,  had  just  signed  a treaty  with  Frederick  II., 
guaranteeing  to  that  monarch  Lower  Silesia.  At  the  same  time,  a 
second  French  army  under  the  orders  of  Marshal  Maillebois  entered 
Germany ; Saxony  and  Poland  came  into  the  coalition.  The  king 
of  England,  George  II.,  faithful  to  the  Pragmatic- Sanction,  hurry- 
ing over  to  Hanover  to  raise  troops  there,  found  himself  threatened 
by  Maillebois,  and  signed  a treaty  of  neutrality.  The  elector  had 
been  proclaimed,  at  Lintz,  archduke  of  Austria : nowhere  did  the 
Franco-Bavarian  army  encounter  any  obstacle.  The  king  of  Prussia 
was  occupying  Moravia ; Upper  and  Lower  Austria  had  been  con- 
quered without  a blow,  and  by  this  time  the  forces  of  the  enemy 
were  threatening  Vienna.  The  success  of  the  invasion  was  like  a 
dream,  but  tbe  elector  had  not  the  wit  to  profit  by  the  good  fortune 
which  was  offered  him. 

A few  weeks  had  sufficed  to  crown  the  success  ; less  time  sufficed 
to  undo  it.  On  flying  from  Vienna,  Maria  Theresa  had  sought 
Hungary,  refuge  in  Hungary ; the  assembly  of  the  Estates  held  a meeting  at 
Presburg ; there  she  appeared  dressed  in  mourning,  holding  in  her 
arms  her  son,  scarce  six  months  old.  Already  she  had  known  how 
to  attach  the  magnates  to  her  by  the  confidence  she  had  shown 
them  ; she  held  out  to  them  her  child  ; “ I am  abandoned  of  my 
friends,”  said  she  in  Latin,  a language  still  in  use  in  Hungary 
amongst  the  upper  classes  ; “ I am  pursued  by  my  enemies, 
attacked  by  my  relatives  ; I have  no  hope  but  in  your  fidelity  and 
courage  ; we — my  son  and  I — look  to  you  for  our  safety.” 

The  palatines  scarcely  gave  the  queen  time  to  finish  ; already  the 
sabres  were  out  of  the  sheaths  and  flashing  above  their  heads. 


Maria 

Theresa 

in 


England  and  Germany . 47 1 

Count  Bathyany  was  the  first  to  shout : “ Moriamur  pro  rege  nostro 
Maria,  Theresa /”  The  same  shout  was  repeated  everywhere; 
Maria  Theresa,  restraining  her  tears,  thanked  her  defenders  with 
gesture  and  voice ; she  was  expecting  a second  child  before  long : 
“ I know  not,”  she  wrote  to  her  mother-in-law  the  duchess  of  Lor- 
raine, “if  I shall  have  a town  left  to  be  confined  in.”  Hungary 
rose,  like  one  man,  to  protect  her  sovereign  against  the  excess  of 
her  misfortunes ; the  same  spirit  spread  before  long  through  the 
Austrian  provinces ; bodies  of  irregulars,  savage  and  cruel,  formed 
at  all  points,  attacking  and  massacring  the  Trench  detachments  they 
encountered,  and  giving  to  the  war  a character  of  ferocity  which 
displayed  itself  with  special  excess  against  Bavaria.  Count  Segur, 
besieged  in  Lintz,  was  obliged  to  capitulate  on  the  26th  of  January, 
and  the  day  after  the  elector  of  Bavaria  had  received  the  imperial 
crown  at  Frankfurt  under  the  name  of  Charles  VII. — February  12, 
1742 — the  Austrians,  under  the  orders  of  General  Khevenhuller, 
obtained  possession  of  Munich,  which  was  given  up  to  pillage. 

Meanwhile  England  had  renounced  her  neutrality  : the  general 
feeling  of  the  nation  prevailed  over  the  prudent  and  far-sighted 
ability  of  Bobert  Walpole  ; he  succumbed,  after  his  long  ministry, 
full  of  honours  and  riches  ; the  government  had  passed  into  warlike 
hands.  The  women  of  society,  headed  by  the  duchess  of  Marl- 
borough, raised  a subscription  of  100,000Z.,  which  they  offered 
unsuccessfully  to  the  haughty  Maria  Theresa.  Parliament  voted 
more  effectual  aid,  and  English  diplomacy  adroitly  detached  the 
king  of  Sardinia  from  the  allies  whom  success  appeared  to  be  aban- 
doning. The  king  of  Prussia  had  just  gained  at  Czezlaw  an 
important  victory  ; next  day,  he  was  negotiating  with  the  queen  of 
Hungary.  On  the  11th  of  June  the  treaty  which  abandoned  Silesia 
to  Frederick  II.  was  secretly  concluded. 

Chevert  still  occupied  Prague,  with  six  thousand  sick  or  wounded  ; 
the  prince  of  Lorraine  had  invested  the  place,  and  summoned  it  to 
surrender  at  discretion.  “ Tell  your  general,”  replied  Chevert  to 
the  Austrian  sent  to  parley,  “ that,  if  he  will  not  grant  me  the 
honours  of  war,  I will  fire  the  four  corners  of  Prague,  and  bury 
myself  under  its  ruins.”  He  obtained  what  he  asked  for,  and  went 
to  rejoin  Marshal  Belle-Isle  at  Egra.  People  compared  the  retreat 
from  Prague  to  the  retreat  of  the  Ten  Thousand ; but  the  truth 
came  out  for  all  the  fictions  of  flattery  and  national  pride.  A hun- 
dred thousand  Frenchmen  had  entered  Germany  at  the  outset  of  the 
war;  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1743  thirty-five  thousand 
soldiers,  mustered  in  Bavaria,  were  nearly  all  that  remained  to  with- 
stand the  increasing  efforts  of  the  Austrians. 

Marshal  Belle-Isle  was  coldly  received  at  Paris.  “ He  is  much 


Attitude 
of  Eng- 
land, 


Eetreat  of 
Chevert. 


472 


History  of  France. 


A D.  1743. 
Death  of 
Cardinal 
Fleury 
(Jan.  29). 


A.D.  1744. 
Louis  XV. 
declares 
war 
against 
England. 


inconvenienced  by  a sciatica,”  writes  the  advocate  Barbier,  “and 
cannot  walk  but  with  the  assistance  of  two  men.  He  comes  back 
with  grand  decorations  : prince  of  the  empire,  knight  of  the  Golden 
Fleece,  blue  riband,  marshal  of  France  and  duke.  He  is  held 
accountable,  however,  for  all  the  misfortunes  that  have  happened  to 
us ; it  was  spread  about  at  Paris  that  he  was  disgraced  and  even  exiled 
to  his  estate  at  Vernon,  near  Gisors.  It  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  he 
has  several  timesdone  business  with  the  king,  whether  in  M.  Amelot’s 
presence,  on  foreign  affairs,  or  M.  D’Aguesseau’s,  on  military ; but 
this  restless  and  ambitious  spirit  is  feared  by  the  ministers.” 

Almost  at  the  very  moment  when  the  Austrians  were  occupying 
Prague  and  Bohemia,  Cardinal  Fleury  was  expiring,  at  Versailles, 
at  the  age  of  ninety.  He  had  lived  too  long  : the  trials  of  the -last 
years  of  his  life  had  been  beyond  the  bodily  and  mental  strength 
of  an  old  man  elevated  for  the  first  time  to  power  at  an  age  when 
it  is  generally  seen  slipping  from  the  hands  of  the  most  energetic. 
Naturally  gentle,  moderate,  discreet,  though  stubborn  and  perse- 
vering in  his  views,  he  had  not  an  idea  of  conceiving  and  practising 
a great  policy.  France  was  indebted  to  him  for  a long  period  of 
mediocre  and  dull  prosperity,  which  was  preferable  to  the  evils  that 
had  for  so  long  oppressed  her,  but  as  for  which  she  was  to  cherish 
no  remembrance  and  no  gratitude,  when  new  misfortunes  came 
bursting  upon  her. 

Both  court  and  nation  hurled  the  same  reproach  at  Cardinal 
Fleury  ; he  alone  prevented  the  king  from  governing  and  turned 
his  attention  from  affairs,  partly  from  jealousy  and  partly  from  the 
old  habit  acquired  as  a preceptor,  who  can  never  see  a man  in  one 
who  has  been  his  pupil.  When  the  old  man  died  at  last , as 
M.  d’Argenson  cruelly  puts  it,  France  turned  her  eyes  towards 
Louis  XV.  “The  cardinal  is  dead  : hurrah  for  the  king  !”  was  the 
cry  amongst  the  people.  The  monarch  himself  felt  as  if  he  were 
emancipated.  “ Gentlemen,  here  am  I — premier  minister  !”  said  he 
to  his  most  intimate  courtiers. 

The  prudent  hesitation  and  backwardness  of  Holland  had  at  last 
yielded  to  the  pressure  of  England.  The  States-general  had  sent 
twenty  thousand  men  to  join  the  army  which  George  II.  had  just 
sent  into  Germany.  It  was  only  on  the  15th  of  March,  1744,  that 
Louis  XV.  formally  declared  war  against  the  king  of  England  and 
Maria  Theresa,  no  longer  as  an  auxiliary  of  the  emperor,  but  in  his 
own  name  and  on  behalf  of  France.  Charles  VII.,  a fugitive, 
driven  from  his  hereditary  dominions,  which  had  been  evacuated 
by  Marshal  Broglie,  had  transported  to  Frankfurt  his  ill  fortune  and 
his  empty  titles.  France  alone  supported  in  Germany  a quarrel 
the  weight  of  which  she  had  imprudently  taken  upon  herself 


LOUIS  XV, 


/ / -JMI' 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Successes  of  the  French. 


473 


The  effort  was  too  much  for  the  resources;  the  king’s  coun- 
sellors felt  that  it  was;  the  battle  of  Dettingen,  skilfully  com- 
menced on  the  27th  of  June,  1743,  by  Marshal  Xoailles,  and  lost 
by  the  imprudence  of  his  nephew,  the  duke  of  Gramont,  had  com- 
pletely shaken  the  confidence  of  the  armies;  the  emperor  had 
treated  with  the  Austrians  for  an  armistice,  establishing  the 
neutrality  of  his  troops,  as  belonging  to  the  empire.  JSToailles 
wrote  to  the  king  on  the  8th  of  July,  “It  is  necessary  to  uphold 
this  phantom,  in  order  to  restrain  Germany,  which  would  league 
against  us,  and  furnish  the  English  with  all  the  troops  therein,  the 
moment  the  emperor  was  abandoned.”  It  was  necessary,  at  the 
same  time,  to  look  out  elsewhere  for  more  effectual  support.  The 
king  of  Prussia  had  been  resting  for  the  last  two  years,  a curious 
and  an  interested  spectator  of  the  contests  which  were  bathing 
Europe  in  blood,  and  which  answered  his  purpose  by  enfeebling 
his  rivals.  He  frankly  and  coolly  flaunted  his  selfishness.  “ In  a 
previous  war  with  France,”  he  says  in  his  memoirs,  “ I abandoned 
the  French  at  Prague,  because  I gained  Silesia  by  that  step.  If 
I had  escorted  them  to  Vienna,  they  would  never  have  given  me 
so  much.”  In  turn,  the  successes  of  the  queen  of  Hungary  were 
beginning  to  disquiet  him ; on  the  5th  of  June,  1744,  he  signed  a 
new  treaty  with  France;  for  the  first  time  Louis  XY.  was  about 
to  quit  Versailles  and  place  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army.  “ If 
my  country  is  to  be  devoured,”  said  the  king,  with  a levity  far  differ- 
ent from  the  solemn  tone  of  Louis  XIV.,  “ it  will  be  very  hard  on  me 
to  see  it  swallowed  without  personally  doing  my  best  to  prevent  it.” 

He  had,  however,  hesitated  a long  while  before  he  started. 
Credit  wTas  given  to  the  duchess  of  Chateauroux,  Louis  XV. ’s  new 
favourite,  for  having  excited  this  warlike  ardour  in  the  king. 
Ypres  and  Menin  had  already  surrendered  after  a few  days’  open 
trenches;  siege  had  just  been  laid  to  Furnes.  Marshal  Xoailles 
had  proposed  to  move  up  the  king’s  household  troops  in  order  to 
make  an  impression  upon  the  enemy.  “ If  they  must  needs  be 
marched  up,”  replied  Louis  XY.,  “ I do  not  wish  to  separate  from 
my  household  : verbum  sap.” 

The  news  which  arrived  from  the  army  of  Italy  was  equally 
encouraging  ; the  prince  of  Conde,  seconded  by  Chevert,  had  forced 
the  passage  of  the  Alps  : “ There  will  come  some  occasion  when 
we  shall  4o  as  well  as  the  French  have  done,”  wrote  Count  Carnpo 
Santo,  who,  under  Don  Philip,  commanded  the  Spanish  detachment ; 
“it  is  impossible  to  do  better.” 

Just  at  that  moment  Louis  XY.  was  taken  suddenly  ill,  and  a 
few  days  later  all  France  was  in  consternation ; reports  flew  about 


A.D.  1743. 
Battle  of 
Dettingen 
(June  27). 


Military 
ardour  of 
the  king. 


474  History  of  France. 

Illness  of  ^iafc  his  life  was  despaired  of.  Confronted  with  death,  the  king 
Louis  XV.  had  once  more  felt  the  religious  terrors  which  were  constantly 
TJlS?u.ciiess  intermingled  with  the  irregularity  of  his  life  : he  had  sent  for  the 
roux.  queen,  and  had  dismissed  the  duchess  of  Chateauroux.  On 
recovering  his  health,  he  found  himself  threatened  by  new  perils, 
aggravated  by  his  illness,  and  by  the  troubled  state  into  which  it 
had  thrown  the  public  mind.  After  having  ravaged  and  wasted 
Alsace,  without  Marshals  Coigny  and  Noailles  having  been  able 
to  prevent  it,  Prince  Charles  had,  unopposed,  struck  again  into 
the  road  towards  Bohemia,  which  was  being  threatened  by  the 
king  of  Prussia.  “This  prince,”  wrote  Marshal  Belle-Isle  on  the 
13th  of  September,  “has  written  a very  strong  letter  to  the  king, 
complaining  of  the  quiet  way  in  which  Prince  Charles  was  allowed 
to  cross  the  Rhine;  he  attributes  it  all  to  his  Majesty's  illness,  and 
complains  bitterly  of  Marshal  Noailles.”  And,  on  the  25th,  to 
Count  Clermont : “ Here  we  are,  decided  at  last ; the  king  is  to 
start  on  Tuesday  the  27th  for  Luneville,  and  on  the  5th  of  October 
will  be  at  Strasbourg.  Nobody  knows  as  yet  any  further  than 
that,  and  it  is  a question  whether  he  will  go  to  Friburg  or  not. 
The  ministers  are  off  back  to  Paris.  Marshal  Noailles,  who  has  sent 
for  his  equipage  hither,  asked  whether  he  should  attend  his  Majesty, 
who  replied  ‘As  you  please,’  rather  curtly.  Your  Highness  cannot 
have  a doubt  about  his  doing  so  after  such  a gracious  permission.” 
Louis  XY.  went  to  the  siege  of  Friburg,  which  was  a long  and 
a difficult  one.  He  returned  to  Paris  on  the  13th  of  November,  to 
the  great  joy  of  the  people.  A few  days  later,  Marshal  Belle-Isle, 
whilst  passing  through  Hanover  in  the  character  of  negotiator,  was 
arrested  by  order  of  George  II.,  and  carried  to  England  a prisoner 
of  war,  in  defiance  of  the  law  of  nations  and  the  protests  of  France. 
The  moment  was  not  propitious  for  obtaining  the  release  of  a 
A D 1745  mars^a^  France  an(i  an  able  general.  The  emperor  Charles  VII., 
Death  of  * who  had  but  lately  returned  to  his  hereditary  dominions,  and 
the  em-  recovered  possession  of  his  capital,  after  fifteen  months  of  Austrian 
CharlesVII  occupation,  died  suddenly  on  the  20th  of  January,  1745,  at  forty- 
(Jan.  20).  seven  years  of  age.  The  face  of  affairs  changed  all  at  once;  the 
honour  of  France  was  no  longer  concerned  in  the  struggle ; the 
grand-duke  of  Tuscany  had  no  longer  any  competitor  for  the  empire  ; 
the  eldest  son  of  Charles  VII.  was  only  seventeen ; the  queen  of 
Hungary  was  disposed  for  peace.  “ The  English  ministry,  which 
laid  down  the  law  for  all  because  it  laid  down  the  money,  and 
which  had  in  its  pay,  all  at  one  time,  the  queen  of  Hungary,  the 
king  of  Poland  and  the  king  of  Sardinia,  considered  that  there  was 
everything  to  lose  by  a treaty  with  France  and  everything  to  gain 


Battle  of  Fontenoy . 475 

by  arms.  War  continued,  because  it  had  commenced”  [Voltaire, 

Siecle  de  Louis  XV.]. 

The  king  of  Trance  henceforth  maintained  it  almost  alone  by 
himself.  The  young  elector  of  Bavaria  had  already  found  himself 
driven  out  of  Munich,  and  forced  by  his  exhausted  subjects  to 
demand  peace  of  Maria  Theresa.  The  election  to  the  empire  was 
imminent ; Maximilian- Joseph  promised  his  votes  to  the  grand- 
duke  of  Tuscany ; at  that  price  he  was  re-established  in  his  here- 
ditary dominions.  The  king  of  Poland  had  rejected  the  advances 
of  France,  who  offered  him  the  title  of  emperor,  beneath  which 
Charles  VII.  had  succumbed.  Marshal  Saxe  bore  all  the  brunt  of  j^r0sllal 
the  war.  A foreigner  and  a protestant,  for  a long  while  under 
suspicion  with  Louis  XV.,  and  blackened  in  character  by  the 
Trench  generals,  Maurice  of  Saxony  had  won  authority  as  well  as 
glory  by  the  splendour  of  his  bravery  and  of  his  military  genius. 
Combining  with  quite  a Trench  vivacity  the  far-sightedness  and 
the  perseverance  of  the  races  of  the  Horth,  he  had  been  toiling  for 
more  than  a year  to  bring  about  amongst  his  army  a spirit  of 
discipline,  a powerful  organization,  a contempt  for  fatigue  as  well 
as  for  danger.  “ At  Dettingen  the  success  of  the  allies  was  due  to 
their  surprising  order,  for  they  were  not  seasoned  to  war,”  he  used 
to  say.  Order  did  not  as  yet  reign  in  the  army  of  Marshal  Saxe. 

In  1745,  the  situation  was  grave;  the  marshal  was  attacked  with 
dropsy,  his  life  appeared  to  be  in  danger.  He  nevertheles*s  com- 
manded his  preparations  to  be  made  for  the  campaign,  and,  when 
Voltaire,  who  was  one  of  his  friends,  was  astounded  at  it,  “ It  is  no 
question  of  living,  but  of  setting  out,”  was  his  reply. 

The  victory  of  Tontenoy,  like  that  of  Denain,  restored  the  A.D.  1745. 
courage  and  changed  the  situation  of  Trance.  When  the  king  of  5atttle  of 
Prussia  heard  of  his  ally’s  success,  he  exclaimed  with  a grin  : “ This  (May  10), 
is  about  as  useful  to  us  as  a battle  gained  on  the  banks  of  the 
Scamander.”  His  selfish  absorption  in  his  personal  and  direct 
interests  obscured  the  judgment  of  Frederick  the  Great.  He, 
however,  did  justice  to  Marshal  Saxe:  “There  was  a discussion 
the  other  day  as  to  what  battle  had  reflected  most  honour  on  the 
general  commanding,”  he  wrote  a long  while  after  the  battle  of 
Tontenoy  : “ some  suggested  that  of  Almanza,  others  that  of  Turin  : 
but  I suggested — and  everybody  finally  agreed — that  it  was  un- 
doubtedly that  in  which  the  general  had  been  at  death’s  door 
when  it  was  delivered.” 

The  fortress  of  Tournai  surrendered  on  the  22nd  of  May  ; the  Brilliant 
citadel  capitulated  on  the  19th  of  June.  Ghent,  Bruges,  Oude- 
narde,  Dendermonde,  Ostend,  Hieuport,  yielded  one  after  another  French. 


The  grand 
duke  of 
Tuscany 
proclaimed 
emperor. 


The  Pre- 
tender 
Charles 
Edward 
invades 
England. 


47c  History  of  France. 

to  the  French  armies.  In  the  month  of  February,  1746,  Marshal 
Saxe  terminated  the  campaign  by  taking  Brussels.  By  the  1st  of 
the  previous  September  Louis  XV.  had  returned  in  triumph  to  Paris. 

Henceforth  he  remained  alone  confronting  Germany,  Avhich  was 
neutral  or  had  rallied  round  the  restored  empire.  On  the  13th  of 
September,  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany  had  been  proclaimed 
emperor  at  Frankfurt  under  the  name  of  Francis  I.  The  in- 
domitable resolution  of  the  queen  his  wife  had  triumphed  ; in  spite 
of  the  checks  she  suffered  in  the  Low  Countries,  Maria  Theresa 
still  withstood,  at  all  points,  the  pacific  advances  of  the  belligerents. 

On  the  4th  of  June,  the  king  of  Prussia  had  gained  a great 
victory  at  Freilberg.  “ I have  honoured  the  bill  of  exchange 
your  Majesty  drew  on  me  at  Fontenoy,”  he  wrote  to  Louis  XV. 
A series  of  successful  fights  had  opened  the  road  to  Saxony, 
Frederick  headed  thither  rapidly;  on  the  18th  of  December  he 
occupied  Dresden. 

Whilst  Berlin  was  in  gala  trim  to  celebrate  the  return  of  her 
monarch  in  triumph,  Europe  had  her  eyes  fixed  ^upon  the  unparal- 
leled enterprise  of  a young  man,  winning,  courageous  and  frivolous 
as  he  was,  attempting  to  recover  by  himself  alone  the  throne  of 
his  fathers.  For  nearly  three  years  past,  Charles  Edward  Stuart, 
son  of  the  Chevalier  de  St.  George,  had  been  awaiting  in  France  the 
fulfilment  of  the  promises  and  hopes  which  had  been  flashed  before 
his  eyes.  Weary  of  hope  deferred,  he  had  conceived  the  idea  of 
a bold  stroke.  “Why  not  attempt  to  cross  in  a vessel  to  the 
north  of  Scotland  1”  had  been  the  question  put  to  him  by  Cardinal 
Tencin,  who  had  sometime  before  owed  his  cardinal’s  hat  to  the  de- 
throned king  of  Great  Britain.  “ Your  presence  will  be  enough  to  get 
you  a party  and  an  army,  and  France  will  be  obliged  to  give  you  aid.” 

Charles  Edward  followed  this  audacious  counsel.  Landing 
in  June,  1745,  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  he  had  soon  found 
the  clans  of  the  mountaineers  hurrying  to  join  his  standard.  At 
the  head  of  this  wild  army,  he  had  in  a few  months  gained  over 
the  whole  of  Scotland.  On  the  20th  of  September  he  was 
proclaimed  at  Edinburgh  regent  of  England,  France,  Scotland  and 
Ireland  for  his  father,  king  James  III.  George  II.  had  left  Hanover ; 
the  duke  of  Cumberland,  returning  from  Germany,  took  the  com- 
mand of  the  troops  assembled  to  oppose  the  invader.  Their  success 
in  the  battle  of  Preston-Pans  against  General  Cope  had  emboldened 
the  Scots;  at  the  end  of  December,  1745,  Prince  Charles  Edward 
and  his  army  advanced  as  far  as  Derby. 

It  was  the  fate  of  the  Stuarts,  whether  heroes  or  dastards,  to  see 
their  hopes  blasted  all  at  once,  and  to  drag  down  in  their  fall  their 


477 


Battles  of  Culloden  and  Raucoux. 

most  zealous  and  devoted  partisans.  The  aid,  so  often  promised  by 
France  and  Spain,  had  dwindled  down  to  the  private  expeditions 
of  certain  brave  adventurers.  The  duke  of  Richelieu,  it  was  said, 
was  to  put  himself  at  their  head.  Charles  Edward  had  already 
been  forced  to  fall  back  upon  Scotland.  As  in  1651,  at  the  time 
of  the  attempt  of  Charles  II.,  England  remained  quite  cold  in  the 
presence  of  the  Scottish  invasion ; the  duke  of  Cumberland  was 
closely  pressing  the  army  of  the  mountaineers.  On  the  23rd  of  A.D.  1746. 
April,  1746,  the  foes  found  themselves  face  to  face  at  Culloden,  ^uHoden 
in  the  environs  of  Inverness.  Charles  Edward  was  completely  (April  23). 
beaten,  and  the  army  of  the  Highlanders  destroyed  ; the  prince  only 
escaped  either  death  or  captivity  by  the  determined  devotion  of  his 
partisans,  whether  distinguished  or  obscure  ; a hundred  persons  had 
risked  their  lives  for  him,  when  he  finally  succeeded,  on  the  10th 
of  October,  in  touching  land,  in  Brittany,  near  St.  Pol  de  Leon. 

His  friends  and  his  defenders  were  meanwhile  dying  for  his  cause 
on  scaffold  or  gallows. 

The  anger  and  severity  displayed  by  the  English  Government 
towards  the  Jacobites  were  aggravated  by  the  checks  encountered 
upon  the  Continent  by  the  coalition.  At  the  very  moment  when 
the  duke  of  Cumberland  was  defeating  Charles  Edward  at  Culloden, 

Antwerp  was  surrendering  to  Louis  XY.  in  person : Mons,  Namur 
and  Charleroi  were  not  long  before  they  fell.  Prince  Charles  of 
Lorraine  was  advancing  to  the  relief  of  the  besieged  places ; 

Marshal  Saxe  left  open  to  him  the  passage  of  the  Meuse  : the 
French  camp  seemed  to  be  absorbed  in  pleasures ; the  most  famous 
actors  from  Paris  were  ordered  to  amuse  the  general  and  the  soldiers. 

On  the  10th  of  October,  in  the  evening,  Madame  Favart  came  for- 
ward on  the  stage  : To-morrow,”  said  she,  “ there  will  be  no  per- 
formance, on  account  of  the  battle  : the  day  after,  we  shall  have  the 
honour  of  giving  you  Le  Coq  du  Village .”  At  the  same  time,  the  Battle  of 
marshal  sent  the  following  order  to  the  columns  wdiich  were  already  (Oct.  11). 
forming  on  the  road  from  St.  Tron  to  Liege,  near  the  village  of 
Raucoux : “ Whether  the  attacks  succeed  or  not,  the  troops  will 
remain  in  the  position  in  which  night  finds  them,  in  order  to  recom- 
mence the  assault  upon  the  enemy.” 

The  battle  of  October  11th  left  the  battle-field  in  the  hands  of 
the  victors,  the  sole  result  of  a bloody  and  obstinate  engagement. 

Marshal  Saxe  went  to  rest  himself  at  Paris ; the  people’s  enthusiasm 
rivalled  and  endorsed  the  favours  shown  to  him  by  the  king. 

So  much  luck  and  so  much  glory  in  the  Low  Countries  covered,  in 
the  eyes  of  France  and  of  Europe,  the  checks  encountered  by  the 
king’s  armies  in  Italy.  The  campaign  of  1745  had  been  very  bril- 


478 


History  of  France. 

liant.  Parma,  Piacenza,  Montferrat,  nearly  all  Milaness,  with  the 
exception  of  a few  fortresses,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  and 
French  forces.  The  king  of  Sardinia  had  recourse  to  negotiation  ; 
he  amused  the  marquis  of  Argenson,  at  that  time  Louis  XY.’s 
foreign  minister,  a man  of  honest,  expansive,  but  chimerical  views. 
At  the  moment  when  the  king  and  the  marquis  believed  themselves 
to  be  remodelling  the  map  of  Europe  at  their  pleasure,  they  heard 
TheFrench  that  Charles  Emmanuel  had  resumed  the  offensive.  A French  corps 
in  Italy.  haq  peen  surprised  at  Asti,  on  the  5th  of  March  ; thirty  thousand 
Austrians  marched  down  from  the  Tyrol,  and  the  Spaniards 
evacuated  Milan.  A series  of  checks  forced  Marshal  Maillebois  to 
to  effect  a retreat;  the  enemy’s  armies  crossed  the  Yar  and  invaded 
French  territory.  Marshal  Belle-Isle  fell  back  to  Puget,  four 
leagues  from  Toulon. 

The  Austrians  had  occupied  Genoa,  the  faithful  ally  of  France  : 
their  vengefulness  and  their  severe  exactions  caused  them  to  lose 
the  fruits  of  their  victory.  The  resistance  of  Genoa  was  effectual ; 
but  it  cost  the  life  of  the  duke  of  Boufflers,  who  was  wounded  in  an 
engagement  and  died  three  days  before  the  retreat  of  the  Austrians, 
on  the  6th  of  July,  1747. 

On  the  19th  of  July,  Common  Sense  Belle-Isle  ( Bon-Sens  de 
Belle-Isle),  as  the  Chevalier  was  called  at  court  to  distinguish  him 
from  his  brother  the  marshal, . nicknamed  Imagination,  attacked 
with  a considerable  body  of  troops  the  Piedmontese  intrenchments 
at  the  Assietta  Pass,  between  the  fortresses  of  Exilles  and  Fenes- 

Td6V  8,1*6 

defeated,  trelles  ; at  the  same  time,  Marshal  Belle-Isle  was  seeking  a passage 
over  the  Stura  Pass,  and  the  Spanish  army  was  attacking  Piedmont 
by  way  of  the  Apennines.  The  engagement  at  the  heights  of 
Assietta  was  obstinate  ; Chevalier  Belle-Isle,  wounded  in  both  arms, 
threw  himself  bodily  upon  the  palisades  to  tear  them  down  with  his 
teeth  ; he  was  killed,  and  the  French  sustained  a terrible  defeat ; 
five  thousand  men  were  left  on  the  battle-field.  The  campaign  of 
Italy  was  stopped.  The  king  of  Spain,  Philip  V.,  enfeebled  and 
exhausted  almost  in  infancy,  had  died  on  the  9th  of  July,  1746. 
The  fidelity  of  his  successor,  Ferdinand  VI.,  married  to  a Portu- 
guese princess,  appeared  doubtful ; he  had  placed  at  the  head  of  his 
forces  in  Italy  the  marquis  of  Las  Minas,  with  orders  to  preserve  to 
Spain  her  only  army.  “ The  Spanish  soldiers  are  of  no  more  use 
to  us  than  if  they  were  so  much  cardboard,”  said  the  French  troops. 
Europe  was  tired  of  the  war.  England  avenged  herself  for  her 
reverses  upon  the  Continent  by  her  successes  at  sea ; the  French 
navy,  neglected  systematically  by  Cardinal  Fleury,  did  not  even 
suffice  for  the  protection  of  commerce.  The  Hollanders,  who  had 


479 


Peace  of  A ix-la-  Chapelle . 

for  a long  while  been  undecided  and  had  at  last  engaged  in  the 
struggle  against  France  without  any  declaration  of  war,  bore,  in 
1747,  the  burthen  of  the  hostilities.  Count  Lowendahl,  a friend 
of  Marshal  Saxe's,  and,  like  him,  in  the  service  of  France,  had 
taken  Sluys  and  Sas-de-Gand  ; Bergen-op-Zoom  was  besieged ; on 
the  1st  of  July,  Marshal  Saxe  had  gained,  under  the  king's  own  A.D.  1747. 
eye,  the  battle  of  Lawfeldt.  As  in  1672,  the  French  invasion  had  j^wfeldt 
been  the  signal  for  a political  revolution  in  Holland  ; the  aristocra-  (July  2). 
tical  burgessdom,  which  had  resumed  power,  succumbed  once  more 
beneath  the  efforts  of  the  popular  party,  directed  by  the  House  of 
Nassau  and  supported  by  England. 

Bergen-op-Zoom  was  taken  and  plundered  on  the  16th  of  Sep- 
tember. Count  Lowendahl  was  made  a marshal  of  France.  “ Peace 
is  in  Maestricht,  sir/'  was  Maurice  of  Saxony’s  constant  remark  to 
the  king.  On  the  9th  of  April,  1748,  the  place  was  invested, 
before  the  thirty-five  thousand  Russians,  promised  to  England  by 
the  Czarina  Elizabeth  had  found  time  to  make  their  appearance  on 
the  Rhine.  A congress  was  already  assembled  at  Aix-la-Chapelle 
to  treat  for  peace.  The  Hollanders,  whom  the  marquis  of  Argenson 
before  his  disgrace  used  always  to  call  “ the  Ambassadors  of  Eng- 
land,” took  fright  at  the  spectacle  of  Maestricht  besieged ; from 
parleys  they  proceeded  to  the  most  vehement  urgency  ; and  Eng- 
land yielded.  The  preliminaries  of  peace  were  signed  on  the  30th 
of  April ; it  was  not  long  before  Austria  and  Spain  gave  in  their  pea  e of 
adhesion.  On  the  18th  of  October  the  definitive  treaty  was  con-  Aix-la- 
cluded  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  France  generously  restored  all  her  con-  (oc^lS). 
quests,  without  claiming  other  advantages  beyond  the  assurance 
of  the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Piacenza  to  the  Infante  Don  Philip, 
son-in-law  of  Louis  XV.  England  surrendered  to  France  the 
island  of  Cape  Breton  and  the  colony  of  Louisbourg,  the  only 
territory  she  had  preserved  from  her  numerous  expeditions  against 
the  French  colonies  and  from  the  immense  losses  inflicted  upon 
French  commerce.  The  Great  Frederick  kept  Silesia ; the  king  of 
Sardinia  the  territories  already  ceded  by  Austria.  Only  France 
had  made  great  conquests  ; and  only  she  retained  no  increment  of 
territory?  She  recognized  the  Pragmatic  Sanction  in  favour  of 
Austria  and  the  Protestant  succession  in  favour  of  George  IL 
Prince  Charles  Edward,  a refugee  in  France,  refused  to  quit  the 
hospitable  soil  which  had  but  lately  offered  so  magnificent  an 
asylum  to  the  unfortunates  of  his  house  : he  was,  however,  carried 
off,  whilst  at  the  Opera,  forced  into  a carriage,  and  conveyed  far 
from  the  frontier.  “ As  stupid  as  the  peace  ! ” was  the  bitter 
saying  in  the  streets  of  Paris. 


480 


History  of  France. 


It  has  no 
conditions 
of  per- 
manence. 


The  peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  had  a graver  defect  than  that  of 
fruitlessiiess ; it  was  not  and  conld  not  be  durable.  England  was 
excited,  ambitious  of  that  complete  empire  of  the  sea  which  she 
had  begun  to  build  up  upon  the  ruins  of  the  French  navy  and  the 
decay  of  Holland,  and  greedy  of  distant  conquests  over  colonies 
which  the  French  could  not  manage  to  defend.  In  proportion  as 
the  old  influence  of  Richelieu  and  of  Louis  XIV.  over  European 
policy  became  weaker  and  weaker,  English  influence,  founded  upon 
the  growing  power  of  a free  country  and  a free  government,  went 
on  increasing  in  strength.  Without  any  other  ally  but  Spain, 
herself  wavering  in  her  fidelity,  the  French  remained  exposed  to 
the  attempts  of  England,  henceforth  delivered  from  the  phantom 
of  the  Stuarts.  “ The  peace  concluded  between  England  and 
France  in  1748  was,  as  regards  Europe,  nothing  but  a truce,” 
says  Lord  Macaulay  : “it  was  not  even  a truce  in  other  quarters 
of  the  globe.”  The  mutual  rivalry  and  mistrust  between  the  two 
nations  began  to  show  themselves  everywhere,  in  the  East  as  well 
as  in  the  West,  in  India  as  well  as  in  America. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

LOUIS  XV. THE  COLONIES. — THE  SEVEN  YEARS’  WAR  (1748 — 1771). 

LITERATURE  AND  PHILOSOPHY. 

We  must  now  review  briefly  the  history  of  the  French  colonies.  Founda- 
At  the  outset  of  Louis  XIV. ’s  personal  reign  and  through  the  per-  tion  of  the 
severing  efforts  of  Colbert,  marching  in  the  footsteps  of  Cardinal  xndia. 
Richelieu,  an  India  Company  had  been  founded  for  the  purpose  of  Company, 
developing  French  commerce  in  those  distant  regions,  which  had 
always  been  shrouded  in  a mysterious  halo  of  fancied  wealth  and 
grandeur.  Several  times  the  Company  had  all  but  perished  ; it  had 
revived  under  the  vigorous  impulse  communicated  by  Law  and  had 
not  succumbed  at  the  collapse  of  his  system.  It  gave  no  money 
to  its  shareholders,  who  derived  their  benefits  only  from  a partial 
concession  of  the  tobacco  revenues,  granted  by  the  king  to  the 
Company,  but  its  directors  lived  a life  of  magnificence  in  the  East, 
where  they  were  authorised  to  trade  on  their  own  account. 

Abler  and  bolder  than  all  his  colleagues,  Joseph  Dupleix,  mem-  DUpidx> 
her  of  a Gascon  family  and  son  of  the  comptroller-general  of 
Hainault,  had  dreamed  of  other  destinies  than  the  management 
of  a counting-house  ; he  aspired  to  endow  France  with  the  empire 
of  India.  Placed  at  a very  early  age  at  the  head  of  the  French 
establishments  at  Chandernugger,  he  had  improved  the  city  and 
constructed  a fleet,  all  the  while  acquiring  for  himself  an  immense 
fortune  ; he  had  just  been  sent  to  Pondicherry  as  governor-general 
of  the  Company’s  agencies  when  the  war  of  succession  to  the 

1 1 


482 


History  of  France. 


La  Bour- 
dcnnais. 


His  death. 


empire  broke  out  in  1742.  Unfortunately  a serious  misunderstand- 
ing took  place  between  him  and  the  governor  of  Bourbon  and  of 
He  de  France,  Bertrand  Francis  Mahe  de  La  Bourdonnais,  who,  in 
September,  1746,  at  the  head  of  a flotilla,  had  obliged  the  English 
garrison  of  Madras  to  surrender.  A jealous  love  of  power  and 
absorption  in  political  schemes  induced  Dupleix  to  violate  a 
promise  lightly  given  by  La  Bourdonnais  in  the  name  of  France ; 
he  arbitrarily  quashed  a capitulation  of  which  he  had  not  discussed 
the  conditions.  The  report  of  this  unhappy  conflict,  and  the  colour 
put  upon  it  by  the  representations  of  Dupleix,  ruined  at  Paris  the 
governor  of  He  de  France. 

On  arriving  at  lie  de  France,  amidst  that  colony  which  he  had 
found  exhausted,  ruined,  and  had  endowed  with  hospitals,  arsenals, 
quays,  and  fortifications,  La  Bourdonnais  learned  that  a new 
governor  was  already  installed  there.  His  dissensions  with  Dupleix 
had  borne  their  fruits ; he  had  been  accused  of  having  exacted  too 
paltry  a ransom  from  Madras,  and  of  having  accepted  enormous 
presents ; the  Company  had  appointed  a successor  in  his  place. 
Driven  to  desperation,  anxious  to  go  and  defend  himself,  La  Bour- 
donnais set  out  for  France  with  his  wife  and  his  four  children  ; a 
prosecution  had  already  been  commenced  against  him.  He  was 
captured  at  sea  by  an  English  ship,  and  taken  a prisoner  to  England. 
The  good  faith  of  the  conqueror  of  Madras  was  known  in  London  ; 
one  of  the  directors  of  the  English  Company  offered  his  fortune  as 
security  for  M,  de  la  Bourdonnais.  Scarcely  had  he  arrived  in 
Paris  when  he  was  thrown  into  the  Bastille,  and  for  two  years  kept 
in  solitary  confinement.  When  his  innocence  was  at  last  acknow- 
ledged and  his  liberty  restored  to  him,  his  health  was  destroyed,  his 
fortune  exhausted  by  the  expenses  of  the  trial.  La  Bourdonnais 
died  before  long,  employing  the  last  remnants  of  his  life  and  of  his 
strength  in  pouring  forth  his  anger  against  Dupleix,  to  whom  he 
attributed  all  his  woes.  His  indignation  was  excusable,  and  some 
of  his  grievances  were  well  grounded ; but  the  germs  of  suspicion 
thus  sown  by  the  unfortunate  prisoner  released  from  the  Bastille 
were  destined  before  long  to  consign  to  perdition  not  only  his  enemy, 
but  also,  together  with  him,  that  French  dominion  in  India  to 
which  M.  de  La  Bourdonnais  had  dedicated  his  life. 

France  and  England  had  made  peace;  the  English  and  French 
Companies  in  India  had  not  laid  down  arms.  Their  power,  as  well 
as  the  importance  of  their  establishments,  was  as  yet  in  equipoise. 
At  Surat  both  Companies  had  places  of  business  ; on  the  coast  of 
Malabar,  the  English  had  Bombay  and  the  French  Mahe  ; on  the 
coast  of  Coromandel,  the  former  held  Madras  and  Fort  St.  George, 


Weakness  of  the  French  government.  483 

the  latter  Pondicherry  and  Karikal.  The  principal  factories,  as 
well  as  the  numerous  little  establishments  which  were  dependencies 
of  them,  were  defended  by  a certain  number  of  European  soldiers 
and  by  Sepoys,  native  soldiers  in  the  pay  of  the  Companies. 

These  small  armies  were  costly,  and  diminished  to  a considerable 
extent  the  profits  of  trade.  Dupleix  espied  the  possibility  of  a 
new  organization,  which  should  secure  to  the  French  in  India  the  Plans  of 
preponderance,  and  ere  long  the  empire  even,  in  the  two  peninsulas.  Dupleix. 
He  purposed  to  found  manufactures,  utilise  native  hand-labour  and 
develope  the  coasting- trade  or  Ind  to  Ind  trade,  as  the  expression 
then  was  ; but  he  set  his  pretensions  still  higher  and  carried  his 
views  still  further.  He  purposed  to  acquire  for  the  Company  and, 
under  its  name,  for  France,  territories  and  subjects  furnishing 
revenues  and  amply  sufficing  for  the  expenses  of  the  commercial 
establishments.  The  moment  was  propitious ; the  ancient  empire 
of  the  Great  Mogul  tottering  to  its  base  was  distracted  by  revolu- 
tions ; Dupleix  reckoned  without  France,  and  without  the  incom- 
petent or  timid  men  who  governed  her.  His  successes  scared  King 
Louis  XV.  and  his  feeble  ministers ; they  angered  and  discomfited  Supine- 
England,  which  was  as  yet  tottering  in  India,  and  whose  affairs  nessof^the 
there  had  for  a long  while  been  ill  managed,  but  which  remained  govern- 
ever  vigorous,  active,  animated  by  the  indomitable  ardour  of  a free  meat, 
people.  At  Versailles  attempts  were  made  to  lessen  the  conquests 
of  Dupleix,  prudence  was  recommended  to  him,  delay  was  shown 
in  sending  him  the  troops  he  demanded.  In  India  England  had  at 
last  found  a man  still  young  and  unknown,  but  worthy  of  being 
opposed  to  Dupleix.  Clive,  who  had  almost  in  boyhood  entered 
the  Company’s  offices,  turned  out,  after  the  turbulence  of  his  early 
years,  a heaven- born  general ; he  was  destined  to  continue  Dupleix’s 
work,  when  abandoned  by  France,  and  to  found  to  the  advantage 
of  the  English  that  European  dominion  in  India  which  had  been 
the  governor  of  Pondicherry’s  dream.  Two  French  corps  were 
destroyed  by  Clive,  and  a third  army  soon  shared  the  same  fate. 

The  report  of  Dupleix’s  reverses  arrived  in  France  in  the  month  of 
September,  1752. 

The  dismay  at  Versailles  was  great,  and  prevailed  over  the 
astonishment.  There  had  never  been  any  confidence  in  Dupleix’s 
projects,  there  had  been  scarcely  any  belief  in  his  conquests.  The 
soft-hearted  inertness  of  ministers  and  courtiers  was  almost  as 
much  disgusted  at  the  successes  as  at  the  defeats  of  the  bold 
adventurers  who  were  attempting  and  risking  all  for  the  aggran- 
disement and  puissance  of  France  in  the  East.  The  tone  of  Eng- 
land was  more  haughty  than  ever,  in  consequence  of  Clive’s  suc- 
cesses. The  recall  of  Dupleix  was  determined  upon. 

11  2 


Dupleix  is 
super- 
seded. 


Godeheu 
signs  a 
treaty 
with  Eng- 
land. 


484  History  of  France. 

The  governor  of  Pondicherry  had  received  no  troops,  hut  he  had 
managed  to  reorganise  an  army,  and  had  resumed  the  offensive  in 
the  Carnatic  ; powerfully  helped  by  his  military  lieutenant,  Bussy 
Castelnau,  his  future  son-in-law,  animated  by  the  same  zeal  for  the 
greatness  of  Prance.  Clive  was  ill  and  had  just  set  out  for  Eng- 
land : fortune  had  once  more  changed  front.  The  open  conferences 
held  with  Saunders,  English  governor  of  Madras,  failed  in  the 
month  of  January,  1754  ; Dupleix  wished  to  preserve  the  advan- 
tages he  had  won,  Saunders  refused  to  listen  to  that ; the  approach 
of  a French  squadron  was  signalled.  The  ships  appeared  to  be 
numerous.  Dupleix  was  already  rejoicing  at  the  arrival  of  unex- 
pected aid,  when,  instead  of  an  officer  commanding  the  twelve 
hundred  soldiers  from  France,  he  saw  the  apparition  of  M.  Godeheu, 
one  of  the  directors  of  the  Company,  and  but  lately  his  friend  and 
correspondent.  “I  come  to  supersede  you,  sir,”  said  the  new 
arrival  without  any  circumstance ; “ I have  full  powers  from  the 
Company  to  treat  with  the  English.”  The  cabinet  of  London  had 
net  been  deceived  as  to  the  importance  of  Dupleix  in  India ; his 
recall  had  been  made  the  absolute  condition  of  a cessation  of  hos- 
tilities. Louis  XV.  and  his  ministers  had  shown  no  opposition  ; 
the  treaty  was  soon  concluded,  restoring  the  possessions  of  the  two 
Companies  within  the  limits  they  had  occupied  before  the  war  of 
the  Carnatic,  with  the  exception  of  the  district  of  Masulipatam, 
which  became  accessible  to  the  English.  All  the  territories  ceded 
by  the  Hindoo  princes  to  Dupleix  reverted  to  their  former  masters  ; 
the  two  Companies  interdicted  one  another  from  taking  any  part  in 
the  interior  policy  of  India,  and  at  the  same  time  forbade  their 
agents  to  accept  from  the  Hindoo  princes  any  charge,  honour  or 
dignity  ; the  most  perfect  equality  was  re-established  between  the 
possessions  and  revenues  of  the  two  great  European  nations,  rivals 
in  the  East  as  well  as  in  Europe ; England  gave  up  some  petty 
forts,  some  towns  of  no  importance,  France  ceded  the  empire  of 
India.  When  Godeheu  signed  the  treaty,  Trichinopoli  was  at  last 
on  the  point  of  giving  in.  Dupleix  embarked  for  France  with  his 
wife  and  daughter,  leaving  in  India,  together  with  his  life’s  work 
destroyed  in  a few  days  by  the  poltroonery  of  his  country’s  govern- 
ment, the  fortune  he  had  acquired  during  his  great  enterprises, 
entirely  sunk  as  it  was  in  the  service  of  France ; the  revenues 
destined  to  cover  his  advances  were  seized  by  Godeheu. 

France  seemed  to  comprehend  what  her  ministers  had  not  even 
an  idea  of ; Dupleix’s  arrival  in  France  was  a veritable  triumph. 
It  was  by  this  time  known  that  the  reverses  which  had  caused  so 
much  talk  had  been  half  repaired.  It  was  by  this  time  guessed 
how  infinite  were  the  resources  of  that  empire  of  India,  so  lightly 


Misfortunes  of  Dupleix . 485 

and  mean- spiritedly  abandoned  to  the  English.  “My  wife  and  I 
dare  not  appear  in  the  streets  of  Lorient,”  wrote  Dupleix,  “because 
of  the  crowd  of  people  wanting  to  see  us  and  bless  us  f the 
comptroller-general,  Herault  de  Sechelles,  as  well  as  the  king  and 
Madame  de  Pompadour,  then  and  for  a long  while  the  reigning 
favourite,  gave  so  favourable  a reception  to  the  hero  of  India  that 
Dupleix,  always  an  optimist,  conceived  fresh  hopes.  “ I shall  Duple.x 
regain  my  property  here,”  he  would  say,  “ and  India  will  recover  returns  to 
in  the  hands  of  Bussy.”  France. 

He  was  mistaken  about  the  justice  as  he  had  been  about  the 
discernment  and  the  boldness  of  the  French  government;  not  a 
promise  was  accomplished ; not  a hope  was  realized  ; after  delay 
upon  delay,  excuse  upon  excuse,  Dupleix  saw  his  wife  expire  at 
the  end  of  two  years,  worn  out  with  suffering  and  driven  to  despair: 
like  her,  his  daughter,  affianced  for  a long  time  past  to  Bussy,  suc- 
cumbed beneath  the  weight  of  sorrow ; in  vain  did  Dupleix  tire 
out  the  ministers  with  his  views  and  his  projects  for  India,  he  saw 
even  the  action  he  was  about  to  bring  against  the  Company  vetoed 
by  order  of  the  king.  Persecuted  by  his'  creditors,  overwhelmed 
with  regret  for  the  relatives  and  friends  whom  he  had  involved  in 
his  enterprises  and  in  his  ruin,  he  exclaimed  a few  months  before 
his  death : “ I have  sacrificed  youth,  fortune,  life  in  order  to  load 
with  honour  and  riches  those  of  my  own  nation  in  Asia.  Unhappy 
friends,  too  weakly  credulous  relatives,  virtuous  citizens  have  dedi- 
cated their  property  to  promoting  the  success  of  my  projects  ; they 
are  now  in  want.  ...  I demand,  like  the  humblest  of  creditors, 
that  which  is  my  due ; my  services  are  all  stuff,  my  demand  is 
ridiculous,  I am  treated  like  the  vilest  of  men.  The  little  I have 
left  is  seized,  I have  been  obliged  to  get  execution  stayed  to  pre- 
vent my  being  dragged  to  prison  !”  Dupleix  died  at  last  on  the 
11th  of  November,  1763,  the  most  striking,  without  being  the  last  His  death, 
or  the  most  tragical,  victim  of  the  great  French  enterprises  in  (Nov-  11). 
India. 

Despite  the  treaty  of  peace,  hostilities  had  never  really  ceased 
in  India.  Clive  had  returned  from  England ; freed  henceforth 
from  the  influence,  the  intrigues  and  the  indomitable  energy  of 
Dupleix,  he  had  soon  made  himself  master  of  the  whole  of  Bengal, 
he  had  even  driven  the  French  from  Chandernugger ; Bussy  had 
been  unable  to  check  his  successes,  he  avenged  himself  by  wresting 
away  from  the  English  all  their  agencies  on  the  coast  of  Orissa, 
and  closing  against  them  the  road  between  the  Coromandel  coast 
and  Bengal. 

Meanwhile  the  Seven  Years*  war  had  broken  out ; the  whole  of 


Lally- 
Tolendal 
starts  for 
India. 


His  first 
succe:ses. 


4 86  History  of  France. 

Europe  had  joined  in  the  contest ; the  French  navy,  still  fechle 
in  spite  of  the  efforts  that  had  been  made  to  restore  it,  underwent 
serious  reverses  on  every  sea.  Count  Lally-Tolendal,  descended 
from  an  Irish  family  which  took  refuge  in  France  with  James  II., 
went  to  Count  d’Argenson,  still  minister  of  war,  with  a proposition 
to  go  and  humble  in  India  that  English  power  which  had  been 
imprudently  left  to  grow  up  without  hindrance.  M.  de  Lally  had 
served  with  renown  in  the  wars  of  Germany  ; he  had  seconded 
Prince  Charles  Edward  in  his  brave  and  yet  frivolous  attempt 
upon  England.  The  directors  of  the  India  Company  went  and 
asked  M.  d’Argenson  to  entrust  to  General  Lally  the  king’s  troops 
promised  for  the  expedition.  “ You  are  wrong,”  M.  d’Argenson 
said  to  them : “ I know  M.  de  Lally,  he  is  a friend  of  mine,  but  he 
is  violent,  passionate,  inflexible  as  to  discipline,  he  will  not  tolerate 
any  disorder ; you  will  be  setting  fire  to  your  warehouses,  if  you 
send  him  thither.”  The  directors,  however,  insisted,  and  M.  de 
Lally  set  out  on  the  2nd  of  May,  1757,  with  four  ships  and  a body 
of  troops.  Some  young  officers  belonging  to  the  greatest  houses  of 
France  served  on  his  staff. 

The  brilliant  courage  and  heroic  ardour  of  M.  de  Lally  triumphed 
over  the  first  obstacles ; his  recklessness,  his  severity,  his  passion- 
ateness were  about  to  lose  him  the  fruits  of  his  victories.  “ The 
commission  I hold,”  he  wrote  to  the  directors  of  the  Company  at 
Paris,  “ imports  that  I shall  be  held  in  horror  by  all  the  people  of 
the  country.”  By  his  personal  faults  he  aggravated  his  already 
critical  position.  The  discord  which  reigned  in  the  army  as  well 
as  amongst  the  civil  functionaries  was  nowhere  more  flagrant  than 
between  Lally  and  Bussy.  The  latter  could  not  console  himself 
for  having  been  forced  to  leave  the  Deccan  in  the  feeble  hands  of 
the  marquis  of  Conflans.  An  expedition  attempted  against  the 
fortress  of  Wandiwash,  of  which  the  English  had  obtained  pos- 
session, was  followed  by  a serious  defeat ; Colonel  Coote  was  master 
of  Karikal.  Little  by  little  the  French  army  and  French  power  in 
India  found  themselves  cooped  within  the  immediate  territory  of 
Pondicherry.  The  English  marched  against  this  town.  Lally  shut 
himself  up  there  in  the  month  of  March,  1760.  Bussy  had  been 
made  prisoner,  and  Coote  had  sent  him  to  Europe.  “ At  the  head 
of  the  French  army  Bussy  would  be  in  a position  by  himself  alone 
to  prolong  the  war  for  ten  years,”  said  the  Hindoos.  On  the  27th 
of  November,  the  siege  of  Pondicherry  was  transformed  into  an 
investment. 

He  held  out  for  six  weeks,  in  spite  of  famine,  want  of  money 
and  ever  increasing  dissensions.  At  last  it  became  necessary  to 


Lally-Tolendal  tried  and  beheaded.  487 

surrender,  the  council  of  the  Company  called  upon  tho  general  to 
capitulate ; Lally  claimed  the  honours  of  war,  hut  Coote  would 
have  the  town  at  discretion : the  distress  was  extreme  as  well  as 
the  irritation.  Pondicherry  was  delivered  up  to  the  conquerors  on  p0adi- 
the  16th  of  January,  1761  ; the  fortifications  and  magazines  were  cherry 
razed  ; French  power  in  India,  long  supported  by  the  courage  or  st0  the 
ability  of  a few  men,  was  foundering,  never  to  rise  again.  “ No-  English, 
body  can  have  a higher  opinion  than  I of  M.  de  Lally,”  wrote 
Colonel  Coote : “ he  struggled  against  obstacles  that  I considered 
insurmountable  and  triumphed  over  them.  There  is  not  in  India 
another  man  who  could  have  so  long  kept  an  army  standing  with- 
out pay  and  without  resources  in  any  direction.”  “ A convincing 
proof  of  his  merits,”  said  another  English  officer,  “ is  his  long  and 
vigorous  resistance  in  a place  in  which  he  was  universally  de- 
tested.” 

Hatred  bears  bitterer  fruits  than  is  imagined  even  by  those  who 
provoke  it.  The  animosity  which  M.  de  Lally  had  excited  in 
India  was  everywhere  an  obstacle  to  the  defence ; and  it  was 
destined  to  cost  him  his  life  and  imperil  his  honour.  Scarcely 
had  he  arrived  in  England,  ill,  exhausted  by  sufferings  and  fatigue, 
followed  even  in  his  captivity  by  the  reproaches  and  anger  of  his 
comrades  in  misfortune,  when  he  heard  of  the  outbreak  of  public 
opinion  against  him  in  France;  he  was  accused  of  treason;  and 
he  obtained  from  the  English  cabinet  permission  to  repair  to  Paris. 

“I  bring  hither  my  head  and  my  innocence,”  he  wrote,  on  dis- 
embarking, to  the  minister  of  war,  and  he  went  voluntarily  to 
imprisonment  in  the  Bastille.  After  a delay  of  nineteen  months, 
the  trial  commenced  in  December,  1764,  and  on  the  9th  of  May, 
at  the  close  of  the  day,  the  valiant  general  whose  heroic  resistance 
had  astounded  all  India  mounted  the  scaffold  on  the  Place  de  A 1766. 
Greve,  nor  was  permission  granted  to  the  few  friends  who  remained  Tolendal 
faithful  to  him  to  accompany  him  to  the  place  of  execution ; there  beheaded, 
was  only  the  parish-priest  of  St.  Louis  en  l’lle  at  his  side ; as 
apprehensions  were  felt  of  violence  and  insult  on  the  part  of  tho 
condemned,  he  was  gagged  like  the  lowest  criminal  when  he  reso- 
lutely mounted  the  fatal  ladder ; he  knelt  without  assistance  and 
calmly  awaited  his  death-blow.  “ Everybody,”  observed  D’Alem- 
bert, expressing  by  that  cruel  saying  the  violence  of  public  feeling 
against  the  condemned,  “ everybody,  except  the  hangman,  has  a 
right  to  kill  Lally.”  Voltaire’s  judgment,  after  the  subsidence  of 
passion  and  after  the  light  thrown  by  subsequent  events  upon  tho 
state  of  French  affairs  in  India  before  Lally ’s  campaigns,  is  moro 
just:  “It  was  a murder  committed  with  the  sword  of  justice.” 


488 


History  of  France . 

King  Louis  XV.  and  his  government  had  lost  India ; the  rage  and 
shame  blindly  excited  amongst  the  nation  by  this  disaster  had 
been  visited  upon  the  head  of  the  unhappy  general  who  had  been 
last  vanquished  in  defending  the  remnants  of  French  power. 

For  a long  time  past  the  French  had  directed  towards  America 
their  ardent  spirit  of  enterprise ; in  the  fifteenth  century,  on  the 
morrow  of  the  discovery  of  the  new  world,  when  the  indomitable 
genius  and  religious  faith  of  Christopher  Columbus  had  just  opened 
a new  path  to  inquiring  minds  and  daring  spirits,  the  Basques,  the 
Bretons  and  the  Normans  were  amongst  the  first  to  follow  the 
road  he  had  marked  out ; their  light  barques  and  their  intrepid 
navigators  were  soon  known  among  the  fisheries  of  Newfoundlond 
and  the  Canadian  coast.  As  early  as  1506  a chart  of  the  St.  Law- 
Tile  French  rence  was  drawn  by  John  Denis,  who  came  from  Honfleur  in  Nor- 
m Canada.  man(jy.>  Before  long  the  fishers  began  to  approach  the  coasts, 
attracted  by  the  fur-trade;  they  entered  into  relations  with  the 
native  tribes,  buying,  very  often  for  a mere  song,  the  produce  of 
their  hunting,  and  introducing  to  them  together  with  the  first- 
fruits  of  civilization,  its  corruptions  and  its  dangers.  Before  long 
the  savages  of  America  became  acquainted  with  the  fire-water. 

Policy  was  not  slow  to  second  the  bold  enterprises  of  the  navi- 
gators. France  was  at  that  time  agitated  by  various  earnest  and 
mighty  passions  : for  a moment  the  Deformation,  personified  by  the 
austere  virtues  and  grand  spirit  of  Coligny,  had  seemed  to  dispute 
the  empire  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  forecasts  of  the  admiral 
became  more  and  more  sombre  every  day,  he  weighed  the  power 
and  hatred  of  the  Guises  as  well  as  of  their  partisans ; in  his 
anxiety  for  his  countrymen  and  his  religion,  he  determined  to 
secure  for  the  persecuted  Protestants  a refuge,  perhaps,  a home  in 
the  new  world,  after  that  defeat  of  which  he  already  saw  a 
glimmer. 

A first  expedition  had  failed,  after  an  attempt  on  the  coasts  of 
Brazil;  in  1562,  a new  flotilla  set  out  from  Havre,  commanded  by 
Ribaut’s  John  Ribaut  of  Dieppe,  who,  having  effected  a landing,  took  pos- 
exp edition.  sess;on  0f  the  country  in  the  name  of  France,  and  .immediately 
began  to  construct  a fort  which  they  called  Fort  Charles,  in  honour 
of  the  young  king,  Charles  IX.  Unhappily,  at  the  end  of  three 
years,  a Spanish  expedition  landed  in  Florida,  commanded  by 
Pedro  Menendez  de  Aviles,  who  attacked  and  overmastered  the 
French  colonists ; a great  number  were  massacred,  others  crowded 
on  to  the  little  vessels  still  at  their  disposal  and  carried  to  France 
the  news  of  the  disaster. 

For  a long  while  expeditions  and  attempts  at  French  colonization 


Canada  and  Champlain. 


489 

had  been  directed  towards  Canada.  James  Cartier,  in  1535,  had  A.D. 1535. 
taken  possession  of  its  coasts  under  the  name  of  New  France. 

M.  de  Roberval  had  taken  thither  colonists,  agricultural  and 
mechanical ; but  the  hard  climate,  famine  and  disease  had  stifled 
the  little  colony  in  the  bud ; religious  and  political  disturbances  in 
the  mother- country  were  absorbing  all  thoughts  ; it  was  only  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  IV.,  when  panting  France,  distracted  by  civil  dis- 
cord, began  to  repose  for  the  first  time  since  more  than  a century, 
beneath  a government  just,  able,  and  firm  at  the  same  time,  that  zeal 
for  distant  enterprises  at  last  attracted  to  Hew  France  its  real  founder. 

Samuel  de  Champlain  du  Brouage,born  in  1567,  a faithful  soldier  of  Champ- 
the  king’s  so  long  as  the  war  lasted,  was  unable  to  endure  the  indo- lain* 
lence  of  peace.  After  long  and  perilous  voyages,  he  enlisted  in  the 
company  which  M.  de  Monts,  gentleman  of  the  bedchamber  in 
ordinary  to  Henry  IV.,  had  just  formed  for  the  trade  in  furs  on  the 
northern  coast  of  America ; appointed  viceroy  of  Acadia,  a new 
territory,  of  which  the  imaginary  limits  would  extend  in  our 
times  from  Philadelphia  to  beyond  Montreal,  and  furnished  with  a 
commercial  monopoly,  M.  de  Monts  set  sail  on  the  7tli  of  April, 

1604,  taking  with  him,  Calvinist  though  he  was,  Catholic  priests  as 
well  as  Protestant  pastors.  After  long  and  painful  explorations  in 
the  forests  and  amongst  the  Indian  tribes,  after  frequent  voyages  to 
France  on  the  service  of  the  colony,  he  became  at  last,  in  1606,  the 
first  governor  of  the  nascent  town  of  Quebec. 

Never  was  colony  founded  under  more  pious  auspices  ; for  some 
time  past  the  Recollects  had  been  zealously  labouring  for  the  con- 
version of  unbelievers ; seconded  by  the  Jesuits,  who  were  before 
long  to  remain  sole  masters  of  the  soil,  they  found  themselves  suf- 
ficiently powerful  tp  forbid  the  protestant  sailors  certain  favourite 
exercises  of  their  worship  : “ At  last  it  was  agreed  that  they  should 
not  chant  the  psalms,”  says  Champlain,  “ but  that  they  should 
assemble  to  make  their  prayers.” 

In  1627,  Richelieu  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a company  of  a Richelieu 
hundred  associates,  on  which  the  king  conferred  the  possession  as  creates  a 
well  as  the  government  of  New  France,  together  with  the  commer-  for  the 
cial  monopoly  and  freedom  from  all  taxes  for  fifteen  years.  The  colomza- 
colonists  were  to  be  French  and  Catholics ; huguenots  were  Canada, 
excluded : they  alone  had  till  then  manifested  any  tendency 
towards  emigration ; the  attempts  at  colonization  in  America  were 
due  to  their  efforts  : less  liberal  in  New  France  than  he  had  lately 
been  in  Europe,  the  cardinal  thus  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the 
foreigner  all  the  adventurous  spirits  and  the  bold  explorers  amongst 
the  French  Protestants,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  English 


A.D.  1635. 
Champ- 
lain’s 
death 
(Dec.  25). 


La  Salle. 


49°  History  of  France . 

Puritans,  driven  from  their  country  by  the  narrow  and  meddlesome 
policy  of  James  I.,  were  dropping  anchor  at  the  foot  of  Plymouth 
Pock,  and  were  founding,  in  the  name  of  religious  liberty,  a new 
protestant  England,  the  rival  ere  long  of  that  Pew  Erance  which 
was  catholic  and  absolutist. 

Champlain  had  died  at  Quebec  on  Christmas  Day,  1635,  after 
twenty-seven  years’  efforts  and  sufferings  in  the  service  of  the 
nascent  colony.  Bold  and  enterprising,  endowed  with  indomitable 
perseverance  and  rare  practical  faculties,  an  explorer  of  distant 
forests,  an  intrepid  negotiator  with  the  savage  tribes,  a wise  and 
patient  administrator,  indulgent  towards  all,  in  spite  of  his  ardent 
devotion,  Samuel  de  Champlain  had  presented  the  rare  intermix- 
ture of  the  heroic  qualities  of  past  times  with  the  zeal  for  science 
and  the  practical  talents  of  modern  ages ; he  was  replaced  in  his 
government  by  a knight  of  Malta,  M.  de  Montmagny.  Quebec 
had  a seminary,  a hospital  and  a convent,  before  it  possessed  a 
population. 

The  foundation  of  Montreal  was  still  more  exclusively  religious. 
The  accounts  of  the  Jesuits  had  inflamed  pious  souls  with  a noble 
emulation ; a Montreal  association  was  formed,  under  the  direction 
of  M.  Olier,  founder  of  St.  Sulpice.  The  first  expedition  was 
placed  under  the  command  of  a valiant  gentleman,  Paul  de  Maison- 
neuve,  and  of  a certain  Mademoiselle  Mance,  belonging  to  the 
middle-class  of  Pogent-le-Roi,  who  was  not  yet  a nun,  but  who  was 
destined  to  become  the  foundress  of  the  hospital-sisters  of  Ville- 
Marie,  the  name  which  the  religious  zeal  of  the  explorers  intended 
for  the  new  colony. 

The  affair  of  Montreal  stood,  like  that  of  Quebec ; Pew  Erance 
was  founded  in  spite  of  the  sufferings  of  the  early  colonists,  thanks 
to  their  courage,  their  fervent  enthusiasm,  and  the  support  afforded 
them  by  the  religious  zeal  of  their  friends  in  Europe.  The  Jesuit 
missionaries  every  day  extended  their  explorations,  sharing  with 
M.  de  la  Salle  the  glory  of  the  great  discoveries  of  the  West. 
Champlain  had  before  this  dreamed  of  and  sought  for  a passage 
across  the  continent,  leading  to  the  Southern  seas  and  permitting 
of  commerce  with  India  and  Japan.  La  Salle,  in  his  intrepid 
expeditions,  discovered  Ohio  and  Illinois,  navigated  the  great  lakes, 
crossed  the  Mississippi,  which  the  Jesuits  had  been  the  first  to 
reach,  and  pushed  on  as  far  as  Texas.  Constructing  forts  in  the 
nJidst  of  the  savage  districts,  taking  possession  of  Louisiana  in  the 
name  of  King  Louis  XIV.,  abandoned  by  the  majority  of  his  com- 
rades and  losing  the  most  faithful  of  them  by  death,  attacked  by 
savages,  betrayed  by  his  own  men,  thwarted  in  his  projects  by  his 


The  Canadians  and  France . 


491 


enemies  and  his  rivals,  this  indefatigable  explorer  fell  at  last  beneath 
the  blows  of  a few  mutineers,  in  1687,  just  as  he  was  trying  to  get 
back  to  New  France  ; he  left  the  field  open  after  him  to  the 
innumerable  travellers  of  eVery  nation  and  every  language  who  were 
one  day  to  leave  their  mark  on  those  measureless  tracts.  Every- 
where, in  the  western  regions  of  the  American  continent,  the  foot- 
steps of  the  French,  either  travellers  or  missionaries,  preceded  the 
boldest  adventurers.  It  is  the  glory  and  the  misfortune  of  France  France  as  a 
to  always  lead  the  van  in  the  march  of  civilization,  without  having  nation, 
the  wit  to  profit  by  the  discoveries  and  the  sagacious  boldness  of 
her  children.  On  the  unknown  roads  which  she  has  opened  to  the 
human  mind  and  to  human  enterprise  she  has  often  left  the  fruit3 
to  be  gathered  by  nations  less  inventive  and  less  able  than  she,  but 
more  persevering  and  less  perturbed  by  a confusion  of  desires  and 
an  incessant  renewal  of  hopes. 

The  treaty  of  Utrecht  had  taken  out  of  French  hands  the  gates 
of  Canada,  Acadia  and  Newfoundland.  It  was  now  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  New  France  that  the  power  of  England  was  rising, 
growing  rapidly  through  the  development  of  her  colonies,  usurping 
little  by  little  the  empire  of  the  seas.  Canada  was  prospering,  how- 
ever ; during  the  long  wars  which  the  condition  of  Europe  had  kept 
up  in  America,  the  Canadians  had  supplied  the  king’s  armies  with 
their  best  soldiers.  Returning  to  their  homes  and  resuming  with-  The  French 
out  an  effort  the  peaceful  habits  which  characterized  them,  they  Canadians. 
skilfully  cultivated  their  fields  and  saw  their  population  increasing 
naturally  without  any  help  from  the  mother-country.  The  governors 
had  succeeded  in  adroitly  counterbalancing  the  influence  of  the 
English  over  the  Indian  tribes.  The  Iroquois,  but  lately  impla- 
cable foes  of  France,  had  accepted  a position  of  neutrality. 
Agricultural  development  secured  to  the  country  comparative 
prosperity,  but  money  was  scarce,  the  instinct  of  the  popula- 
tion was  not  in  the  direction  of  commerce;  it  was  everywhere 
shackled  by  monopolies.  The  English  were  rich,  free  and  bold  ; 
for  them  the  transmission  and  the  exchange  of  commodities  were 
easy.  The  commercial  rivalry  which  set  in  between  the  two 
nations  was  fatal  to  the  French ; when  the  hour  of  the  final 
struggle  came,  the  Canadians,  though  brave,  resolute,  passionately 
attached  to  France  and  ready  for  any  sacrifice,  were  few  in  number 
compared  with  their  enemies.  Scattered  over  a vast  territory,  they 
possessed  but  poor  pecuniary  resources  and  could  expect  from  the 
mother-country  only  irregular  assistance,  subject  to  variations  of 
government  and  fortune  as  well  as  to  the  chances  of  maritime  war- 
fare and  engagements  at  sea,  always  perilous  for  the  French  ships, 


492 


History  of  France . 


The 

Engl'sh 
attack  the 
French  in 
Canada. 


Heroism 
of  the 
Canadians. 


which  were  inferior  in  huild  and  in  number,  whatever  might  be  the 
courage  and  skill  of  their  commanders. 

The  capture  of  Louisbourg  and  of  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  by 
the  English  colonists,  in  1745,  profoundly  disquieted  the  Canadians, 
it  was  the  first  scene  in  a drama  doomed  to  end  fatally  for  the 
interests  of  France. 

Regretfully  and  as  if  compelled  by  a remnant  of  national  honour 
Louis  XV.  adopted  the  resolution  of  defending  his  colonies  ; he  had, 
and  the  nation  had  as  well,  the  feeling  that  the  French  were  hope- 
lessly weak  at  sea.  “ What  use  to  us  will  be  hosts  of  troops  and 
plenty  of  money,”  wrote  the  advocate  Barbier,  “ if  we  have  only  to 
fight  the  English  at  sea  % They  will  take  all  our  ships  one  after 
another,  they  will  seize  all  our  settlements  in  America  and  will  get 
all  the  trade.  We  must  hope  for  some  division  amongst  the 
English  nation  itself,  for  the  king  personally  does  not  desire  war.” 

The  English  nation  was  not  divided.  The  ministers  and  the 
parliament,  as  well  as  the  American  colonies,  were  for  war. 
“ There  is  no  hope  of  repose  for  our  thirteen  colonies,  as  long  as 
the  French  are  masters  of  Canada,”  said  Benjamin  Franklin  on  his 
arrival  in  London  in  1754.  He  was  already  labouring,  without 
knowing  it,  at  that  great  wmrk  of  American  independence  which  was 
to  be  his  glory  and  that  of  his  generation ; the  common  efforts  and 
the  common  interest  of  the  thirteen  American  colonies  in  the  war 
against  France  were  the  first  step  towards  that  great  coalition  which 
founded  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  union  with  the  mother  country  was  as  yet  close  and  potent : 
at  the  instigation  of  Mr.  Fox,  soon  afterwards  Lord  Holland,  and 
at  the  time  Prime  Minister  of  England,  parliament  voted  twenty- 
five  millions  for  the  American  war.  The  bounty  given  to  the 
soldiers  and  marines  who  enlisted  was  doubled  by  private  sub- 
scription; 15,000  men  were  thus  raised  to  invade  the  French 
colonies. 

Canada  and  Louisiana  together  did  not  number  80,000  in- 
habitants, whilst  the  population  of  the  English  colonies  already 
amounted  to  1,200,000  souls  ; to  the  2800  regular  troops  sent  from 
France  the  Canadian  militia  added  about  4000  men,  less  experienced 
but  quite  as  determined  as  the  most  intrepid  veterans  of  the  cam- 
paigns in  Europe.  During  more  than  twenty  years  the  courage  and 
devotion  of  the  Canadians  never  faltered  for  a single  day. 

The  wicked  deportation  of  four  hundred  and  eighteen  heads  of 
families  from  Acadia  excited  in  France  the  greatest  and  most 
natural  emotion ; a few  brilliant  successes  obtained  by  the  marquis 
of  Montcalm  cheered  up  for  a short  space  the  hopes  of  the  French 


The  colonies  lost  to  France. 


493 


government;  "but  it  was  all  in  vain.  Quebec,  besieged  by  general 
Wolfe,  capitulated  on  the  18th  of  September,  1759.  Both  the 
English  and  the  French  commanders  had  been  killed  ; the  capitula- 
tion of  Montreal  was  signed  on  the  8th  of  September,  1760  ; on  the 
10th  of  February,  1763,  the  peace  concluded  between  France,  Spain, 
and  England  completed  without  hope  of  recovery  the  loss  of  all  the 
French  possessions  in  America ; Louisiana  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
war,  it  was  not  conquered  ; France  ceded  it  to  Spain  in  exchange 
for  Florida,  which  was  abandoned  to  the  English.  Canada  and  all 
the  islands  of  the  St.  Lawrence  shared  the  same  fate.  Only  the 
little  islands  of  St.  Pierre  and  Miquelon  were  preserved  for  the  French 
fisheries.  One  single  stipulation  guaranteed  to  the  Canadians  the 
free  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion.  The  principal  inhabitants  of 
the  colony  went  into  exile  on  purpose  to  remain  French.  The  weak 
hands  of  King  Louis  XV.  and  of  his  government  had  let  slip  the 
fairest  colonies  of  France,  Canada  and  Louisiana  had  ceased  to 
belong  to  her ; yet  attachment  to  France  subsisted  there  a long 
while  and  her  influence  left  numerous  traces  there.  It  is  an  honour 
and  a source  of  strength  to  France  that  she  acts  powerfully  on  men 
through  the  charm  and  suavity  of  her  intercourse ; they  who  have 
belonged  to  France  can  never  forget  her. 

The  struggle  was  over.  King  Louis  XV.  had  lost  his  American 
colonies,  the  nascent  empire  of  India  and  the  settlements  of  Senegal. 
He  recovered  Guadaloupe  and  Martinique,  but  lately  conquered  by 
the  English,  Chandernugger  and  the  ruins  of  Pondicherry.  The 
humiliation  was  deep  and  the  losses  were  irreparable.  All  the  fruits 
of  the  courage,  of  the  ability  and  of  the  passionate  devotion  of  the 
French  in  India  and  in  America  were  falling  into  the  hands  of 
England.  Her  government  had  committed  many  faults  ; but  the 
strong  action  of  a free  people  had  always  managed  to  repair  them. 
The  day  was  coming  when  the  haughty  passions  of  the  mother- 
country  and  the  proud  independence  of  her  colonies  would  engage 
in  that  supreme  struggle  which  has  given  to  the  world  the  United 
States  of’America. 

It  was  not  only  in  the  colonies  and  on  the  seas  that  the  peace  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle  had  seemed  merely  a truce  destined  to  be  soon 
broken  : hostilities  had  never  ceased  in  India  or  Canada  ; English 
vessels  scoured  the  world,  capturing,  in  spite  of  treaties,  French 
merchant-ships  ; in  Europe  and  on  the  continent,  all  the  sovereigns 
were  silently  preparing  for  new  efforts ; only  the  government  of 
King  Louis  XV.,  intrenched  behind  its  disinterestedness  in  the 
negotiations  and  ignoring  the  fatal  influences  of  weakness  and 
vanity,  believed  itself  henceforth  beyond  the  reach  of  a fresh  war. 


A.D.  1760. 

Capitula- 
tion of 
Montreal 
(Sept.  8). 


France  hu 
miliated 
through 
the  ineffi 
ciency  of 
Louis  XV. 


494 


History  of  France . 

The  nation,  as  oblivious  as  tlie  government  but  less  careless  than  it, 
because  they  had  borne  the  burthen  of  the  fault  committed,  were 
applying  for  the  purpose  of  their  material  recovery  that  power  of 
revival  which,  through  a course  of  so  many  errors  and  reverses,  has 
always  saved  France ; in  spite  of  the  disorder  in  the  finances  and 
the  crushing  weight  of  the  imposts,  she  was  working  and  growing 
rich  ; intellectual  development  was  following  the  rise  in  material 
resources ; the  court  was  corrupt  and  inert,  like  the  king,  but  a 
new  life,  dangerously  free  and  bold,  was  beginning  to  course  through 
' men’s  minds  : the  wise,  reforming  instincts,  the  grave  reflections  of 
the  dying  Montesquieu  no  longer  sufficed  for  them ; Voltaire,  who 
had  but  lately  been  still  moderate  and  almost  respectful,  was  about 
to  commence  with  his  friends  of  the  Encyclopedia  that  campaign 
against  the  Christian  faith  which  was  to  pave  the  war  for  the 
Stite  of  materialism  of  our  own  days.  The  state  of  the  royal  treasury,  and 

the  French  ^he  measures  to  which  recourse  was  had  to  enable  the  State  to  make 

treasury. 

both  ends  meet,  aggravated  the  dissension  and  disseminated  discon- 
tent amongst  all  classes  of  society.  Comptrollers-general  came  one 
after  another,  all  armed  with  new  expedients ; MM.  de  Machault, 
Moreau  de  Sechelles,  de  Moras,  excited,  successively,  the  wrath  and 
the  hatred  of  the  people,  crushed  by  imposts  in  peace  as  well  as 
war ; the  clergy  refused  to  pay  the  twentieth,  still  claiming  their 
right  of  giving  only  a free  gift ; the  states-districts,  Languedoc  and 
Brittany  at  the  head,  resisted,  in  the  name  of  their  ancient  privi- 
leges, the  collection  of  taxes  to  which  they  had  not  consented  ; riots 
went  on  multiplying  : they  even  extended  to  Paris,  where  the 
government  was  accused  of  kidnapping  children  for  transportation 
to  the  colonies.  The  people  rose,  several  police-agents  were  mas- 
sacred ; the  king  avoided  passing  through  the  capital  on  his  way 
from  Versailles  to  the  camp  at  Campiegne  : the  path  he  took  in  the 
Bois  de  Boulogne  received  the  name  of  Bevolt  Boad.  “ I have 
seen  in  my  days,”  says  D’Argenson,  “ a decrease  in  the  respect  and 
love  of  the  people  for  the  kingship.” 

Decadence  went  on  swiftly,  and  no  wonder.  At  forty  years  of 
age  Louis  XV.,  finding  every  pleasure  pall,  indifferent  to  or  forget- 
ful of  business  from  indolence  and  disgust,  bored  by  every  thing 
and  on  every  occasion,  had  come  to  depend  solely  on  those  who 

Madame  de  could  still  manage  to  amuse  him.  Madame  de  Pompadour  had 
Pompa-  accepted  this  ungrateful  and  sometimes  shameful  task.  Vigilant 
in  attaching  the  courtiers  to  herself,  she  sowed  broadcast,  all  around 
her,  favours,  pensions,  profitable  offices,  endowing  the  gentlemen  to 
facilitate  their  marriage,  turning  a deaf  ear  to  the  complaints  of  the 
people  as  well  as  to  the  protests  of  the  States  or  Parliaments.  The 


495 


War  with  England . 

court  still  swarmed  with  brave  officers,  ready  to  march  to  death  at 
the  head  of  the  troops  ; the  command  of  armies  henceforth  depended 
on  the  favour  of  Madame  the  marchioness  of  Pompadour. 

The  day  had  come  when  the  fortune  of  war  was  about  to  show 
itself  fatal  to  France.  Marshal  Saxe  had  died  at  Chambord,  still 
young  and  worn  out  by  excesses  rather  than  by  fatigue.  War,  ^ar  <je- 
however,  was  inevitable  ; five  months  of  public  or  private  negotia-  dared 
tion,  carried  on  by  the  ambassadors  or  personal  agents  of  the  king,  England, 
could  not  obtain  from  England  any  reparation  for  her  frequent  vio- 
lation of  the  law  of  nations  : the  maritime  trade  of  France  was 
destroyed;  the  vessels  of  the  royal  navy  were  themselves  no  longer 
safe  at  sea.  On  the  21st  of  December,  1 755,  the  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  Rouille,  notified  to  the  English  cabinet  “that  His  Most 
Christian  Majesty,  before  giving  way  to  the  effects  of  his  resent- 
ment, once  more  demanded  from  the  king  of  England  satisfaction 
for  all  the  seizures  made  by  the  English  navy,  as  well  as  restitution 
of  all  vessels,  whether  war-ships  or  merchant-ships,  taken  from  the 
French,  declaring  that  he  should  regard  any  refusal  that  might  be 
made  as  an  authentic  declaration  of  war.”  England  eluded  the 
question  of  law,  but  refused  restitution.  On  the  23rd  of  January, 
an  embargo  was  laid  on  all  English  vessels  in  French  ports,  and  war 
was  officially  proclaimed.  It  had  ^existed  in  fact  for  two  years 
past. 

A striking  incident  signalized  the  commencement  of  hostilities. 

Bather  a man  of  pleasure  and  a courtier  than  an  able  soldier,  Mar- 
shal Richelieu  had,  nevertheless,  the  good  fortune  to  connect  his 
name  with  the  only  successful  event  of  the  Seven  Years’  War  that 
was  destined  to  remain  impressed  upon  the  mind  of  posterity, 
namely  the  capture  of  Port  Mahon  in  the  island  of  Minorca.  Captnre 

At  the  same  time  the  king’s  troops  were  occupying  Corsica  in  the  of  Port 
name  of  the  city  of  Genoa,  the  time-honoured  ally  of  France.  Mis-  Mal1011* 
tress  of  half  the  Mediterranean  and  secure  of  the  neutrality  of  Hol- 
land, France  could  have  concentrated  her  efforts  upon  the  sea  and 
have  maintained  a glorious  struggle  with  England,  on  the  sole  con- 
dition of  keeping  peace  on  the  Continent.  The  policy  was  simple 
and  the  national  interest  palpable ; King  Louis  XY.  and  some  of 
his  ministers  understood  this ; but  they  allowed  themselves  to  drift 
into  forgetfulness  of  it. 

For  a long  time  past,  under  the  influence  of  Count  Kaunitz,  a 
young  diplomat  equally  bold  and  shrewd,  “ frivolous  in  his  tastes 
and  profound  in  his  views,”  Maria  Theresa  was  inclining  to  change 
the  whole  system  of  her  alliances  in  Europe ; she  had  made  ad 
vances  to  France.  Louis  XV.  still  sought  to  hold  the  balance 


496 


History  of  France . 


Treaty  of 
Versailles. 


A.D.  1757. 
Louis  XV. 
stabbed  by 
Damiens 
(Jan.  5). 


steady  between  the  two  great  German  sovereigns,  but  he  was 
already  beginning  to  lean  towards  the  empress.  A proposal  was 
made  to  Maria  Theresa  for  a treaty  of  guarantee  between  Trance, 
Austria  and  Prussia ; the  existing  war  between  England  and 
Trance  was  excepted  from  the  defensive  pact ; Trance  reserved 
to  herself  the  right  of  invading  Hanover.  The  same  conditions 
had  been  offered  to  the  king  of  Prussia ; he  was  not  contented 
with  them.  Whilst  Maria  Theresa  was  insisting  at  Paris  upon 
obtaining  an  offensive  as  well  as  defensive  alliance,  Trederick  II. 
was  signing  with  England  an  engagement  not  to  permit  the 
entrance  into  Germany  of  any  foreign  troops.  “ I only  wish  to 
preserve  Germany  from  war,”  wrote  the  king  of  Prussia  to 
Louis  XV.  On  the  1st  of  May,  1756,  at  Versailles,  Louis  XV. 
replied  to  the  Anglo- Prussian  treaty  by  his  alliance  with  the 
Empress  Maria  Theresa.  The  House  of  Bourbon  was  holding 
out  the  hand  to  the  House  of  Austria ; the  work  of  Henry  IV.  and 
of  Richelieu,  already  weakened  by  an  inconsistent  and  capricious 
policy,  was  completely  crumbling  to  pieces,  involving  in  its  ruin 
the  military  fortunes  of  Trance. 

The  prudent  moderation  of  Abbe  de  Bernis,  then  in  great 
favour  with  Madame  de  Pompadour  and  managing  the  negotia- 
tions with  Austria,  had  removed  from  the  treaty  of  Versailles  the 
most  alarming  clauses.  The  empress  and  the  king  of  Trance 
mutually  guaranteed  to  one  another  their  possessions  in  Europe, 
“each  of  the  contracting  parties  promising  the  other,  in  case  of 
need,  the  assistance  of  twenty-four  thousand  men.”  Russia  and 
Saxony  were  soon  enlisted  in  the  same  alliance  ; the  king  of 
Prussia’s  pleasantries,  at  one  time  coarse  and  at  another  biting, 
had  offended  the  czarina  Elizabeth  and  the  elector  of  Saxony  as 
well  as  Louis  XV.  and  Madame  de  Pompadour.  The  weakest 
of  the  allies  was  the  first  to  experience  the  miseries  of  that  war 
so  frivolously  and  gratuitously  entered  upon,  from  covetousness, 
rancour  or  weakness,  those  fertile  sources  of  the  bitterest  sorrows 
to  humanity. 

Whilst  hostilities  were  thus  beginning  throughout  Europe, 
whilst  negotiations  were  still  going  on  with  Vienna  touching  the 
second  treaty  of  Versailles,  King  Louis  XV.,  as  he  was  descending 
the  staircase  of  the  marble  court  at  Versailles  on  the  5th  of 
January,  1757,  received  a stab  in  the  side  from  a knife.  With- 
drawing full  of  blood  the  hand  he  had  clapped  to  his  wound,  the 
king  exclaimed : “ There  is  the  man  that  wounded  me,  with  his 
hat  on  ; arrest  him,  but  let  no  harm  be  done  him  ! ” The  guards 
were  already  upon  the  murderer  and  were  torturing  him  pending 


THE  MARCHIONESS  OF  POMPADOUR. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


Damiens  and  Madame  de  Pompadour . 497 

the  legal  question.  The  king  had  been  carried  away,  slightly 
wounded  by  a deep  puncture  from  a penknife.  In  the  soul  of 
Louis  XV.  apprehension  had  succeeded  to  the  first  instinctive  and 
kingly  impulse  of  courage : he  feared  the  weapon  might  be  poisoned, 
and  hastily  sent  for  a confessor.  The  crowd  of  courtiers  was 

already  thronging  to  the  dauphin’s.  To  him  the  king  had  at  once 
given  up  the  direction  of  affairs. 

Justice,  meanwhile,  had  taken  the  wretched  murderer  in  hand. 

Robert  Damiens  was  a lacquey  out  of  place,  a native  of  Artois,  of 
weak  mind  and  sometimes  appearing  to  be  deranged.  In  his 
vague  and  frequently  incoherent  depositions,  he  appeared  animated 
by  a desire  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  the  Parliament  ; he  burst  out  m , 
against  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  Christopher  de  Beaumont,  a vir-  and  death 

tuous  prelate  of  narrow  mind  and  austere  character  : “ The  arch-  of. Da" 

1 ^ ^ miens# 

bishop  of  Paris,”  he  said,  “is  the  cause  of  all  this  trouble  through 

ordering  refusal  of  the  sacraments.”  Xo  investigation  could  dis- 
cover any  conspiracy  or  accomplices  : with  less  coolness  and  fana- 
tical resolution  than  Ravaillac,  Damiens,  like  the  assassin  of 
Henry  IV.,  was  an  isolated  criminal,  prompted  to  murder  by  the 
derangement  of  his  own  mind ; he  died,  like  Ravaillac,  amidst 
fearful  tortures  which  were  no  longer  in  accord  with  public  senti- 
ment, and  caused  more  horror  than  awe.  France  had  ceased  to 
tremble  for  the  life  of  King  Louis  XV. 

For  one  instant  the  power  of  Madame  de  Pompadour  had 
appeared  to  be  shaken  : the  king,  in  his  terror,  would  not  see  her ; 

M.  de  Machault,  but  lately  her  protege,  had  even  brought  her 
orders  to  quit  the  palace.  Together  with  the  salutary  terrors  of 
death,  Louis  XV. ’s  repentance  soon  disappeared  ; the  queen  and 
the  dauphin  went  back  again  to  the  modest  and  pious  retirement 
in  which  they  passed  their  life ; the  marchioness  returned  in 
triumph  to  Versailles.  MM.  de  Machault  and  D’Argenson  were  Machault 
exiled  : the  latter,  who  had  always  been  hostile  to  the  favourite.  and  D’Ar- 
was  dismissed  with  extreme  harshness.  The  king  had  himself  fxilel1 
written  the  sealed  letter : “ Your  services  are  no  longer  required. 

I command  you  to  send  me  your  resignation  of  the  secretaryship 
of  State  for  war  and  of  all  that  appertains  to  the  posts  connected 
therewith,  and  to  retire  to  your  estate  of  Ormes.”  Madame  de 
Pompadour  was  avenged. 

The  war,  meanwhile,  continued : the  king  of  Prussia,  who  had 
at  first  won  a splendid  victory  over  the  Austrians  in  front  of 
Prague,  had  been  beaten  at  Kolin  and  forced  to  fall  back  on 
Saxony.  Marshal  d’Estrees,  slowly  occupying  Westphalia,  got  the 
duke  of  Cumberland  into  a corner  on  the  Weser,  and  defeated  him 

K K 


49 ^ History  of  France. 

The  duke  of  at  Hastenbeck.  He  was  then  superseded  by  Richelieu,  who  in 
Eichelieu.  0^^^  reaped  the  fruits  of  Marshal  d’Estrees’  successes  ; the 
electorate  of  Hanover  was  entirely  occupied  ; all  the  towns  opened 
their  gates  ; Hesse  Cassel,  Brunswick,  the  duchies  of  Yerden  and 
of  Bremen  met  with  the  same  fate.  The  marshal  levied  on  all 
the  conquered  countries  heavy  contributions,  of  which  he  pocketed 
a considerable  portion.  His  soldiers  called  him  “ Father  La 
Maraude.”  The  pavilion  of  Hanover  at  Paris  was  built  out  of  the 
spoils  of  Germany.  Meanwhile,  the  duke  of  Cumberland,  who 
had  taken  refuge  in  the  marshes  at  the  mouth  of  the  Elbe,  under 
the  protection  of  English  vessels,  was  demanding  to  capitulate ; 
his  offers  were  lightly  accepted.  On  the  8th  of  September,  through 
the  agency  of  Count  Lynar,  minister  of  the  king  of  Denmark,  the 
duke  of  Cumberland  and  the  marshal  signed  at  the  advanced  posts 
®°^enti°n  0f  phg  French  army  the  famous  convention  of  Closter-Severn.  The 
Severn.  king’s  troops  kept  all  the  conquered  country ; those  of  Hesse, 
Brunswick  and  Saxe-Gotha  returned  to  their  homes  ; the  Hano- 
verians were  to  be  cantoned  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Stade.  The 
marshal  had  not  taken  the  precaution  of  disarming  them. 

Incomplete  as  the  convention  was,  it  nevertheless  excited  great 
emotion  in  Europe.  The  duke  of  Cumberland  had  lost  the  military 
reputation  acquired  at  Fontenoy ; the  king  of  Prussia  remained 
alone  on  the  Continent,  exposed  to  all  the  efforts  of  the  allies  ; 
every  day  fresh  reverses  came  down  upon  him  : the  Russian  army 
had  invaded  the  Prussian  provinces  and  beaten  marshal  Schwald 
near  Memel ; twenty-five  thousand  Swedes  had  just  landed  in 
Pomerania.  Desertion  prevailed  amongst  the  troops  of  Frederick, 
recruited  as  they  often  were  from  amongst  the  vanquished. 

For  a moment,  indeed,  Frederick  had  conceived  the  idea  of 
Frede-  deserting  simultaneously  from  the  field  of  battle  and  from  life, 
rick  II.  “ My  dear  sister,”  he  wrote  to  the  margravine  of  Baireuth,  “ there 
plates Tui-  no  Por^  or  asylum  f°r  me  any  more  save  in  the  arms  of  death.” 

cide.  A letter  in  verse  to  the  marquis  of  Argens  pointed  clearly  to  the 
notion  of  suicide.  A firmer  purpose,  before  long,  animated  that 
soul,  that  strange  mixture  of  heroism  and  corruption. 

Fortune,  moreover,  seemed  to  be  relaxing  her  severities.  Under 
the  influence  of  the  hereditary  grand-duke,  a passionate  admirer  of 
Frederick  II.,  the  Russians  had  omitted  to  profit  by  their  victories; 
they  were  by  this  time  wintering  in  Poland,  which  was  abandoned 
to  all  their  exactions.  The  Swedes  had  been  repulsed  in  the  island 
of  Rugen,  Marshal  Richelieu  received  from  Versailles  orders  to 
remain  at  Halberstadt,  and  to  send  reinforcements  to  the  army  of 
the  prince  of  Soubise  ; it  was  for  this  latter  that  Madame  de  Pom- 


Popularity  of  Frederic  IT. 


499 


pad  our  was  reserving  the  honour  of  crushing  the  Great  Frederick. 
More  occupied  in  pillage  than  in  vigorously  pushing  forward  the 
war,  the  marshal  tolerated  a fatal  licence  amongst  his  troops. 

Whilst  the  plunder  of  Hanover  was  serving  the  purpose  of  feed- 
ing the  insensate  extravagance  of  Eichelieu  and  of  the  army, 
Frederick  II.  had  entered  Saxony,  hurling  back  into  Thuringia  the 
troops  of  Soubise  and  of  the  prince  of  Hildburghausen.  By  this 
time  the  allies  had  endured  several  reverses ; the  boldness  of  the 
king  of  Prussia’s  movements  bewildered  and  disquieted  officers  as 
well  as  soldiers.  On  the  3rd  of  November  the  Prussian  army 
was  all  in  order  of  battle  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Saale,  near 
Eosbach. 

Soubise  hesitated  to  attack  : being  a man  of  honesty  and  sense, 
he  took  into  account  the  disposition  of  his  army,  as  well  as  the 
bad  composition  of  the  allied  forces,  very  superior  in  number  to 
the  French  contingent.  The  command  belonged  to  the  duke  of 
Saxe-Hildburghausen,  who  had  no  doubf  of  success.  Orders  were 
given  to  turn  the  little  Prussian  army,  so  as  to  cut  off  its  retreat. 
All  at  once,  as  the  allied  troops  were  effecting  their  movement  to 
scale  the  heights,  the  king  of  Prussia,  suddenly  changing  front  by 
one  of  those  rapid  evolutions  to  which  he  had  accustomed  his  men, 
unexpectedly  attacked  the  French  in  flank,  without  giving  them 
time  to  form  in  order  of  battle.  The  batteries  placed  on  the  hills 
were  at  the  same  time  unmasked  and  mowed  down  the  infantry. 
The  German  troops  at  once  broke  up.  Soubise  sought  to  restore 
the  battle  by  cavalry  charges,  but  he  was  crushed  in  his  turn. 
The  rout  became  general,  the  French  did  not  rally  till  they  reached 
Erfurt ; they  had  left  eight  thousand  prisoners  and  three  thousand 
dead  on  the  field. 

The  news  of  the  defeat  at  Eosbach  came  bursting  on  France  like 
a clap  of  thunder ; Frederick  II.  had  renovated  affairs  and  spirits 
in  Germany ; the  day  after  Eosbach,  he  led  his  troops  into  Silesia 
against  Prince  Charles  of  Lorraine,  who  had  just  beaten  the  duke 
of  Bevern ; the  king  of  Prussia’s  lieutenants  were  displeased  and 
disquieted  at  such  audacity.  He  assembled  a council  of  war,  and 
then,  when  he  had  expounded  his  plans,  “ Farewell,  gentlemen,” 
said  he,  “ we  shall  soon  have  beaten  the  enemy  or  we  shall  have 
looked  on  one  another  for  the  last  time.”  On  the  3rd  of  December 
the  Austrians  were  beaten  at  Lissa  as  the  French  had  been  at 
Eosbach,  and  Frederick  II.  became  the  national  hero  of  Germany; 
the  protestant  powers,  but  lately  engaged,  to  their  sorrow,  against 
him,  made  up  to  the  conqueror  ; admiration  for  him  permeated 
even  the  French  army.  “ At  Paris,”  wrote  D’Alembert  to  Voltaire, 

K K 2 


Battle  of 
Rosbach 
(Nov.  3). 


Popularity 
of  Frede- 
rick II. 


500  History  of  France . 

“ everybody’s  head  is  turned  about  the  king  of  Prussia ; five 
months  ago  he  was  trailed  in  the  mire.” 

Bernis  The  counsels  of  Abbe  de  Bernis  had  for  some  time  past  been 
mforei^n  °f  Pac^e  > ^rom  a courf-abbe,  elegant  and  glib,  he  had  become,  on 
affairs.  the  25th  of  June,  minister  of  foreign  affairs.  But  Madame  de 
Pompadour  remained  faithful  to  the  empress.  In  the  month  of 
January,  1758,  Count  Clermont  was  appointed  general-in-chief  of 
the  army  of  Germany.  In  disregard  of  the  convention  of  Closter- 
Severn,  the  Hanoverian  troops  had  just  taken  the  field  again  under 
the  orders  of  the  grand-duke  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick : he  had 
already  recovered  possession  of  the  districts  of  Luneberg,  Zell,  a 
part  of  Brunswick  and  of  Bremen.  In  England,  Mr.  Pitt,  after- 
wards Lord  Chatham,  had  again  come  into  office;  the  king  of 
Prussia  could  henceforth  rely  upon  the  firmest  support  from  Great 
Britain. 

He  had  need  of  it.  A fresh  invasion  of  Russians,  aided  by  the 
savage  hordes  of  the  Zaporoguian  Cossacks,  was  devastating  Prussia; 
the  sanguinary  battle  of  Zorndorf,  forcing  them  to  fall  back  on 
Poland,  permitted  Frederick  to  hurry  into  Saxony,  which  was 
attacked  by  the  Austrians.  General  Daun  surprised  and  defeated 
him  at  Hochkirch ; in  spite  of  his  inflexible  resolution,  the  king 
of  Prussia  was  obliged  to  abandon  Saxony.  His  ally  and  rival, 
Ferdinand  of  Brunswick,  had  just  beaten  Count  Clermont  at 
Crevelt. 

The  count  The  new  commander-in-chief  of  the  king’s  armies,  prince  of  the 

of  Clermont  blood,  brother  of  the  late  Monsieur  le  Due,  abbot  commendatory  of 
dcf6d>tGd  2iX>  • • 

Crevelt.  St.  Germain-des-Pres,  “general  of  the  Benedictines,”  as  the  soldiers 

said,  had  brought  into  Germany,  together  with  the  favour  of 
Madame  de  Pompadour,  upright  intentions,  a sincere  desire  to 
restore  discipline,  and  some  great  allusions  about  himself.  De- 
feated at  Crevelt,  he  was  superseded  by  the  marquis  of  Contades. 
The  army  murmured ; they  had  no  confidence  in  their  leaders.  At 
Versailles,  Abbe  de  Bernis,  who  had  lately  become  a cardinal,  paid 
by  his  disgrace  for  the  persistency  he  had  shown  in  advising 
peace. 

The  duke  Madame  de  Pompadour  had  just  procured  for  herself  a support  in 
gCho^ul.  }ier  obstinate  bellicosity  : Bernis  was  superseded  in  the  ministry  of 
racter.  foreign  affairs  by  Count  Stainville,  who  was  created  duke  of  Choi- 
seul.  After  the  death  of  Marshal  Belle-Isle  he  exchanged  the  office 
for  that  of  minister  of  war ; with  it  he  combined  the  ministry  of 
the  marine.  The  foreign  affairs  were  entrusted  to  the  duke  of 
Praslin,  his  cousin.  The  power  rested  almost  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  the  duke  of  Choiseul.  Of  high  birth,  clever,  bold,  ambitious,  he 


Projected  invasion  of  England.  501 

had  but  lately  aspired  to  couple  the  splendour  of  successes  in  the 
fashionable  world  with  the  serious  preoccupations  of  politics  : his 
marriage  with  Mdlle.  Crozat,  a wealthy  heiress,  amiable  and  very 
much  smitten  with  him,  had  strengthened  his  position.  Elevated 
to  the  ministry  by  Madame  de  Pompadour,  and  as  yet  promoting 
her  views,  he  nevertheless  gave  signs  of  an  independent  spirit  and 
a proud  character  capable  of  exercising  authority  firmly  in  the  pre- 
sence and  the  teeth  of  all  obstacles.  France  hoped  to  find  once 
more  in  M.  de  Choiseul  a great  minister;  nor  were  her  hopes 
destined  to  be  completely  deceived. 

A new  and  secret  treaty  had  just  ri vetted  the  alliance  between 
Prance  and  Austria.  M.  de  Choiseul  was  at  the  same  time  dream- 
ing of  attacking  England  in  her  own  very  home,  thus  dealing  her 
the  most  formidable  of  blows.  The  preparations  were  considerable  : 

M.  de  Soubise  was  recalled  from  Germany  to  direct  the  army  of 
invasion.  He  was  to  be  seconded  in  his  command  by  the  duke  of 
Aiguillon,  to  whom,  rightly  or  wrongly,  was  attributed  the  honour  fcirosion 
of  having  repulsed  in  the  preceding  year  an  attempt  of  the  English  projected, 
at  a descent  upon  the  coasts  of  Brittany.  The  expedition  was 
ready,  there  was  nothing  to  wait  for  save  the  moment  to  go  out  of 
port,  but  Admiral  Hawke  was  cruising  before  Brest ; it  was  only  in 
the  month  of  November,  1759,  that  the  marquis  of  Conflans,  who 
commanded  the  fleet,  could  put  to  sea  with  twenty-one  vessels. 

Finding  himself  at  once  pursued  by  the  English  squadron,  he  sought 
shelter  in  the  difficult  channels  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yilaine.  The 
English  dashed  in  after  him.  A partial  engagement,  which  ensued, 
was  unfavourable ; and  the  commander  of  the  French  rear-guard, 

M.  St.  Andre  du  Yerger,  allowed  himself  to  be  knocked  to  pieces 
by  the  enemy’s  guns  in  order  to  cover  the  retreat.  The  admiral  ran 
ashore  in  the  bay  of  Le  Croisic  and  burnt  his  own  vessel ; seven 
ships  remained  blockaded  in  the  Yilaine.  M.  de  Conflans'  job,  as 
the  sailors  called  it  at  the  time,  was  equivalent  to  a battle 
lost  without  the  chances  and  the  honour  of  the  struggle.  The 
English  navy  was  triumphant  on  every  sea,  and  even  in  French 
waters. 

The  commencement  of  the  campaign  of  1759  had  been  brilliant  Campaign 
in  Germany : the  duke  of  Broglie  had  successfully  repulsed  the  of 
attack  made  by  Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  on  his  positions  at  Ber- 
gen ; the  prince  had  been  obliged  to  retire.  The  two  armies, 
united  under  M.  de  Contades,  invaded  Hesse  and  moved  upon  the 
Weser;  they  were  occupying  Minden  when  Duke  Ferdinand  threw 
himself  upon  them  on  the  1st  of  August.  The  action  of  the  two 
French  generals  was  badly  combined  and  the  rout  was  complete. 


The  Rus- 
sians occu- 
py Poland. 


Marshal 

Broglie 

general-in 

chief. 


Heroic 
death  of 
Chevalier 
d’Assas. 


502  History  of  France. 

The  necessity  for  peace  was  beginning  to  be  admitted  even  in 
Madame  de  Pompadour’s  little  cabinets. 

Maria  Theresa,  however,  was  in  no  hurry  to  enter  into  negotia- 
tions ; her  enemy  seemed  to  be  bending  at  last  beneath  the  weight 
of  the  double  Austrian  and  Russian  attack.  At  one  time  Frederick 
had  thought  that  he  saw  all  Germany  rallying  round  him  ; now, 
beaten  and  cantoned  in  Saxony,  with  the  Austrians  in  front  of  him, 
during  the  winter  of  1760,  he  was  everywhere  seeking  alliances 
and  finding  himself  everywhere  rejected  : “ I have  but  two  allies 
left,”  he  would  say,  “ valour  and  perseverance.”  Repeated  victories, 
gained  at  the  sword’s  point,  by  dint  of  boldness  and  in  the  extremity 
of  peril,  could  not  even  protect  Berlin.  The  capital  of  Prussia 
found  itself  constrained  to  open  its  gates  to  the  enemy,  on  the  sole 
condition  that  the  regiments  of  Cossacks  should  not  pass  the  line  of 
enclosure.  When  the  regular  troops  withdrew,  the  generals  had 
not  been  able  to  prevent  the  city  from  being  pillaged.  The  heroic 
efforts  of  the  king  of  Prussia  ended  merely  in  preserving  to  him  a 
foot- hold  in  Saxony.  The  Russians  occupied  Poland. 

Marshal  Broglie,  on  becoming  general-in-chief  of  the  French 
army,  had  succeeded  in  holding  his  own  in  Hesse ; he  frequently 
made  Hanover  anxious.  To  turn  his  attention  elsewhither  and  in 
hopes  of  deciding  the  French  to  quit  Germany,  the  hereditary 
prince  of  Brunswick  attempted  a diversion  on  the  Lower  Rhine ; 
he  laid  siege  to  Wesel  whilst  the  English  were  preparing  for  a 
descent  at  Antwerp.  Marshal  Broglie  detached  M.  de  Castries  to 
protect  the  city.  The  French  corps  had  just  arrived,  it  was  bivou- 
acking. On  the  night  between  the  15th  and  16th  of  October, 
Chevalier  d’Assas,  captain  in  the  regiment  of  Auvergne,  was  sent  to 
reconnoitre.  He  had  advanced  some  distance  from  his  men  and 
happened  to  stumble  upon  a large  force  of  the  enemy.  The  prince 
of  Brunswick  was  preparing  to  attack.  All  the  muskets  covered 
the  young  captain  : “ Stir,  and  thou’rt  a dead  man,”  muttered, 
threatening  voices.  Without  replying,  M.  d’Assas  collected  all  his 
strength  and  shouted  : “ Auvergne  ! Here  are  the  foe  ! ” At  the 
same  instant  he  fell  pierced  by  twenty  balls.  [Accounts  differ : 
but  this  is  the  tradition  of  the  Assas  family.]  The  action  thus 
begun  was  a glorious  one.  The  hereditary  prince  was  obliged  to 
abandon  the  siege  of  Wesel  and  to  re-cross  the  Rhine.  The  French 
divisions  maintained  their  positions. 

The  war  went  on  as  bloodily  as  monotonously  and  fruitlessly, 
but  the  face  of  Europe  had  lately  altered.  The  old  king  George  II., 
who  died  on  the  25th  of  September,  1760,  had  been  succeeded  on 
the  throne  of  England  by  his  grandson,  George  III.,  aged  twenty- 


The  “ Family  pact? 


503 


two,  the  first  really  native  sovereign  who  had  been  called  to  reign 
over  England  since  the  fall  of  the  Stuarts.  Pitt  still  reigned  over 
Parliament  and  over  England,  governing  a free  country  sovereign- 
masterlike. His*  haughty  prejudice  against  France  still  ruled  all 
the  decisions  of  the  English  government,  but  Lord  Bute,  the  young 
monarch’s  adviser,  was  already  whispering  pacific  counsels  destined 
ere  long  to  bear  fruit.  Pitt’s  dominion  was  tottering  when  the  first 
overtures  of  peace  arrived  in  London.  The  duke  of  Choiseul  pro- 
posed a congress.  He  at  the  same  time  negotiated  directly  with 
England,  and  seemed  to  be  resigned  to  the  most  humiliating  con- 
cessions, when  a new  actor  came  upon  the  scene  of  negotiation  ; 

France  no  longer  stood  isolated  face  to  face  with  triumphant 
England.  The  younger  branch  of  the  House  of  Bourbon  cast  into 
the  scale  the  weight  of  its  two  crowns  and  the  resources  of  its  navy  ; 
and  at  the  moment  when  Mr.  Pitt  was  haughtily  rejecting  the 
modest  ultimatum  of  the  French  minister,  the  treaty,  known  by  the 
name  of  Family  Pact,  was  signed  at  Paris  (August  15,  1761),  1?61* 

between  France  and  the  young  king  of  Spain,  Charles  III.  Pact*’ 

Never  had  closer  alliance  been  concluded  between  the  two  courts,  (Aug.  15). 
even  at  the  time  when  Louis  XIY.  placed  his  grandson  upon  the 
throne  of  Spain.  It  was  that  intimate  union  between  all  the 
branches  of  the  House  of  Bourbon  which  had  but  lately  been  the 
great  king’s  conception,  and  which  had  cost  him  so  many  efforts 
and  so  much  blood  ; for  the  first  time  it  was  becoming  favourable 
to  France ; the  noble  and  patriotic  idea  of  M.  de  Choiseul  found  an 
echo  in  the  soul  of  the  king  of  Spain ; the  French  navy,  ruined  and 
humiliated,  the  French  colonies,  threatened  and  all  but  lost,  found 
faithful  support  in  the  forces  of  Spain,  recruited  as  they  were  by  a 
long  peace.  The  king  of  the  Two  Sicilies  and  the  Infante  Duke  of 
Parma  entered  into  the  offensive  and  defensive  alliance,  but  it  was 
not  open  to  any  other  power  in  Europe  to  be  admitted  to  this 
family-union,  cemented  by  common  interests  more  potent  and  more 
durable  than  the  transitory  combinations  of  policy.  In  all  the  ports 
of  Spain  ships  were  preparing  to  put  to  sea.  Charles  III.  had  Spain  pre- 
undertaken to  declare  war  against  the  English  if  peace  were  not  pares  for 
concluded  before  the  1st  of  May,  1762.  France  promised  in  that 
case  to  cede  to  him  the  island  of  Minorca. 

Such  efforts,  however,  were  not  destined  to  be  attended  with 
success  ; before  the  year  had  rolled  by,  Cuba  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  English,  the  Philippines  were  ravaged  and  the  galleons  laden 
with  Spanish  gold  captured  by  British  ships.  The  unhappy  fate  of 
France  had  involved  her  generous  ally.  The  campaign  attempted 
against  Portugal,  always  hand  in  hand  with  England,  had  not  been 


504 


History  of  France . 


attended  with  any  result.  Martinique  had  shared  the  lot  of  Guada- 
loupe,  lately  conquered  by  the  English  after  a heroic  resistance. 
Canada  and  India  had  at  last  succumbed.  War  dragged  its  slow 
length  along  in  Germany.  The  brief  elevation  of  the  young 
czar  Peter  III.,  a passionate  admirer  of  the  Great  Frederick,  had 
delivered  the  king  of  Prussia  from  a dangerous  enemy,  and  pro- 
mised to  give  him  an  ally  equally  trusty  and  potent.  France  was 
exhausted,  Spain  discontented  and  angry ; negotiations  recommenced, 
on  what  disastrous  conditions  for  the  French  colonies  in  both  hemi- 
spheres has  already  been  remarked  : in  Germany  the  places  and 
districts  occupied  by  France  were  to  be  restored  ; Lord  Bate,  like 
his  great  rival,  required  the  destruction  of  the  port  of  Dunkerque. 

The  preliminaries  of  peace  had  been  already  signed  at  Fontaine- 
bleau on  the  3rd  of  November,  1762  ; it  was  received,  not  without 
ill-humour  on  the  part  of  England  but  with  a secret  feeling  of  relief  ; 
the  burthens  which  weighed  upon  the  country  had  been  increasing 
Errors  of  every  year.  In  1762,  Lord  Bute  had  obtained  from  Parliament 
the  French  450  millions  (18,000,000Z.)  to  keep  up  the  war:  “I  wanted  the 
meat11"  peace  to  be  a serious  and  a durable  one,”  said  the  English  minister 
in  reply  to  Pitt’s  attacks ; “ if  we  had  increased  our  demands,  it 
would  have  been  neither  the  one  nor  the  other.” 

M.  de  Choiseul  submitted  in  despair  to  the  consequences  of  the 
long- continued  errors  committed  by  the  Government  of  Louis  XV. 
“Were  I master,”  said  he,  “we  would  be  to  the  English  what 
Spain  was  to  the  Moors ; if  this  course  were  taken,  England  would 
be  destroyed  in  thirty  years  from  now.”  The  king  was  a better 
judge  of  his  weakness  and  of  the  general  exhaustion.  “ The  peace 
we  have  just  made  is  neither  a good  one  nor  a glorious  one,  nobody 
Choiseul  in  sees  that  better  than  I,”  he  said  in  his  private  correspondence; 
despair.  “ but,  under  such  unhappy  circumstances,  it  could  not  be  better,  and 
I answer  for  it  that  if  we  had  continued  the  war,  we  should  have 
made  a still  worse  one  next  year.”  All  the  patriotic  courage  and 
zeal  of  the  duke  of  Choiseul,  all  the  tardy  impulse  springing  from 
the  nation’s  anxieties  could  not  suffice  even  to  palliate  the  conse- 
quences of  so  many  years’  ignorance,  feebleness  and  incapacity  in 
succession. 

Prussia  and  Austria  henceforth  were  left  to  confront-  one  another, 
the  only  actors  really  interested  in  the  original  struggle,  the  last  to 
quit  the  battle-field  on  to  which  they  had  dragged  their  allies.  By 
an  unexpected  turn  of  luck,  Frederick  II.  had  for  a moment  seen 
Russia  becoming  his  ally ; a fresh  blow  came  to  wrest  from  him 
this  powerful  support.  The  czarina  Catherine  II.,  princess  of 
Anbalt-Zerbst  and  wife  of  the  czar  Peter  III.,  having  been  pro- 


505 


Resjlts  of  the  Seven  Years  war. 

' claimed  empress,  inaugurated  a new  policy,  equally  bold  and  astute, 
having  for  its  sole  aim,  unscrupulously  and  shamelessly  pursued, 
the  aggrandisement  and  consolidation  of  the  imperial  power : 

Russia  became  neutral  in  the  strife  between  Prussia  and  Austria.  The 
The  two  sovereigns,  left  without  allies  and  with  their  dominions 
drained  of  men  and  money,  agreed  to  a mutual  exchange  of  their  u 
conquests  ; the  boundaries  of  their  territories  once  more  became  as 
they  had  been  before  the  Seven  Years’  war.  England  alone  came 
triumphant  out  of  the  strife.  She  had  won  India  for  ever ; and, 
for  some  years  at  least,  civilized  America,  almost  in  its  entirety, 
obeyed  her  laws.  She  had  won  what  France  had  lost,  not  by 
superiority  of  arms,  or  even  of  generals,  but  by  the  natural  and 
proper  force  of  a free  people,  ably  and  liberally  governed. 

The  position  of  France  abroad,  at  the  end  of  the  Seven  Years’ 
war,  was  as  painful  as  it  was  humiliating  ; her  position  at  home 
was  still  more  serious  and  the  deep-lying  source  of  all  the  reverses 
which  had  come  to  overwhelm  the  French.  Slowly  lessened  by 
the  faults  and  misfortunes  of  King  Louis  XIY.’s  later  years,  the 
kingly  authority,  which  had  fallen,  under  Louis  XV.,  into  hands 
as  feeble  as  they  were  corrupt,  was  ceasing  to  inspire  the  nation 
with  the  respect  necessary  for  the  working  of  personal  power ; Position  of 
public  opinion  was  no  longer  content  to  accuse  the  favourite  and  France* 
the  ministers,  it  was  beginning  to  make  the  king  responsible  for 
the  evils  suffered  and  apprehended.  People  waited  in  vain  for  a 
decision  of  the  crown  to  put  a stop  to  the  incessantly  renewed 
struggles  between  the  Parliament  and  the  clergy.  Thus,  by 
mutually  weakening  each  other,  the  great  powers  and  the  great 
influences  in  the  State  were  wasting  away ; the  reverses  of  the 
French  arms,  the  loss  of  their  colonies  and  the  humiliating  peace  of 
Paris  aggravated  the  discontent.  In  default  of  good  government 
the  people  are  often  satisfied  with  glory.  This  consolation,  to 
which  the  French  nation  had  but  lately  been  accustomed,  failed  it 
all  at  once;  mental  irritation,  for  a long  time  silently  brooding, 
cantoned  in  the  writings  of  philosophers  and  in  the  quatrains  of 
rhymesters,  was  beginning  to  spread  and  show  itself  amongst  the 
nation ; it  sought  throughout  the  State  an  object  for  its  wrath : 
the  powerful  society  of  the  Jesuits  was  the  first  to  bear  all  the 
brunt  of  it. 

A French  Jesuit,  Father  Lavalette,  had  founded  a commercial  Proceed- 
house  at  Martinique.  Ruined  by  the  war,  he  had  become  bankrupt  1"gs. 
to  the  extent  of  three  millions  ; the  Order  having  refused  to  pay,  it  the  Jesuits 
was  condemned  by  the  Parliament  to  do  so.  The  responsibility  in  France 
was  declared  to  extend  to  all  the  members  of  the  Institute,  and  anga^°rtU" 


50  6 


History  of  France. 


A.D.  1767. 
And  in 
Spain. 


TheParlia- 
ments. 
Affair  of 
La  Chalo- 
tais. 


public  opinion  triumphed  over  the  condemnation  with  a “ quasi- 
indecent  ” joy,  says  the  advocate  Barbier.  Nor  was  it  content 
with  this  legitimate  satisfaction.  One  of  the  courts  which  had 
until  lately  been  most  devoted  to  the  Society  of  Jesus  had  just  set 
an  example  of  severity.  In  1759,  the  Jesuits  had  been  driven 
from  Portugal  by  the  marquis  of  Pombal,  King  Joseph  I.’s  all- 
powerful  minister;  their  goods  had  been  confiscated,  and  their 
principal,  Malagrida,  handed  over  to  the  Inquisition,  had  just  been 
burnt  as  a heretic  (Sept.  20,  1761). 

In  1767,  the  king  of  Spain,  Charles  III.,  less  moderate  than  the 
government  of  Louis  XV.,  expelled  with  violence  all  the  members 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus  from  his  territory,  thus  exciting  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Paris  to  fresh  severities  against  the  French  Jesuits,  and,  on 
the  20t,hof  July,  1773,  the  court  of  Pome  itself,  yielding  at  last  to 
pressure  from  nearly  all  the  sovereigns  of  Europe,  solemnly  pro- 
nounced the  dissolution  of  the  Order : “ Pecognizing  that  the 
members  of  this  Society  have  not  a little  troubled  the  Christian 
commonwealth,  and  that  for  the  welfare  of  Christendom  it  were 
better  that  the  Order  should  disappear.”  The  last  houses  still 
offering  shelter  to  the  Jesuits  were  closed  ; the  general,  Picci,  was 
imprisoned  at  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  and  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
which  had  been  so  powerful  for  nearly  three  centuries,  took  refuge 
in  certain  distant  lands,  seeking  in  oblivion  and  silence  fresh 
strength  for  the  struggle  which  it  was  one  day  to  renew. 

The  Parliaments  were  triumphant,  but  their  authority,  which 
seemed  never  to  have  risen  so  high  or  penetrated  so  far  in  the 
government  of  the  State,  was  already  tottering  to  its  base.  Once 
more  the  strife  was  about  to  begin  between  the  kingly  power  and  the 
magistracy,  whose  last  victory  was  destined  to  scarcely  precede  its 
downfall.  The  financial  embarrassments  of  the  State  were  growing 
more  serious  every  day  : to  the  debts  left  by  the  Seven  Years’  war 
were  added  the  new  wants  developed  by  the  necessities  of  com- 
merce and  by  the  progress  of  civilization.  The  refusal  of  several 
of  the  provincial  parliaments  to  register  the  edicts  promulgated  by 
the  crown  ended  in  the  arrest  of  five  of  the  members  of  the  Par- 
liament of  Pennes ; at  their  head  was  the  attorney-general,  M.  de 
la  Chalotais,  author  of  a very  remarkable  paper  against  the  Jesuits. 
It  was  necessary  to  form  at  St.  Malo  a King's  Chamber  to  try  the 
accused.  M.  de  Calonne,  an  ambitious  young  man,  the  declared 
foe  of  M.  de  la  Chalotais,  was  appointed  attorney-general  on  the 
commission.  He  pretended  to  have  discovered  grave  facts  against 
the  accused  ; he  was  suspected  of  having  invented  them.  Public 
feeling  was  at  its  height ; the  magistrates  loudly  proclaimed  the 


Madame  Dubarry. — Choiseul  dismissed . 507 

theory  of  Classes , according  to  which  all  the  Parliaments  of  France, 
responsible  one  for  another,  formed  in  reality  but  one  body,  dis- 
tributed by  delegation  throughout  the  principal  towns  of  the 
realm. 

Under  the  administration  of  the  duke  of  Duras,  the  agitation 
subsided  in  Brittany ; the  magistrates  who  had  resigned  resumed 
their  seats ; M.  de  La  Chalotais  and  his  son,  M.  de  Caradeuc,  alone 
remained  excluded  by  order  of  the  king.  The  restored  Parliament 
immediately  made  a claim  on  their  behalf,  accompanying  the  request 
with  a formal  accusation  against  the  duke  of  Aiguillon.  The 
states  supported  the  Parliament.  A royal  ordinance  forbade  any 
proceedings  against  the  duke  of  Aiguillon,  and  enjoined  silence  on 
the  parties.  Parliament  having  persisted,  and  declaring  that  the 
accusations  against  the  duke  of  Aiguillon  attached  (entachaient) 
his  honour,  Louis  XV.,  egged  on  by  the  chancellor,  M.  de  Mau- 
peou,  an  ambitious,  bold,  bad  man,  repaired  in  person  to  the  office 
and  had  all  the  papers  relating  to  the  procedure  removed  before  his 
eyes.  The  strife  was  becoming  violent : the  duke  of  Choiseul,  still 
premier  minister,  but  sadly  shaken  in  the  royal  favour,  disapproved 
of  the  severities  employed  against  the  magistracy.  All  the  blows 
dealt  at  the  Parliaments  recoiled  upon  him. 

King  Louis  XY.  had  taken  a fresh  step  in  the  shameful  a.D.  1764. 
irregularity  of  his  life;  cn  the  15th  of  April,  1764,  Madame  de  Death  of 
Pompadour  had  died,  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  of  heart-disease.  As  p^fpadour 
frivolous  as  she  was  deeply  depraved  and  base-minded  in  her  (April  15). 
calculating  easiness  of  virtue,  she  had  more  ambition  than  com- 
ported with  her  mental  calibre  or  her  force  of  character ; she  had 
taken  it  into  her  head*  to  govern,  by  turns  promoting  and  over- 
throwing the  ministers,  herself  proffering  advice  to  the  king, 
sometimes  to  good  purpose,  but  more  often  still  with  a levity 
as  fatal  as  her  obstinacy.  Less  clever,  less  ambitious  but  more 
potent  than  Madame  de  Pompadour  over  the  faded  passions  of  a 
monarch  aged  before  his  time,  the  new  favourite,  Madame  Dubarry, 
made  the  least  scrupulous  blush  at  the  lowness  of  her  origin 
and  the  irregularity  of  her  life.  It  was,  nevertheless,  in  her  circle 
that  the  plot  was  formed  against  the  duke  of  Choiseul.  Bold,  D.g 
ambitious,  restless,  presumptuous  sometimes  in  his  views  and  his  ofChoistul. 
hopes,  the  minister  had  his  heart  too  nearly  in  the  right  place  Madame 
and  too  proper  a spirit  to  submit  to  either  the  yoke  of  Madame  Dubairy* 
Dubarry  or  that  of  the  shameless  courtiers  who  made  use  of  her 
influence.  He  was  dismissed  on  the  24th  of  December,  1770,  and 
the  power  passed  into  the  hands  of  Chancellor  Maupeou,  the  new 
comptroller-general,  Abbe  Terray,  and  the  duke  of  Aiguillon. 


History  of  France . 


508 


No  analogy 
between 
the  English 
and  the 
French 
parlia- 
ments. 


“Maupeou 

Parlia- 

ment.” 


; With  M.  de  Choiseul  disappeared  the  sturdiest  prop  of  the 
Parliaments.  In  vain  had  the  king  ordered  the  magistrates  to 
resume  their  functions  and  administer  justice.  “ There  is  nothing 
left  for  your  Parliament,”  replied  the  premier  president,  “ but  to 
perish  with  the  laws,  since  the  fate  of  the  magistrates  should 
go  with  that  of  the  State.”  Madame  Dubarry,  on  a hint  from  her 
able  advisers,  had  caused  to  be  placed  in  her  apartments  a fine 
portrait  of  Charles  I.  by  Van  Dyck.  “France,”  she  was  always 
reiterating  to  the  king  with  vulgar  familiarity,  “Prance,  thy  Par- 
liament will  cut  off  thy  head  too  ! ” 

A piece  of  ignorant  confusion,  due  even  more  to  analogy  of 
name  than  to  the  generous  but  vain  efforts  often  attempted  by  the 
Prench  magistracy  in  favour  of  sound  doctrines  of  government. 
The  Parliament  of  Paris  fell  sitting  upon  curule  chairs,  like  the 
old  senators  of  Pome  during  the  invasion  of  the  Gauls ; the 
political  spirit,  the  collected  and  combative  ardour,  the  indomitable 
resolution  of  the  English  Parliament,  freely  elected  representatives 
of  a free  people,  were  unknown  to  the  Prench  magistracy. 
Despite  the  courage  and  moral  elevation  it  had  so  often  shown,  its 
strength  had  been  wasted  in  a constantly  useless  strife ; it  had 
withstood  Eichelieu  and  Mazarin  ; already  reduced  to  submission  by 
Cardinal  Pleury,  it  fell  beneath  the  equally  bold  and  skilful  blows 
of  Chancellor  Maupeou.  Amidst  the  rapid  decay  of  absolute  power, 
the  transformation  and  abasement  of  the  Parliaments  a skilful  and 
bold  attempt  to  restore  some  sort  of  force  and  unity  to  the  kingly 
authority.  It  was  thus  that  certain  legitimate  claims  had  been 
satisfied,  the  extent  of  jurisdictions  had  been  curtailed,  the  sale- 
ability  of  offices  had  been  put  down,  the  expenses  of  justice  had 
been  lessened. 

The  ferment  caused  by  this  measure  subsided  without  having 
reached  the  mass  of  the  nation  ; the  majority  of  the  princes  made 
it  up  with  the  court,  the  dispossessed  magistrates  returned  one  after 
another  to  Paris,  astonished  and  mortified  to  see  justice  adminis- 
tered without  them  and  advocates  pleading  before  the  Maupeou 
Parliament.  The  chancellor  had  triumphed  and  remained  master  : 
all  the  old  jurisdictions  were  broken  up,  public  opinion  was  already 
forgetting  them  ; it  was  occupied  with  a question  more  important 
still  than  the  administration  of  justice.  The  ever  increasing  dis- 
order in  the  finances  was  no  longer  checked  by  the  enregistering 
of  edicts;  the  comptroller-general,  Abbe  Terray,  had  recourse 
shamelessly  to  every  expedient  of  a bold  imagination  to  fill  the 
royal  treasury ; it  was  necessary  to  satisfy  the  ruinous  demands  of 
Madame  Dubarry  and  of  the  depraved  courtiers  who  thronged 


Death  in  the  Royal  Family  of  France.  509 

about  her.  Successive  bad  harvests  and  the  high  price  of  bread 
still  further  aggravated  the  position.  It  was  known  that  the  king 
had  a taste  for  private  speculation ; he  was  accused  of  trading  in 
grain  and  of  buying  up  the  stores  required  for  feeding  the  people. 

The  odious  rumour  of  this  famine-pad,  as  the  bitter  saying  was, 
soon  spread  amongst  the  mob.  Before  its  fall,  the  Parliament 
of  Bouen  had  audaciously  given  expression  to  these  dark  accusa- 
tions ; it  had  ordered  proceedings  to  be  taken  against  the  mono- 
polists. A royal  injunction  put  a veto  upon  the  prosecutions. 

Contempt  grew  more  and  more  profound : the  king  and  Madame 
Dubarry  by  their  shameful  lives,  Maupeou  and  Abbe  Terray  by- 
destroying  the  last  bulwarks  of  the  public  liberties,  were  digging 
with  their  own  hands  the  abyss  in  which  the  old  Trench  monarchy 
was  about  to  be  soon  engulfed. 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  dauphin  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-six  on  a.D.  1765. 
the  20th  of  December,  1765,  profoundly  regretted  by  the  bulk  of  Death  of 
the  nation,  who  knew  his  virtues  without  troubling  themselves, 
like  the  court  and  the  philosophers,  about  the  stiffness  of  his  (Dec  20), 
manners  and  his  complete  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  clergy.  The 
new  dauphin,  who  would  one  day  be  Louis  XVI.,  was  still  a child: 
the  king  had  him  brought  into  his  closet.  “ Poor  France  ! ” he 
said  sadly,  “ a king  of  fifty-five  and  a dauphin  of  eleven  ! ” The 
dauphiness  and  Queen  Mary  Leczinska  soon  followed  the  dauphin  of  the 
to  the  tomb  (1767,  1768).  The  king,  thus  left  alone,  and  scared  8 

by  the  repeated  deaths  around  him,  appeared  for  a while  to  be  and  of  the 
drawn  closer  to  his  daughters,  for  whom  he  had  always  retained  Queen 
some  sort  of  affection,  a mixture  of  weakness  and  habit.  One  of  ' '* 

them,  Madame  Louise,  who  was  deeply  pious,  left  him  to  enter  the 
convent  of  the  Carmelites  ; he  often  went  to  see  her,  and  granted  her 
all  the  favours  she  asked.  But  by  this  time  Madame  Dubarry  had 
become  all-powerful ; to  secure  to  her  the  honours  of  presentation 
at  court  the  king  personally  solicited  the  ladies  with  whom  he  was 
intimate  in  order  to  get  them  to  support  his  favourite  on  this  new 
stage ; when  the  youthful  Marie  Antoinette,  archduchess  of  Austria 
and  daughter  of  Maria  Theresa,  whose  marriage  the  duke  of 
Choiseul  had  negotiated,  arrived  in  France,  in  1770,  to  espouse  the 
dauphin,  Madame  Dubarry  appeared  alone  with  the  royal  family 
at  the  banquet  given  at  La  Muette  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage. 

After  each  reaction  of  religious  fright  and  transitory  repentance, 
after  each  warning  from  God  that  snatched  him  for  an  instant  from 
the  depravity  of  his  life,  the  king  plunged  more  deeply  than  before 
into  shame.  Madame  Dubarry  was  to  reign  as  much  as  Louis  XV. 

Before  his  fall  the  duke  of  Choiseul  had  made  a last  effort  to 


510  History  of  France . 

revive  abroad  that  fortune  of  France  which  he  saw  sinking  at  home 
without  his  being  able  to  apply  any  effective  remedy.  He  had 
State  of  vainly  ^tempted  to  give  colonies  once  more  to  France  by  founding 
the  French  in  French  Guiana  settlements  which  had  been  unsuccessfully 
colonies,  attempted  by  a Rouennese  Company  as  early  as  1634.  The 
enterprise  was  badly  managed  ; the  numerous  colonists,  of  very 
diverse  origin  and  worth,  were  cast  without  resources  upon  a terri- 
tory as  unhealthy  as  fertile.  No  preparations  had  been  made 
to  receive  them ; the  majority  died  of  disease  and  want ; New 
France  henceforth  belonged  to  the  English,  and  the  great  hopes 
which  had  been  raised  of  replacing  it  in  Equinoctial  France > as 
Guiana  was  named,  soon  vanished  never  to  return.  An  attempt 
made  about  the  same  epoch  at  St.  Lucie  was  attended  with  the  same 
result.  The  great  ardour  and  the  rare  aptitude  for  distant  enter- 
prises which  had  so  often  manifested  themselves  in  France  from  the 
fifteenth  to  the  seventeenth  century  seemed  to  be  henceforth  ex- 
tinguished. Only  the  colonies  of  the  Antilles,  which  had  escaped 
from  the  misfortunes  of  war,  and  were  by  this  time  recovered  from 
their  disasters,  offered  any  encouragement  to  the  patriotic  efforts  of 
the  duke  of  Choiseul.  He  had  been  more  fortunate  in  Europe  than 
in  the  colonies. 

Corsica,  whose  independence  had  been  gloriously  but  fruitlessly 
defended  by  Pascal  Paoli,  was  to  be  the  last  conquest  of  the  old 
French  monarchy.  Great  or  little,  magnificent  or  insignificant, 
from  Richelieu  to  the  duke  of  Choiseul,  France  had  managed  to 
preserve  her  territorial  acquisitions ; in  America  and  in  Asia, 
Louis  XV.  had  shamefully  lost  Canada  and  the  Indies ; in  Europe, 
the  diplomacy  of  his  ministers  had  given  to  the  kingdom  Lorraine 
and  Corsica.  The  day  of  insensate  conquests  ending  in  a diminu- 
tion of  territory  had  not  yet  come.  In  the  great  and  iniquitous 
dismemberment  which  was  coming,  namely  the  partition  of  Poland, 
France  was  to  have  no  share.  The  political  annihilation  of 
Louis  XV.  in  Europe  had  been  completed  by  the  dismissal  of  the 
duke  of  Choiseul. 

The  public  conscience  is  lightened  by  lights  which  ability,  even 
Partition  when  triumphant,  can  never  altogether  obscure.  The  Great 
of  Poland,  and  the  Empress  Catherine  have  to  answer  before  history 

for  a crime  which  they  made  acceptable  to  the  timorous  jealously  of 
Maria  Theresa  and  to  the  youthful  ambition  of  her  son. 

France  did  not  do  anything  and  could  not  do  anything ; the 
king’s  secret  negotiators,  as  well  as  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs, 
had  been  tricked  by  the  allied  powers.  “ Ah  ! if  Choiseul  had 
been  here  1 ” exclaimed  King  Louis  XV.,  it  is  said,  when  he  heard 


Partition  of  Poland. 


5U 

of  the  partition  of  Poland.  The  duke  of  Choiseul  would  no  doubt 
have  been  more  clear-sighted  and  better  informed  than  the  duke  of 
Aiguillon,  but  his  policy  could  have  done  no  good.  Frederick  II. 
knew  that.  “ France  plays  so  small  a part  in  Europe,”  he  wrote  to 
Count  Solms,  “ that  I merely  tell  you  about  the  impotent  efforts  of 
the  French  ministry’s  envy  just  to  have  a laugh  at  them  and  to  let 
you  see  in  what  visions  the  consciousness  of  its  own  weaknesses  is 
capable  of  leading  that  court  to  indulge.”  “ Oh,  where  is  Poland  ? ” 

Madame  Dubarry  had  said  to  Count  Wicholorsky,  King  Stanislaus 
Augustus’  charge  d’affaires,  who  was  trying  to  interest  her  in  the 
misfortunes  of  his  country. 

The  partition  of  Poland  was  barely  accomplished,  and  already 
King  Louis  XV.,  for  a moment  roused  by  the  audacious  aggression  Lethargy 
of  the  German  courts,  had  sunk  back  into  the  shameful  lethargy  of  of 

his  life.  When  Madame  Louise,  the  pious  Carmelite  of  St.  Denis,  Louis  XV. 
succeeded  in  awakening  in  her  father’s  soul  a gleam  of  religious 
terror,  the  courtiers  in  charge  of  the  royal  pleasures  redoubled  their 
efforts  to  distract  the  king  from  thoughts  so  perilous  for  their  own 
fortunes.  Louis  XV.,  fluctuating  between  remorse  and  depravity, 
ruled  by  Madame  Dubarry,  bound  hand  and  foot  to  the  triumvirate 
of  Chancellor  Maupeou,  Abbe  Terray  and  the  duke  of  Aiguillon, 
who  were  consuming  between  them  in  his  name  the  last  remnants 
of  absolute  power,  fell  suddenly  ill  of  small-pox.  The  princesses, 
his  daughters,  had  never  had  that  terrible  disease,  the  scourge  and 
terror  of  all  classes  of  society,  yet  they  bravely  shut  themselves 
up  with  the  king,  lavishing  their  attentions  upon  him  to  the  last 
gasp.  Death,  triumphant,  had  vanquished  the  favourite  : Madame 
Dubarry  was  sent  away  as  soon  as  the  nature  of  the  malady  had 
declared  itself.  The  king  charged  his  grand  almoner  to  ask  pardon 
of  the  courtiers  for  the  scandal  he  had  caused  them.  “ Kings  owe 
no  account  of  their  conduct  save  to  God  only,”  he  had  often 
repeated  to  comfort  himself  for  the  shame  of  his  life.  “It  is 
just  He  whom  I fear,”  said  Maria  Theresa,  pursued  by  remorse  for 
the  partition  of  Poland. 

Louis  XV.  died  on  the  10th  of  May,  1774,  in  his  sixty-fourth  A.D.  1774. 
year,  after  reigning  fifty- nine  years,  despised  by  the  people  who  had  Jq^xv 
not  so  long  ago  given  him  the  name  of  Well-beloved,  and  whose  (May  10). 
attachment  he  had  worn  out  by  his  cold  indifference  about  affairs 
and  the  national  interests  as  much  as  by  the  irregularities  of  his  life. 

With  him  died  the  old  French  monarchy,  that  proud  power  which 
had  sometimes  ruled  Europe  whilst  always  holding  a great  position 
therein.  Henceforth  France  was  marching  towards  the  unknown, 
tossed  about  as  she  was  by  divers  movements,  which  were  mostly 


512 


History  of  France . 


Literature. 


Montes- 

quieu. 


hostile  to  the  old  state  of  things,  blindly  and  confusedly  as  yet,  but, 
under  the  direction  of  masters  as  inexperienced  as  they  were 
daring,  full  of  frequently  noble  though  nearly  always  extravagant 
and  reckless  hopes,  all  founded  on  a thorough  reconstruction  of 
the  bases  of  society  and  of  its  ancient  props.  Far  more  even  than 
the  monarchy,  at  the  close  of  Louis  XV. ’s  reign,  did  religion  find 
itself  attacked  and  threatened  ; the  blows  struck  by  the  philosophers 
at  fanaticism  recoiled  upon  the  Christian  faith,  transiently  liable 
here  below  for  human  errors  and  faults  over  which  it  is  destined  to 
triumph  in  eternity. 

Xo  where  and  at  no  epoch  had  literature  shone  with  so  vivid  a 
lustre  as  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV. ; never  has  it  been  in  a 
greater  degree  the  occupation  and  charm  of  mankind,  never  has  it 
left  nobler  and  rarer  models  behind  it  for  the  admiration  and  imita- 
tion of  the  coming  race : the  writers  of  Louis  XV.’s  age,  for  all 
their  brilliancy  and  all  their  fertility,  themselves  felt  their  inferi- 
ority in  respect  of  their  predecessors.  Voltaire  confessed  as  much 
with  a modesty  which  was  by  no  means  familiar  to  him.  Inimit- 
able in  their  genius,  Corneille,  Bossuet,  Pascal,  Moliere,  left  their 
imprint  upon  the  generation  that  came  after  them ; it  had  judg- 
ment enough  to  set  them  by  acclamation  in  the  ranks  of  the 
classics ; in  their  case,  greatness  displaced  time.  Voltaire  took 
Racine  for  model ; La  Motte  imagined  that  he  could  imitate  La  Fon- 
taine. The  illustrious  company  of  great  minds  which  surrounded  the 
throne  of  Louis  XIV.  and  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  lasting  splen- 
dour of  his  reign  had  no  reason  to  complain  of  ingratitude  on  the 
part  of  its  successors ; but,  from  the  pedestal  to  which  they  raised  it, 
it  exercised  no  potent  influence  upon  new  thought  and  new  passions. 

Montesquieu,  despite  the  wise  moderation  of  his  great  and  strong 
mind,  was  the  first  to  awaken  that  yearning  for  novelty  and  reforms 
which  had  been  silently  brooding  at  the  bottom  of  men’s  hearts. 
Born  in  1689  at  the  castle  of  La  Brede,  near  Bordeaux,  Montes- 
quieu really  belonged,  in  point  of  age,  to  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV., 
of  which  he  bears  the  powerful  imprint  even  amidst  the  boldness 
of  his  thoughts  and  expressions.  Grandeur  is  the  distinctive  cha- 
racteristic of  Montesquieu’s  ideas  as  it  is  of  the  seventeenth  century 
altogether.  In  1721,  when  he  still  had  his  seat  on  the  fleurs-de-lis, 
he  had  published  his  Lettres  per  seines,  an  imaginary  trip  of  two  exiled 
Parsees,  freely  criticizing  Paris  and  France.  The  book  appeared 
under  the  Regency,  and  bears  the  imprint  of  it  in  the  licentious- 
ness of  the  descriptions  and  the  witty  irreverence  of  the  criticisms. 
Sometimes,  however,  the  future  gravity  of  Montesquieu’s  genius 
reveals  itself  amidst  the  shrewd  or  biting  judgments. 


Montesquieu.  5 1 3 

The  success  of  the  Lettres persanes  was  great ; Montesquieu  had 
said  what  many  people  thought  without  daring  to  express  it ; the 
doubt  which  was  nascent  in  his  mind,  and  which  he  could  only 
withstand  by  an  effort  of  will,  the  excessive  freedom  of  the  tone 
and  of  the  style  scared  the  authorities,  however ; when  he  wanted 
to  get  into  the  French  Academy,  in  the  place  of  M.  de  Sacy, 

Cardinal  Fleury  opposed  it  formally.  It  was  only  on  the  24th 
of  January,  1728,  that  Montesquieu,  recently  elected,  delivered 
his  reception  speech.  He  at  once  set  out  on  some  long  travels ; 
and  in  1734,  he  published  his  Considerations  sur  les  causes  de  la  The  “Con- 
grandeur  et  de  la  decadence  des  Romains.  Montesquieu  did  not,  sidera- 
as  Bossuet  did,  seek  to  hit  upon  God’s  plan  touching  the  destinies 
of  mankind  : he  discovers  in  the  virtues  and  vices  of  the  Romans 
themselves  the  secret  of  their  triumphs  and  of  their  reverses.  The 
contemplation  of  antiquity  inspires  him  with  language  often 
worthy  of  Tacitus,  curt,  nervous,  powerful  in  its  grave  simplicity. 

Montesquieu  thus  performed  the  prelude  to  the  great  work  of  his 
life  : he  had  been  working  for  twenty  years  at  the  Esprit  des  lois , 
when  he  published  it  in  1748.  “In  the  course  of  twenty  years,” 
he  says,  “ I saw  my  work  begin,  grow,  progress  and  end.”  He  had 
placed  as  the  motto  to  his  book  this  Latin  phrase,  which  at  first 
excited  the  curiosity  of  readers : Prolem  sine  matre  creatam 
( Offspring  begotten  without  a mother).  “Young  man,”  said  Mon- 
tesquieu, by  this  time  advanced  in  years,  to  M.  Suard  (afterwards 
perpetual  secretary  to  the  French  Academy),  “ young  man,  when 
a notable  book  is  written,  genius  is  its  father  and  liberty  its 
mother ; that  is  why  I wrote  upon  the  title-page  of  my  work : 

Prolem  sine  matre  creatam .” 

It  was  liberty  at  the  same  time  as  justice  that  Montesquieu  The 
sought  and  claimed  in  his  profound  researches  into  the  laws  which 
have  from  time  immemorial  governed  mankind ; that  new  instinc- 
tive idea  of  natural  rights,  those  new  yearnings  which  were  begin- 
ning to  dawn  in  all  hearts,  remained  as  yet,  for  the  most  part,  upon 
the  surface  of  their  minds  and  of  their  lives ; what  was  demanded 
at  that  time  in  France  was  liberty  to  speak  and  write  rather  than 
to  act  and  govern.  Montesquieu,  on  the  contrary,  went  to  the 
bottom  of  things,  and,  despite  the  natural  moderation  of  his  mind, 
he  propounded  theories  so  perilous  for  absolute  power  that  he  dared 
not  have  his  book  printed  at  Paris,  and  brought  it  out  in  Geneva ; 
its  suceess  was  immense : before  his  death,  Montesquieu  saw 
twenty-one  French  editions  published  and  translations  in  all  the 
languages  of  Europe.  “ Mankind  had  lost  its  title-deeds,”  says 
Voltaire  : “ Montesquieu  recovered  and  restored  them.” 


L L 


History  of  France \ 


5H 


Fonte 

nelle. 


A popular 
expounder 


The  intense  labour,  the  immense  courses  of  reading,  to  which 
Montesquieu  had  devoted  himself,  had  exhausted  his  strength  ; he 
died  on  the  10th  of  February,  1755,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  the  philosophers,  whose  way  he  had 
prepared  before  them  without  having  ever  belonged  to  their 
number.  Diderot  alone  followed  his  bier.  Fontenelle,  nearly  a 
hundred  years  old,  was  soon  to  follow  him  to  the  tomb. 

Bom  at  Rouen  in  February,  1657,  and  nephew  of  Corneille  on 
the  mother’s  side,  Fontenelle  did  not  receive  from  nature  any  of 
the  unequal  and  sublime  endowments  which  have  fixed  the 
dramatic  crown  for  ever  upon  the  forehead  of  Corneille ; but  he 
inherited  the  wit,  and  bel  esprit  which  the  great  tragedian  hid 
beneath  the  splendours  of  his  genius.  When,  at  forty  years  of  age, 
he  became  perpetual  secretary  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  he  had 
already  written  his  book  on  the  Pluralite  des  Mondes , the  first 
attempt  at  that  popularization  of  science  which  has  spread  so  since 
then.  “ I believe  more  and  more,”  he  said,  “ that  there  is  a certain 
genius  which  has  never  yet  been  out  of  our  Europe,  or,  at  least, 
has  not  gone  far  out  of  it.”  This  genius , clear,  correct,  precise,  the 
genius  of  method  and  analysis,  the  genius  of  Descartes,  wdiich  was 
at  a later  period  that  of  Buffon  and  of  Cuvier,  was  admirably 
of  science,  expounded  and  developed  by  Fontenelle  for  the  use  of  the 
ignorant.  He  wrote  for  society  and  not  for  scholars,  of  whose 
labours  and  discoveries  he  gave  an  account  to  society.  His  extracts 
from  the  labours  of  the  Academy  of  Science,  and  his  eulogies  of 
the  Academicians  are  models  of  lucidness  under  an  ingenious  and 
subtle  form,  rendered  simple  and  strong  by  dint  of  wit.  “ There 
is  only  truth  that  persuades,”  he  used  to  say,  “ and  even  without 
requiring  to  appear  with  all  its  proofs.  It  makes  its  way  so 
naturally  into  the  mind,  that,  when  it  is  heard  for  the  first  time, 
it  seems  as  if  one  were  merely  remembering.” 

Equitable  and  moderate  in  mind,  prudent  and  cold  in  tempera- 
ment, Fontenelle  passed  his  life  in  discussion  without  ever  stum- 
bling into  disputes  ; his  very  courage  and  trustiness  bore  this  stamp 
of  discreet  moderation.  When  the  Abbe  St.  Pierre  was  excluded 
from  the  French  Academy  under  Louis  XV.  for  having  dared  to 
His  liberal  criticize  the  government  of  Louis  XIV.,  one  single  ball  in  the  urn 
views,  protested  against  the  unjust  pressure  exercised  by  Cardinal  Fleury 
upon  the  society.  They  all  asked  one  another  who  the  rebel  was ; 
each  defended  himself  against  having  voted  against  the  minis- 
ter’s order ; Fontenelle  alone  kept  silent ; when  everybody  had 
exculpated  himself,  “ It  must  be  myself,  then,”  said  Fontenelle 
half  aloud. 


Voltaire . 


515 


So  much  cool  serenity  and  so  much  taste  for  noble  intellectual 
works  prolonged  the  existence  of  Fontenelle  beyond  the  ordinary 
limits  ; he  was  ninety-nine  and  not  yet  .weary  of  life  : “ If  I might 
hut  reach  the  strawberry-season  once  more ! ” he  had  said.  He 
died  at  Paris  on  the  9th  of  January,  1759  ; with  him  disappeared 
what  remained  of  the  spirit  and  traditions  of  Louis  XIY.’s  reign. 
Montesquieu  and  Fontenelle  were  the  last  links  which  united  the 
seventeenth  century  to  the  new  era.  The  flood  of  free-thinking 
had  spared  Montesquieu  and  Fontenelle,  it  was  about  to  carry  away 
Voltaire  almost  as  far  as  Diderot. 

Born  at  Paris  on  the  21st  of  November,  1694,  Francois  Marie  Voltaire. 
Arouet  de  Voltaire  was  sent  to  the  college  of  Louis-le- Grand,  which 
at  that  time  belonged  to  the  Jesuits.  As  early  as  then  little 
Arouet,  who  was  weak  and  in  delicate  health,  but  withal  of  a very 
lively  intelligence,  displayed  a freedom  of  thought  and  a tendency 
to  irreverence  which  already  disquieted  and  angered  his  masters. 

Father  Lejay  jumped  from  his  chair  and  took  the  boy  by  the 
collar,  exclaiming,  “ Wretch,  thou  wilt  one  of  these  days  raise  the 
standard  of  Deism  in  France  ! ” Father  Pallou,  his  confessor, 
accustomed  to  read  the  heart,  said  as  he  shook  his  head,  “This 
child  is  devoured  with  a thirst  for  celebrity.”  Under  a despotic 
government,  this  awkward  disposition  must  necessarily  lead  to 
painful  consequences  ; it  was  within  the  precincts  of  the  Bastille 
that  young  Arouet  wrote  the  first  part  of  the  poem  called  La 
Henriade , under  the  title  of  La  Ligue  ; when  he  at  last  obtained 
his  release  in  April,  1718,  he  at  the  same  time  received  orders  to 
reside  at  Chatenay,  where  his  father  had  a country  house.  It  was 
on  coming  out  of  the  Bastille  that  the  poet  took,  from  a small 
family-estate,  that  name  of  Voltaire  which  he  was  to  render  so 
famous.  “ I have  been  too  unfortunate  under  my  former  name,” 
he  wrote  to  Mdlle.  du  Noyer,  “ I mean  to  see  whether  this  will 
suit  me  better.” 

The  players  were  at  that  time  rehearsing  the  tragedy  of  GZdipe, 
which  was  performed  on  the  18th  of  November,  1718,  with  great 
success.  The  daring  flights  of  philosophy  introduced  by  the  poet 
into  this  profoundly  and  terribly  religious  subject  excited  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  roues  ; Voltaire  was  well  received  by  the  Regent,  actg  Qf 
who  granted  him  an  honorarium.  “ Monseigneur,”  said  Voltaire,  impru- 

“I  should  consider  it  very  kind  if  his  Majesty  would  be  pleased  dence* 
to  provide  henceforth  for  my  board,  but  I beseech  your  Highness 
to  provide  no  more  for  my  lodging.”  Voltaire’s  acts  of  imprudence 
were  destined  more  than  once  to  force  him  into  leaving  Paris ; he 
all  his  life  preserved  such  a horror  of  prison  that  it  made  him 

L L 2 


Si6 


History  of  France . 


commit  more  than  one  platitude.  “ 1 have  a mortal  aversion  for 
prison,”  he  wrote  in  1734;  once  more,  however,  he  was  to  he  an 
inmate  of  the  Bastille.  0 

Launched  upon  the  most  brilliant  society,  everywhere  courted 
and  flattered,  Voltaire  was  constantly  at  work,  displaying  the 
marvellous  suppleness  of  his  mind  by  shifting  from  the  tragedies 
of  Artemise  and  Marianne , which  failed,  to  the  comedy  of  L' Indis- 
crete to  numerous  charming  epistles,  and  lastly  to  the  poem  of  La 
Henriade , which  he  went  on  carefully  revising,  reading  fragments 
of  it  as  he  changed  his  quarters  from  castle  to  castle. 

England”1  ^^er  another  visit  to  the  Bastille,  he  passed  three  years  in 
England,  engaged  in  learning  English  and  finishing  La  Henriade, 
which  he  published  by  subscription  in  1727.  Touched  by  the 
favour  shown  by  English  society  to  the  author  and  the  poem,  he 
dedicated  to  the  queen  of  England  his  new  work,  which  was 
entirely  consecrated  to  the  glory  of  Erance ; three  successive 
editions  were  disposed  of  in  less  than  three  weeks.  Lord  Boling- 
broke,  having  returned  to  England  and  been  restored  to  favour,  did 
potent  service  to  his  old  friend,  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  that 
Eeturns  to  literary  society  in  which  Pope  and  Swift  held  sway.  When,  in  the 
France.  month  of  March,  1729,  Voltaire  at  last  obtained  permission  to 
revisit  Erance,  he  had  worked  much  without  bringing  out  anything. 
The  riches  he  had  thus  amassed  appeared  ere  long : before  the  end 
of  the  year  1731  he  put  Brutus  on  the  stage,  and  began  his  publi- 
cation of  the  Histoire  de  Charles  XII. ; he  was  at  the  same  time 
giving  the  finishing  touch  to  Hnphyle  and  La  Mort  de  Cesar. 
Zaire , written  in  a few  weeks,  was  played  for  the  first  time  on  the 
13th  of  August,  1732. 

Voltaire  had  just  inaugurated  the  great  national  tragedy  of  his 
country,  as  he  had  likewise  given  it  the  only  national  epic 
attempted  in  France  since  the  Chansons  de  geste  ; by  one  of  those 
equally  sudden  and  imprudent  reactions  to  which  he  was  always 
subject,  it  was  not  long  before  he  himself  damaged  his  own  success 
by  the  publication  of  his  Lettres  philosophiques  sur  les  Anglais. 

The  light  and  mocking  tone  of  these  letters,  the  constant  com- 
parison between  the  two  peoples,  with  many  a gibe  at  the  English, 
but  always  turning  to  their  advantage,  the  preference  given  to  the 
philosophical  system  of  Newton  over  that  of  Descartes,  lastly  the 
attacks  upon  religion  concealed  beneath  the  cloak  of  banter — all 
this  was  more  than  enough  to  ruffle  the  tranquillity  of  Cardinal 
Eleury.  The  book  was  brought  before  Parliament : Voltaire  was 
disquieted.  He  ran,  first,  for  refuge  to  Bale,  then  to  the  castle  of 
Cirey,  to  the  marchioness  du  Chatelet’s,  a woman  as  learned  as  she 


Madame  du  Chdtelet. 


5 17 


was  impassioned,  devoted  to  literature,  physics  and  mathematics,  Voltaire 
and  tenderly  attached  to  Voltaire,  whom  she  enticed  along  with  ]£a(iam0 
her  into  the  paths  of  science.  For  fifteen  years  Madame  du  du  Cha- 
Chatelet  and  Cirey  ruled  supreme  over  the  poet’s  life.  There  telet‘ 
began  a course  of  metaphysics,  tales,  tragedies ; Alzire,  Merope , 
Mahomet  were  composed  at  Cirey  and  played  with  ever  increasing 
success.  Pope  Benedict  XIV.  had  accepted  the  dedication  of 
Mahomet , which  Voltaire  had  addressed  to  him  in  order  to  cover 
the  freedoms  of  his  piece.  Every  now  and  then,  terrified  in 
consequence  of  some  bit  of  anti-religious  rashness,  he  took  flight, 
going  into  hiding  at  one  time  to  the  court  of  Lorraine  beneath 
the  wing  of  King  Stanislaus,  at  another  time  in  Holland,  at  a 
palace  belonging  to  the  king  of  Prussia,  the  Great  Frederick. 

Madame  du  Chatelet  died  on  the  4th  of  September,  1749,  at 
Lunev  ille,  where  she  then  happened  to  he  with  Voltaire.  Their 
intimacy  had  experienced  many  storms,  yet  the  blow  was  a cruel 
one  for  the  poet ; in  losing  Madame  du  Chatelet  he  was  losing  the 
centre  and  the  guidance  of  his  life.  For  a while  he  spoke  of 
burying  himself  with  Dom  Calmet  in  the  abbey  of  Senones ; then 
he  would  he  off  to  England : he  ended  by  returning  to  Paris,  sum- 
moning to  his  side  a widowed  niece,  Madame  Denis,  a woman  of 
coarse  wit,  and  full  of  devotion  to  him,  who  was  fond  of  the  drama, 
and  played  her  uncle’s  pieces  on  the  little  theatre  which  he  had 
fitted  up  in  his  rooms. 

Despite  the  lustre  of  that  fame  which  was  attested  by  the 
frequent  attacks  of  his  enemies  as  much  as  by  the  admiration  of 
his  friends,  Voltaire  was  displeased  with  his  sojourn  at  Paris,  and 
weary  of  the  Court  and  the  men  of  letters.  The  king  had  always 
exhibited  towards  him  a coldness  which  the  poet’s  adulation  had 
not  been  able  to  overcome ; he  had  pffended  Madame  de  Pompa- 
dour, who  had  but  lately  been  well  disposed  towards  him ; the 
religious  circle,  ranged  around  the  queen  and  the  dauphin,  was 
of  course  hostile  to  him.  “The  place  of  historiographer  to  the 
king  was  hut  an  empty  title,”  he  says  himself : “ I wanted  to  make 
it  a reality  by  working  at  the  history  of  the  war  of  1741  ; hut,  in 
spite  of  my  work,  Moncrif  had  admittance  to  his  Majesty  and  I 
had  not.” 

In  tracing  the  tragic  episodes  of  the  war,  Voltaire,  set  as  his  Vauve- 
mind  was  on  the  royal  favour,  had  wanted  in  the  first  place  to  pay  na*§Tu®s- 
homage  to  the  friends  he  had  lost.  It  was  in  the  “ eulogium  of 
the  officers  who  fell  in  the  campaign  of  1741  ” that  he  touchingly 
called  attention  to  the  memory  of  Vauvenargues.  He,  horn  at  Aix 
on  the  6th  of  August,  1715,  died  of  his  wounds,  at  Paris,  in  1747. 


5i8 


History  of  France. 


His  views 
on  philc- 
sophy. 


Voltaire 
and  the 
king  of 
Prussia. 


Poor  and  proud,  resigning  himself  with  a sigh  to  idleness  and 
obscurity,  the  young  officer  had  written  merely  to  relieve  his  mind. 
His  friends  had  constrained  him  to  publish  a little  hook,  one  only, 
the  Introduction  a la  connaissance  de  V esprit  liumain,  suivie  de 
reflexions  et  de  maximes.  Its  success  justified  their  affectionate 
hopes  : delicate  minds  took  keen  delight  in  the  first  essays  of  Yau- 
venargues.  Hesitating  between  religion  and  philosophy,  with  a 
palpable  leaning  towards  the  latter,  ill  and  yet  bravely  bearing 
the  disappointments  and  sufferings  of  his  life,  Yauvenargues  was 
already  expiring  at  thirty  years  of  age,  when  Provence  was  in- 
vaded by  the  enemy.  The  humiliation  of  his  country  and  the 
peril  of  his  native  province  roused  him  from  his  tranquil  melan- 
choly : “ All  Provence  is  in  arms,”  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Fauris 
de  St.  Yincent,  “ and  here  am  I quite  quietly  in  my  chimney- 
corner  ; the  bad  state  of  my  eyes  and  of  my  health  is  not  sufficient 
excuse  for  me,  and  I ought  to  be  where  all  the  gentlemen  of  the 
province  are.  Send  me  word  then,  I beg,  immediately  whether 
there  is  still  any  employment  to  be  had  in  our  newly  raised  levies 
and  whether  I should  be  sure  to  be  employed  if  I were  to  go  to 
Provence.”  Before  his  friend’s  answer  had  reached  Yauvenargues, 
the  Austrians  and  the  Piedmontese  had  been  forced  to  evacuate 
Provence  ; the  dying  man  remained  in  his  chimney-corner,  where 
he  soon  expired,  leaving  amongst  the  public  and  still  more  amongst 
those  who  had  known  him  personally  the  impression  of  great 
promise  sadly  extinguished.  “ It  was  his  fate,”  says  his  faithful 
biographer,  M.  Gilbert,  “ to  be  always  opening  his  wings  and  to  be 
unable  to  take  flight.” 

Yoltaire,  quite  on  the  contrary,  was  about  to  take  a fresh 
flight.  After  several  rebuffs  and  long  opposition  on  the  part  of  the 
eighteen  ecclesiastics  who  at  that  time  had  seats  in  the  French 
Academy,  he  had  been  elected  to  it  in  1746.  In  1750,  he  offered 
himself  at  one  and  the  same  time  for  the  Academy  of  Sciences 
and  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions : he  failed  in  both  candidatures. 
This  mishap  filled  the  cup  of  his  ill-humour.  For  a long  time 
past  Frederick  II.  had  been  offering  the  poet  favours  which  he  had 
long  refused.  The  disgust  he  experienced  at  Paris  through  his 
insatiable  vanity  made  him  determine  upon  seeking  another  arena ; 
after  having  accepted  a pension  and  a place  from  the  king  of 
Prussia,  Yoltaire  set  out  for  Berlin.  He  was  received  there  with 
enthusiasm  and  as  sovereign  of  the  little  court  of  philosophers ; 
hut  his  intimacy  with  Frederick  II.  did  not  last  long ; it  had  for  a 
while  done  honour  to  both  of  them,  it  had  ended  by  betraying  the 
pettinesses  and  the  meannesses  natural  to  the  king  as  well  as  to 


Voltaire  and  his  difficulties . 519 

tlie  poet.  Frederick  did  not  remain  without  anxiety  on  the  score 
of  Voltaire’s  rancour ; Voltaire  dreaded  nasty  diplomatic  proceed- 
ings on  the  part  of  the  king ; he  had  been  threatened  with  as 
much  by  Lord  Keith,  Milord  Marechal , as  he  was  called  on  the 
Continent  from  the  hereditary  title  he  had  lost  in  his  own  country 
through  his  attachment  to  the  cause  of  the  Stuarts  : — 

“ Let  us  see  in  what  countries  M.  de  Voltaire  has  not  had  some  Voltaire’s 
squabble  or  made  himself  many  enemies,”  said  a letter  to  Madame 
Denis  from  the  great  Scotch  lord  when  he  had  entered  Frederick’s 
service  : “ every  country  where  the  Inquisition  prevails  must  he 
mistrusted  by  him ; he  would  put  his  foot  in  it  sooner  or  later. 

The  Mussulmans  must  be  as  little  pleased  with  his  Mahomet  as 
good  Christians  were.  He  is  too  old  to  go  to  China  and  turn 
mandarin  ; in  a word,  if  he  is  wise,  there  is  no  place  but  France 
for  him.  He  has  friends  there,  and  you  will  have  him  with  you 
for  the  rest  of  his  days ; do  not  let  him  shut  himself  out  from  the 
pleasure  of  returning  thither,  for  you  are  quite  aware  that,  if  he 
were  to  indulge  in  speech  and  epigrams  offensive  to  the  king  my 
master,  a word  which  the  latter  might  order  me  to  speak  to  the# 
court  of  France  would  suffice  to  prevent  M.  de  Voltaire  from  re- 
turning, and  he  would  be  sorry  for  it  when  it  was  too  late.” 

Voltaire  was  already  in  France,  but  he  dared  not  venture  to 
Paris.  Mutilated,  clumsy  or  treacherous  issues  of  the  Ahrege  de 
VHistoire  universelle  had  already  stirred  the  bile  of  the  clergy ; 
there  were  to  be  seen  in  circulation  copies  of  La  JPucelle , a dis- 
gusting poem  which  the  author  had  been  keeping  back  and  bring- 
ing out  alternately  for  several  years  past.  Voltaire  fled  from  Colmar,  ge  takes 
where  the  Jesuits  held  sway,  to  Lyons,  where  he  found  Marshal  fright. 
Richelieu,  but  lately  his  protector  and  always  his  friend,  who  was 
repairing  to  his  government  of  Languedoc.  Cardinal  Tencin  re- 
fused to  receive  the  poet,  who  regarded  this  sudden  severity  as  a 
sign  of  the  feelings  of  the  court  towards  him.  “The  king  told 
Madame  de  Pompadour  that  he  did  not  want  me  to  go  to  Paris  ; 

I am  of  his  Majesty’s  opinion,  I don’t  want  to  go  to  Paris,”  wrote 
Voltaire  to  the  marquis  of  Paulmy.  He  took  fright  and  sought 
refuge  in  Switzerland,  where  he  soon  settled  on  the  lake  of  Geneva, 
pending  his  purchase  of  the  estate  of  Ferney  in  the  district  of  Gex 
and  that  of  Tourney  in  Burgundy.  He  was  henceforth  fixed,  free 
to  pass  from  France  to  Switzerland  and  from  Switzerland  to  France; 
in  the  comparative  security  which  he  thought  he  possessed,  he 
gave  scope  to  all  his  free-thinking,  which  had  but  lately  been  often 
cloaked  according  to  circumstances.  In  the  great  campaign  against 
Christianity  undertaken  by  the  philosophers,  Voltaire,  so  long  a 


520 


History  of  France . 


crusade 

against 

religion. 


wavering  ally,  will  henceforth  fight  in  the  foremost  ranks  ; it  is 
lie  who  shouts  to  Diderot,  “Squelch  the  thing  ( JEcrasez  Vinfame) ! ” 
The  masks  are  off,  and  the  fight  is  bare-faced  ; the  Encyclopaedists 
march  out  to  the  conquest  of  the  world  in  the  name  of  reason, 
humanity  and  free-thinking ; even  when  he  has  ceased  to  work  at 
the  Encyclopaedia,  Yoltaire  marches  with  them. 

The  Essai  sur  VHistoire  generate  et  les  Moeurs  was  one  of  the 
first  broadsides  of  this  new  anti-religious  crusade.  “Yoltaire  will 
never  write  a good  history,”  Montesquieu  used  to  say  : “ he  is  like 
the  monks,  who  do  not  write  for  the  subject  of  which  they  treat, 
but  for  the  glory  of  their  order  : Yoltaire  writes  for  his  convent.” 
Takes  the  ^he  same  intention  betrayed  itself  in  every  sort  of  work  that  issued 
lead  in  the  at  that  time  from  the  hermitage  of  Delices,  the  poem  on  Le  Trem- 
blement  de  terre  de  Lisbonne,  the  drama  of  Socrate,  the  satire  of 
the  Pauvre  Diable,  the  sad  story  of  Candide , led  the  way  to  a 
series  of  publications  every  day  more  and  more  violent  against  the 
Christian  faith.  The  tragedy  of  VOrphelin  de  la  Chine  and  that  of 
Tancrede , the  quarrels  with  Freron,  with  Lefranc  de  Pompignan, 
and  lastly  with  Jean  Jacques  Kousseau,  did  not  satiate  the  devour- 
’ ing  activity  of  the  Patriarch , as  he  was  called  by  the  knot  of 
philosophers. 

Innate  love  of  justice  and  horror  of  fanaticism  had  inspired 
Yoltaire  with  his  zeal  on  behalf  of  the  Calas  family  and  other 
persecuted  Protestants ; a more  personal  feeling,  a more  profound 
sympathy  caused  his  grief  and  his  dread  when  Chevalier  de  la 
Barre,  accused  of  having  mutilated  a crucifix,  was  condemned,  in 
His  love  of  1^66,  to  capital  punishment ; the  scepticism  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
justice.  tury  had  sudden  and  terrible  reactions  towards  fanatical  violence, 
as  a protest  and  a pitiable  struggle  against  the  doubt  which  was 
invading  it  on  all  sides  ; the  chevalier  was  executed ; he  was  not 
twenty  years  old.  He  was  an  infidel  and  a libertine,  like  the 
majority  of  the  young  men  of  his  day  and  of  his  age  ; the  crime  he 
expiated  so  cruelly  was  attributed  to  reading  bad  books,  which  had 
corrupted  him.  “I  am  told,”  writes  Yoltaire  to  D’Alembert,  “that 
they  said  at  their  examination  that  they  had  been  led  on  to  the 
act  of  madness  they  committed  by  the  works  of  the  Encyclopaedists. 
I can  scarcely  believe  it ; these  madmen  don’t  read  ; and  certainly 
no  philosopher  would  have  counselled  profanation.  The  matter  is 
important ; try  to  get  to  the  bottom  of  so  odious  and  dangerous  a 
report.” 

Yoltaire  reigned  peacefully,  however,  over  his  little  empire  at 
Eerney,  courted  from  afar  by  all  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  who 
made  any  profession  of  philosophy.  “ I have  a sequence  of  four 


521 


Death  of  Voltaire. — His  character. 

kings”  (brelan  de  roi  quatrieme),  he  would  say  with  a laugh  when 
he  counted  his  letters  from  royal  personages.  The  empress  of 
Russia,  Catherine  II.,  had  dethroned,  in  his  mind,  the  Great 
Frederick.  He  was  destined  to  die  at  Paris ; there  he  found  the 
last  joys  of  his  life,  and  there  he  shed  the  last  rays  of  his  glory. 

Voltaire’s  incessant  activity  bore  many  fruits  which  survived  Je°^^re  s 
him ; he  contributed  powerfully  to  the  triumph  of  those  notions  General 
of  humanity,  justice  and  freedom,  which,  superior  to  his  own  ideal,  survey  of 
did  honour  to  the  eighteenth  century ; he  became  the  model  of  a racter  * 
style,  clear,  neat,  brilliant,  the  natural  exponent  of  his  own  mind, 
far  more  than  of  the  as  yet  confused  hopes  and  aspirations  of  his 
age  ; he  defended  the  rights  of  common  sense  and  sometimes  with- 
stood the  anti  religious  passion  of  his  friends,  hut  he  blasted  both 
minds  and  souls  with  his  sceptical  gibes ; his  bitter  and  at  the 
same  time  temperate  banter  disturbed  consciences  which  would 
have  been  revolted  by  the  materialistic  doctrines  of  the  Encyclo- 
paedists ; the  circle  of  infidelity  widened  under  his  hands  ; his 
disciples  were  able  to  go  beyond  him  on  the  fatal  path  he  had 
opened  to  them.  Voltaire  has  remained  the  true  representative 
of  the  mocking  and  stone-flinging  phase  of  free-thinking,  knowing 
nothing  of  the  deep  yearnings  any  more  than  of  the  supreme 
wretchlessness  of  the  human  soul,  which  it  kept  imprisoned  within 
the  narrow  limits  of  earth  and  time.  At  the  outcome  from  the 
bloody  slough  of  the  French  Revolution  and  from  the  chaos  it 
caused  in  men’s  souls,  it  was  the  infidelity  of  Voltaire  which 
remained  at  the  bottom  of  the  scepticism  and  moral  disorder  of 
the  France  of  our  day.  The  demon  which  torments  her  is  even 
more  Voltairian  than  materialistic. 

Other  influences,  more  sincere  and  at  the  same  time  more  dan- 
gerous, were  simultaneously  undermining  men’s  minds.  The  group 
of  Encyclopaedists,  less  prudent  and  less  temperate  than  Voltaire, 
flaunted  openly  the  flag  of  revolt.  At  the  head  marched  Denis 
Diderot,  bom  in  1715,  the  most  daring  of  all,  the  most  genuinely 
affected  by  his  own  ardour,  without  perhaps  being  the  most  sure 
of  his  ground  in  his  negations.  He  was  an  original  and  exuberant 
nature,  expansively  open  to  all  new  impressions ; it  was  in  con-  Diderot 
junction  with  his  friends  and  in  community  of  ideas  that  Diderot  ana  the 
undertook  the  immense  labour  of  the  Encyclopcedia.  Having,  in  Encyclo- 
the  first  instance,  received  a commission  from  a publisher  to  trans-  paed*a* 
late  the  English  collection  of  [Ephraim]  Chambers,  Diderot  was 
impressed  with  a desire  to  unite  in  one  and  the  same  collection  all 
the  efforts  and  all  the  talents  of  his  epoch,  so  as  to  render  joint 
homage  to  the  rapid  progress  of  science.  Won  over  by  his  enthu- 


522  History  of  France . 

siasm,  D’Alembert  consented  to  share  the  task ; and  he  wrote  the 
beautiful  exposition  in  the  introduction.  Voltaire  sent  his  articles 
from  Les  Delices.  The  Jesuits  had  proposed  to  take  upon  themselves 
a certain  number  of  questions,  but  their  co-operation  was  declined : 
it  was  a monument  to  philosophy  that  the  Encyclopaedists  aspired 
to  raise  : the  clergy  were  in  commotion  at  seeing  the  hostile  army, 
till  then  uncertain  and  unhanded,  rally  organized  and  disciplined 
around  this  vast  enterprise.  An  early  veto,  soon,  however,  taken 
off,  compelled  the  philosophers  to  a certain  moderation  : Voltaire 
ceased  writing  for  the  Encydopcedia , it  was  not  sufficiently  free- 
going  for  him:  “You  admit  articles  worthy  of  the  Trevoux  journal,” 
Severity  of  he  said  to  D’Alembert.  New  severities  on  the  part  of  the  Par- 
the  govern-  liament  and  the  grand  council  dealt  a blow  to  the  philosophers 
before  long:  the  editors’  privilege  was  revoked.  Orders  were  given 
to  seize  Diderot’s  papers.  Lamoigncn  de  Malesherbes,  who  was  at 
that  time  director  of  the  press,  and  favourable  to  freedom  without 
ever  having  abused  it  in  thought  or  action,  sent  him  secret  warn- 
ing. Diderot  ran  home  in  consternation.  “ What’s  to  be  done  V1 
he  cried  : “ how  move  all  my  manuscripts  in  twenty-four  hours  ? 
I haven’t  time  even  to  make  a selection.  And,  above  all,  where 
find  people  who  would  and  can  take  charge  cf  them  safely  1”  “Send 
them  all  to  me,”  replied  M.  de  Malesherbes  : “ nobody  will  come 
thither  to  look  for  them.” 

Eeeble  governments  are  ill  served  even  by  their  worthiest  ser- 
vants ; the  severities  ordered  against  the  Encydopcedia  did  not 
stop  its  publication ; D’Alembert,  however,  weary  of  the  struggle, 
had  ceased  to  take  part  in  the  editorship.  An  infidel  and  almost  a 
materialist  by  the  geometer’s  rule,  who  knows  no  power  but  the 
laws  of  mathematics,  he  did  not  carry  into  anti-religious  strife  the 
bitterness  of  Voltaire,  or  the  violence  of  Diderot.  More  and  more 
absorbed  by  pure  science,  which  he  never  neglected  save  for  the 
French  Academy,  whose  perpetual  secretary  he  had  become, 
D’Alembert  left  to  Diderot  alone  the  care  of  continuing  the  Ency- 
A.D.  1783.  clopcedia.  When  he  died,  in  1783,  at  fifty-six  years  of  age,  the 
Diderot*'  wor^  ^een  finished  nearly  twenty  years.  In  spite  of  the  bad 
faith  of  publishers,  who  mutilated  articles  to  renuer  them  acceptable, 
in  spite  of  the  condemnation  of  the  clergy  and  the  severities  of 
the  council,  the  last  volumes  of  the  Encydopcedia  had  appeared  in 
1765. 

This  immense  work,  unequal  and  confused  as  it  was,  a medley  of 
various  and  often  ill-assorted  elements,  undertaken  for  and  directed 
to  the  fixed  end  of  an  aggressive  emancipation  of  thought,  had 
not  sufficed  to  absorb  the  energy  and  powers  of  Diderot.  The  stage 


Buffon. 


523 


occupied  largely  his  attention  ; he  sought  to  introduce  reforms,  the 
fruit  of  his  own  thought  as  well  as  of  imitation  of  the  Germans, 
which  he  had  not  perhaps  sufficiently  considered.  For  the  classic 
tragedies,  the  heritage  of  which  Voltaire  received  from  the  hands 
of  Racine,  Diderot  aspired  to  substitute  the  natural  drama.  His  The“natu- 
two  attempts  in  that  style,  Le  Perede  Famille  and  Le  Fils  nature l,  raldrama*” 
had  but  little  success  in  France,  and  contributed  to  develope  in 
Germany  the  school  already  founded  by  Lessing.  Diderot  died  on 
the  29th  of  July,  1784,  still  poor,  an  invalid  for  some  time  past, 
surrounded  to  the  end  by  his  friends,  who  rendered  back  to  him 
that  sincere  and  devoted  affection  which  he  made  the  pride  of  his 
life.  The  charm  of  his  character  had  often  caused  people  to  forget 
his  violence,  which  he  himself  no  longer  remembered  the  next  day. 

“ I should  like  to  know  this  hot-headed  metaphysician,”  was  the 
remark  made  to  Buffon  by  President  De  Brosses,  who  happened  to 
be  then  at  Paris  ; and  he  afterwards  added  : “ He  is  a nice  fellow, 
very  pleasant,  very  amiable,  a great  philosopher,  a mighty  arguer, 
but  a maker  of  perpetual  digressions.  Yesterday  he  made  quite  five 
and  twenty  between  nine  o’clock  and  one,  during  which  time  he 
remained  in  my  room.  Oh  ! how  much  more  lucid  is  Buffon  than 
all  those  gentry  ! ” 

The  magistrate’s  mind  understood  and  appreciated  the  great 
naturalist’s  genius.  Diderot  felt  in  his  own  fashion  the  charm  of 
nature,  but,  as  was  said  by  Chevalier  Chastellux,  “ his  ideas  got 
drunk  and  set  to  work  chasing  one  another.”  The  ideas  of  Buffon, 
on  the  other  hand,  came  out  in  the  majestic  order  of  a system 
under  powerful  organization  and  informed  as  it  were  with  the  very 
secrets  of  the  Creator.  “ The  general  history  of  the  world,”  he  says, 

“ought  to  precede  the  special  history  of  its  productions;  and  the 
details  of  singular  facts  touching  the  life  and  habits  of  animals,  or 
touching  the  culture  and  vegetation  of  plants,  belong  perhaps  less 
to  natural  history  than  do  the  general  results  of  the  observations 
which  have  been  made  on  the  different  materials  which  compose 
the  terrestrial  globe,  on  the  elevations,  the  depressions  and  the 
unevennesses  of  its  form,  on  the  movement  of  the  seas,  on  the 
trending  of  mountains,  on  the  position  of  quarries,  on  the  rapidity 
and  effects  of  the  currents  of  the  sea — this  is  nature  on  the  grand 
scale.” 

M.  Flourens  truly  said : “ Buffon  aggrandises  every  subject  he 
touches.” 

It  was  in  his  dignified  and  studious  retirement  at  Montbard  that 
Buffon,  after  having  transformed,  and  almost  created  the  Paris  Jar- 
din  du  Roi,  quietly  passed  his  long  life.  Born  in  1707,  he  died 


524 


History  of  France 


on  tlie  14th  of  April,  1788.  “I  dedicated,”  he  says,  “twelve, 
nay  fourteen,  hours  to  study ; it  was  my  whole  pleasure.  In 
truth,  I devoted  myself  to  it  far  more  than  I troubled  myself 
about  fame ; fame  comes  afterwards,  if  it  may,  and  it  nearly  always 
does.” 

BufFon  did  not  lack  fame ; on  the  appearance  of  the  first  three 
volumes  of  his  Histoire  naturelle , published  in  1749,  the  breadth  of 
natural  views,,  the  beauty  of  his  language  and  the  strength  of  his  mind 
history.  excited  general  curiosity  and  admiration.  The  Sorbonne  was  in  a 
flutter  at  certain  bold  propositions ; BufFon,  without  being  discon- 
certed, took  pains  to  avoid  condemnation.  “ I took  the  liberty,” 
he  says  in  a letter  to  M.  Leblant,  “ of  writing  to  the  duke  of  Mver- 
nais  (then  ambassador  at  Borne),  who  has  replied  to  me  in  the 
most  polite  and  most  obliging  way  in  the  world  ; I hope,  therefore, 
that  my  book  will  not  be  put  in  the  Index,  and,  in  truth,  I have 
done  all  I could  not  to  deserve  it  and  to  avoid  theological  squabbles, 
which  I fear  far  more  than  I do  the  criticisms  of  physicists  and 
geometricians.”  “ Out  of  a hundred  and  twenty  assembled  doctors,” 
he  adds  before  long,  “ I had  a hundred  and  fifteen,  and  their  resolu- 
tion even  contains  eulogies  which  I did  not  expect.”  Despite  cer- 
tain boldnesses  which  had  caused  anxiety,  the  Sorbonne  had  reason 
to  compliment  the  great  naturalist.  The  unity  of  the  human  race 
as  well  as  its  superior  dignity  were  already  vindicated  in  these 
first  efforts  of  BufFon’s  genius,  and  his  mind  never  lost  sight  of  this 
great  verity.  He  continued  his  work,  adroitly  availing  himself  of 
the  talent  and  researches  of  the  numerous  co-operators  whom  he 
had  managed  to  gather  about  him,  directing  them  all  with  inde- 
fatigable vigilance  in  their  labours  and  their  observations.  “ Genius 
is  but  a greater  aptitude  for  perseverance,”  he  used  to  say,  himself 
justifying  his  definition  by  the  assiduity  of  his  studies. 

To  the  Theorie  de  la  Terre , the  Idees  generates  sur  les  Animaux 
and  the  Histoire  de  V Homme,  already  published  when  BufFon  was 
elected  by  the  Trench  Academy  (1754),  succeeded  the  twelve 
volumes  of  the  Histoire  des  Quadrupedes , a masterpiece  of  luminous 
classifications  and  incomparable  descriptions  ; eight  volumes  on 
Oiseaux  appeared  subsequently,  a short  time  before  the  Histoire  des 
Mineraux ; lastly,  a few  years  before  his  death,  BufFon  gave  to  the 
world  the  Hpoques  de  la  Nature.  “ As  in  civil  history  one  con- 
sults titles,  hunts  up  medals,  deciphers  antique  inscriptions  to  deter- 
mine the  epochs  of  revolutions  amongst  mankind,  and  to  fix  the 
date  of  events  in  the  moral  world,  so,  in  natural  history,  we  must 
ransack  the  archives  of  the  universe,  drag  from  the  entrails  of  the 
earth  the  olden  monuments,  gather  together  their  ruins  and  collect 


His 

literary 

assistants, 


i r> 


BUPFON. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  SLUNOJS 


_ Buff  on's  theories. 


525 


into  a body  of  proofs  all  the  indications  of  physical  changes  that 
can  guide  us  back  to  the  different  ages  of  nature.  It  is  the  only 
way  of  fixing  certain  points  in  the  immensity  of  space  and  of 
placing  a certain  number  of  memorial-stones  on  the  endless  road 
of  time.” 

“ This  is  what  I perceive  with  my  mind’s  eye,”  Buffon  would  say, 

“ thus  forming  a chain  which,  from  the  summit  of  Time’s  ladder, 
descends  right  down  to  us.”  “ This  man,”  exclaimed  Hume,  with 
an  admiration  which  surprised  him  out  of  his  scepticism,  “this  man 
gives  to  things  which  no  human  eye  has  seen  a probability  almost 
equal  to  evidence.” 

Some  of  Buffon’s  theories  have  been  disputed  by  his  successors’ 
science;  as  D’Alembert  said  of  Descartes:  “If  he  was  mistaken  theolies 
about  the  laws  of  motion,  he  was  the  first  to  divine  that  there  must 
be  some.”  Buffon  divined  the  epochs  of  nature,  and  by  the  intui- 
tion of  his  genius,  absolutely  unshackled  by  any  religious  prejudice, 
he  involuntarily  reverted  to  the  account  given  in  Genesis  : “We 
are  persuaded,”  he  says,  “ independently  of  the  authority  of  the 
sacred  books,  that  man  was  created  last,  and  that  he  only  came  to 
wield  the  sceptre  of  the  earth  when  that  earth  was  found  worthy  of 
his  sway.” 

Buffon  was  still  working  at  eighty  years  of  age  ; he  had  under- 
taken a dissertation  on  style,  a development  of  his  splendid  recep- 
tion-speech at  the  French  Academy.  Great  sorrows  had  crossed  his 
life  ; married  late  to  a young  wife  whom  he  loved,  he  lost  her  early; 
she  left  him  a son,  brought  up  under  his  wing  and  the  object  of 
his  constant  solicitude.  Just  at  the  time  of  sending  him  to  school, 
he  wrote  to  Madame  Daubenton,  wife  of  his  able  and  learned  co- 
operator  : “I  expect  Buffonet  on  Sunday ; I have  arranged  all  liis 
little  matters  : he  will  have  a private  room,  with  a closet  for  his 
man-servant ; I have  got  him  a tutor  in  the  school-house  itself,  and 
a little  companion  of  his  own  age ; I do  not  think  that  he  will  be 
at  all  unhappy.”  And,  at  a later  date,  when  he  is  expecting  this  son, 
who  has  reached  man’s  estate  and  has  been  travelling  in  Europe  : 

“My  son  has  just  arrived ; the  empress  and  the  grand  duke  have 
treated  him  very  well  and  we  shall  have  some  fine  minerals,  the 
collection  of  which  is  being  at  this  moment  completed.  I confess 
that  anxiety  about  his  return  has  taken  away  my  sleep  and  the 
power  of  thinking.” 

When  the  young  Count  de  Buffon,  an  officer  in  the  artillery  and 
at  first  warmly  favourable  to  the  noble  professions  of  the  French 
Revolution,  had,  like  his  peers,  to  mount  the  scaffold  of  the  Terror, 
he  damned  with  one  word  the  judges  who  profaned  in  his  person. 


His 

domestic 

life. 


The  “Five 
great 
men.” 


French 

salons.” 


526  History  of  France. 

his  father’s  glory.  “ Citizens,”  he  exclaimed  from  the  fatal  car, 
“my  name  is  Buffon.”  With  less  respect  for  the  rights  of  genius 
than  was  shown  by  the  Algerian  pirates  who  let  pass,  without 
opening  them,’  the  chests  directed  to  the  great  naturalist,  the 
executioner  of  the  Committee  of  public  safety  cut  off  his  son’s  head. 

“How  many  great  men  do  you  reckon  ? ” Buffon  was  asked  one 
day.  “ Five,”  answered  he  at  once  : “ Newton,  Bacon,  Leibnitz, 
Montesquieu  and  myself.” 

This  self-appreciation,  fostered  by  the  homage  of  his  contem- 
poraries, which  showed  itself  in  Buffon  undisguisedly  with  an  air  of 
ingenuous  satisfaction,  had  poisoned  a life  already  extinguished  ten 
years  before  amidst  the  bitterest  agonies.  Taking  up  arms  against 
a society  in  which  he  had  not  found  his  proper  place,  Jean  Jacques 
Bousseau  (born  at  Geneva,  28th  of  June,  1712)  had  attacked  the 
present  as  well  as  the  past,  the  Encyclopaedists  as  well  as  the  old 
social  organization.  It  was  from  the  first  his  distinctive  trait  to 
voluntarily  create  a desert  around  him.  The  eighteenth  century 
was  in  its  nature  easily  seduced;  liberal,  generous  and  open  to 
allurements,  it  delighted  in  intellectual  contentions,  even  the  most 
dangerous  and  the  most  daring;  it  welcomed  with  alacrity  all 
those  who  thus  contributed  to  its  pleasures.  The  charming 
drawing-rooms  of  Madame  Geoffrin,  of  Madame  du  Deffand,  of 
Madlle.  Lespinasse,  belonged  of  right  to  philosophy.  “Being  men 
of  the  world  as  well  as  of  letters,  the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth 
century  had  passed  their  lives  in  the  pleasantest  and  most  brilliant 
regions  of  that  society  which  was  so  much  attacked  by  them. 
It  had  welcomed  them,  made  them  famous  : they  had  mingled  in 
all  the  pleasures  of  its  elegant  and  agreeable  existence ; they 
shared  in  all  its  tastes,  its  manners,  all  the  refinements,  all  the 
susceptibilities  of  a civilization  at  the  same  time  old  and  reju- 
venated, aristocratic  and  literary ; they  were  of  that  old  regimen 
which  was  demolished  by  their  hands.  The  philosophical  circle 
was  everywhere,  amongst  the  people  of  the  court,  of  the  church, 
of  the  long  robe,  of  finance  ; haughty  here,  complaisant  there,  at 
one  time  indoctrinating,  at  another  amusing  its  hosts,  but  every- 
where young,  active,  confident,  recruiting  and  battling  everywhere, 
penetrating  and  fascinating  the  whole  of  society  ” [M.  Guizot, 
Madame  la  comtesse  de  Rumford ].  Bousseau  never  took  his  place 
in  this  circle ; in  this  society,  he  marched  in  front  like  a pioneer  of 
new  times,  attacking  tentatively  all  that  he  encountered  on  his 
way.  “ Nobody  was  ever  at  one  and  the  same  time  more  factious 
and  more  dictatorial,”  is  the  clever  dicfrum  of  M.  Saint  Marc 
Girardin. 


Rousseau, 


5 2? 


In  his  Discours  sur  les  Sciences  et  les  Arts , Rousseau  showed  the  Rousseau, 
characteristic  which  invariably  distinguished  him  from  the  philoso- 
phers, and  which  ended  by  establishing  deep  enmity  between  them 
and  him  ; the  eighteenth  century  espied  certain  evils,  certain  sores 
in  the  social  and  political  condition,  believed  in  a cure  and  blindly 
relied  on  the  power  of  its  own  theories.  Rousseau,  more  earnest, 
often  more  sincere,  made  a better  diagnosis  of  the  complaint,  he 
described  its  horrible  character  and  the  dangerousness  of  it,  he  saw 
no  remedy  and  he  pointed  none  out.  Profound  and  grievous 
impotence,  whose  utmost  hope  is  an  impossible  recurrence  to  the 
primitive  state  of  savagery  ! “ In  the  private  opinion  of  our  adver- 
saries,” says  M.  Royer-Collard  eloquently,  “ it  was  a thoughtless 
thing,  on  the  great  day  of  creation,  to  let  man  loose,  a free  and  in- 
telligent agent,  into  the  midst  of  the  universe ; thence  the  mis- 
chief and  the  mistake.  A higher  wisdom  comes  forward  to  repair 
the  error  of  Providence,  to  restrain  his  thoughtless  liberality  and  to 
render  to  prudently  mutilated  mankind  the  service  of  elevating  it 
to  the  happy  innocence  of  the  brute.” 

Before  Rousseau,  and  better  than  he,  Christianity  had  recognized 
and  proclaimed  the  evil ; but  it  had,  at  the  same  time,  announced 
to  the  world  a remedy  and  a Saviour. 

Henceforth  Rousseau  had  chosen  his  own  road  : giving  up  the 
drawing-rooms  and  the  habits  of  that  elegant  society  for  which  he 
was  not  born  and  the  admiration  of  which  had  developed  his  pride, 
he  made  up  his  mind  to  live  independent,  copying  music  to  get  his  H.g  j ^ 
bread,  now  and  then  smitten  with  the  women  of  the  world  who  pendent 
sought  him  out  in  his  retirement,  in  love  with  Madame  d’Epinay  life* 
and  Madame  d’Houdetot,  anon  returning  to  the  coarse  servant- 
wench  whom  he  had  but  lately  made  his  wife  and  whose  children 
he  had  put  in  the  foundling-hospital.  Music  at  that  time  absorbed 
all  minds  : Rousseau  brought  out  a little  opera  entitled  Le  Devin  de 
village  (The  Village  Wizard ),  which  had  a great  success.  It  was 
played  at  Fontainebleau  before  the  king.  The  emotions  of  the 
eighteenth  century  were  vivid  and  easily  roused ; fastening  upon 
everything  without  any  earnest  purpose  and  without  any  great 
sense  of  responsibility  it  grew  as  hot  over  a musical  dispute  as  over 
the  gravest  questions  of  morality  or  philosophy.  Grimm  had 
attacked  French  music,  Rousseau  supported  his  thesis  by  a Lettre 
sur  la  Musique.  It  was  the  moment  of  the  great  quarrel  between 
the  Parliament  and  the  Clergy.  “When  my  letter  appeared,  there 
was  no  more  excitement  save  against  me,”  says  Rousseau : “ it  was 
such  that  the  nation  has  never  recovered  from  it.  When  people 
read  that  this  pamphlet  probably  prevented  a revolution  in  the 


528 


History  of  France. 


“ Discours 
sur  l’lne- 
galite.” 


Character 
of  Rous- 
seau. 


State,  they  will  fancy  they  must  he  dreaming.”  And  Grimm  adds 
in  his  correspondence  : “The  Italian  actors  who  have  been  playing 
for  the  last  ten  months  on  the  stage  of  the  Opera  de  Paris  and  who 
are  called  here  bouffons,  have  so  absorbed  the  attention  of  Paris 
that  the  Parliament,  in  spite  of  all  its  measures  and  proceedings, 
which  should  have  earned  it  celebrity,  could  not  but  fall  into  com- 
plete oblivion.” 

Rousseau  had  just  printed  his  Discours  sur  TInegalite  des  con- 
ditions, a new  and  violent  picture  of  the  corruptions  of  human 
society.  “ Inequality  being  almost  nil  in  a state  of  nature,”  he 
says,  “ it  derives  its  force  and  increment  from  the  development  of 

our  faculties  and  from  the  progress  of  the  human  mind 

according  to  the  poet  it  is  gold  and  silver,  but  according  to  the 
philosopher  it  is  iron  and  corn  which  have  civilized  men  and 
ruined  the  human  race.” 

The  singularity  of  his  paradox  had  worn  off  ; Rousseau  no 
longer  astounded,  he  shocked  the  good  sense  as  well  as  the 
aspirations,  superficial  or  generous,  of  the  eighteenth  century : the 
Discours  sur  VIncgalite  des  conditions  was  not  a success.  It  was 
at  the  Hermitage,  under  Madame  d’Epinay’s  roof,  that  he  began  the 
tale  of  La  Nouvelle  Heloise,  which  was  finished  at  Marshal  de 
Montmorency’s,  when  the  susceptible  and  cranky  temper  of  the 
philosopher  had  justified  the  malevolent  predictions  of  Grimm. 
The  latter  had  but  lately  said  to  Madame  d’Epinay  : “ I see  in 
Rousseau  nothing  but  pride  concealed  everywhere  about  him ; 
you  will  do  him  a very  sorry  service  in  giving  him  a home  at  the 
Hermitage,  but  you  will  do  yourself  a still  more  sorry  one.  Soli- 
tude will  complete  the  blackening  of  his  imagination ; he  will  fancy 
all  his  friends  unjust,  ungrateful,  and  you  first  of  all,  if  you  once 
refuse  to  be  at  his  beck  and  call ; he  will  accuse  you  of  having 
bothered  him  to  live  under  your  roof  and  of  having  prevented 
him  from  yielding  to  the  wishes  of  his  country.  I already  see  the 
germ  of  these  accusations  in  the  turn  of  the  letters  you  have 
shown  me.” 

Rousseau  quarrelled  with  Madame  d’Epinay,  and  shortly  after- 
wards with  all  the  philosophical  circle : Grimm,  Helvetius, 

D’Holbach,  Diderot ; his  quarrels  with  the  last  were  already  of 
old  date,  they  had  made  some  noise.  “ Good  God  ! ” said  the 
duke  of  Castries  in  astonishment,  “ wherever  I go  I hear  of 
nothing  but  this  Rousseau  and  this  Diderot ! Did  anybody  ever? 
Eellows  who  are  nobody,  fellows  who  have  no  house,  who  lodge  on 
a third  floor  ! Positively,  one  can’t  stand  that  sort  of  thing  ! ” 
The  rupture  was  at  last  complete,  it  extended  to  Giimm  as  well 


Rousseait  persecuted 


S29 


as  to  Diderot.  “ Nobody  can  put  himself  in  my  place,”  wrote 
Rousseau,  “and  nobody  will  see  that  1 am  a being  apart,  who  has 
not  the  character,  the  maxims,  the  resources  of  the  rest  of  them, 
and  who  must  not  be  judged  by  their  rules.” 

Rousseau  was  right  ; he  was  a being  apart ; and  the  philo- 
sophers could  not  forgive  him  for  his  independence.  His  merits 
as  well  as  his  defects  annoyed  them  equally : his  Lettre  contre  les 
Spectacles  had  exasperated  Voltaire  ; isolated  henceforth  by  the  good 
as  well  as  by  the  evil  tendencies  of  his  nature,  Jean  Jacques  stood 
alone  against  the  philosophical  circle  which  he  had  dropped  as  well  Rousseau 
as  against  the  protestant  or  catholic  clergy  whose  creed  she  often  p0j^cfan 
offended.  He  had  just  published  Le  Gontrat  Social , “ The  Gospel,5’ 
says  M.  Saint-Marc  Girardin,  “ of  the  theory  as  to  the  sovereignty 
of  the  State  representing  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.”  The 
governing  powers  of  the  time  had  some  presentiment  of  its  danger  ; 
they  had  vaguely  comprehended  what  weapons  might  be  sought 
therein  by  revolutionary  instincts  and  interests ; their  anxiety  and 
their  anger  as  yet  brooded  silently ; the  director  of  publications  ( de 
la,  librairie ),  M.  de  Malesherbes,  was  one  of  the  friends  and  almost 
one  of  the  disciples  of  Rousseau  whom  he  shielded  ; he  himself 
corrected  the  proofs  of  the  Jfimile  which  Rousseau  had  just 
finished.  The  book  had  barely  begun  to  appear,  when,  on  the  8th 
of  June,  1762,  Rousseau  was  awakened  by  a message  from  la 
Marechale  de  Luxembourg  : the  Parliament  had  ordered  Pmile  to 
be  burned  and  its  author  arrested.  Rousseau  took  flight,  reckoning 
upon  finding  refuge  at  Geneva.  The  influence  of  the  French 
government  pursued  him  thither;  the  grand  council  condemned 
Emile.  One  single  copy  had  arrived  at  Geneva  : it  was  this  which 
was  burned  by  the  hand  of  the  common  hangman,  nine  days  after 
the  burning  at  Paris  in  the  Place  de  Greve.  “ The  Gontrat  Social 
has  received  its  whipping  on  the  back  of  Pm.ilep  was  the  saying 
at  Geneva.  “ At  the  instigation  of  M.  de  Voltaire  they  have 
avenged  upon  me  the  cause  of  God,”  Jean  Jacques  declared. 

Rousseau  rashly  put  his  name  to  his  books  ; Voltaire  was  more  Voltaire's 
prudent.  One  day,  having  been  imprisoned  for  some  verses  which  prudence, 
were  not  his,  he  had  taken  the  resolution  to  impudently  repudiate  the 
paternity  of  his  own  works  : “You  must  never  publish  anything 
under  your  own  name,”  he  wrote  to  Helvetius  ; “ La  Pucelle  was 
none  of  my  doing,  of  course.  Master  Joly  de  Fleury  will  make  a 
fine  thing  of  his  requisition  ; I shall  tell  him  that  he  is  a calum- 
niator, that  La  Pucelle  is  his  own  doing,  which  he  wants  to  put 
down  to  me  out  of  spite.” 

Rousseau  died  at  the  pavilion  of  Ermenonville,  which  had 

M M 


530  History  of  France, 

been  offered  to  him  by  M.  de  Girardin,  he  died  there  at  the  age 
of  sixty-six,  sinking  even  more  beneath  imaginary  woes  than  under 
the  real  sorrows  and  bitter  deceptions  of  his  life.  The  dispropor- 
tion between  his  intellect  and  his  character,  between  the  bound- 
less pride  and  the  impassioned  weakness  of  his  spirit,  had  little 
by  little  estranged  his  friends  and  worn  out  the  admiration  of  his 
contemporaries.  By  his  writings  Rousseau  acted  more  powerfully 
upon  posterity  than  upon  his  own  times : his  personality  had 
ceased  to  do  his  genius  injustice. 

Character  He  belonged  moreover  and  by  anticipation  to  a new  era ; from 

ofitousseau.  restqess  working  of  his  mind,  as  well  as  from  his  moral  and 
political  tendencies,  he  was  no  longer  of  the  eighteenth  century  pro- 
perly speaking,  though  the  majority  of  the  philosophers  out-lived 
him ; his  work  was  not  their  work,  their  world  was  never  his.  He 
had  attempted  a noble  reaction,  but  one  which  was  fundamentally 
and  in  reality  impossible.  The  impress  of  his  early  education  had 
never  been  thoroughly  effaced  : he  believed  in  God,  he  had  been 
nurtured  upon  the  Gospel  in  childhood,  he  admired  the  morality 
and  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ ; but  he  stopped  at  the  boundaries  of 
adoration  and  submission.  “ The  spirit  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau 
inhabits  the  moral  world,  but  not  that  other  which  is  above,” 
M.  Joubert  has  said  in  his  Fensees.  The  weapons  were  insufficient 
and  the  champion  was  too  feeble  for  the  contest ; the  spirit  of  the 
moral  world  was  vanquished  as  a foregone  conclusion.  Against  the 
systematic  infidelity  which  wras  more  and  more  creeping  over  the 
eighteenth  century,  the.  Christian  faith  alone,  with  all  its  forces, 
could  fight  and  triumph.  But  the  Christian  faith  was  obscured  and 
enfeebled,  it  clung  to  the  vessel’s  rigging  instead  of  defending  its 
powerful  hull ; the  flood  was  rising  meanwhile,  and  the  dikes  were 
breaking  one  after  another.  The  religious  belief  of  the  Savoyard 
vicar,  imperfect  and  inconsistent,  such  as  it  is  set  forth  in  jSmile , 
and  that  sincere  love  of  nature  which  was  recovered  by  Rousseau 
in  his  solitude,  remained  powerless  to  guide  the  soul  and  regulate 
life. 

The  eigh-  “ The  eighteenth  century  ” [M.  Guizot,  Melanges  biographiques  : 
Cen"  ( Madame  la  Comtesse  de  Rum  ford)],  was  far  superior  to  all  its 
sceptics,  to  all  its  cynics.  What  do  I say  ? Superior  1 Hay  it  was 
essentially  opposed  to  them  and  continually  gave  them  the  lie. 
Despite  the  weakness  of  its  morals,  the  frivolity  of  its  forms,  the 
mere  dry  bones  of  such  and  such  of  its  doctrines,  despite  its  critical 
and  destructive  tendency,  it  was  an  ardent  and  a sincere  century,  a 
century  of  faith  and  disinterestedness.  It  had  faith  in  the  truth, 
for  it  claimed  the  right  thereof  to  reign  in  this  world.  It  had  faith 


53i 


Tke  Eighteenth  Century . 

in  humanity,  for  it  recognized  the  right  thereof  to  perfect  itself,  and 
would  have  had  that  right  exercised  without  obstruction.  It  erred, 
it  lost  itself  amidst  this  twofold  confidence,  it  attempted  what  was 
far  beyond  its  right  and  power;  it  misjudged  the  moral  nature  of 
man  and  the  conditions  of  the  social  state.  Its  ideas  as  well  as  its 
works  contracted  the  blemish  of  its  views.  But,  granted  so  much, 
the  original  idea,  dominant  in  the  eighteenth  century,  the  belief  Ths  eigb- 
that  man,  truth  and  society  are  made  for  one  another,  worthy  of 
one  another  and  called  upon  to  form  a union,  this  correct  and  epoch  of 
salutary  belief  rises  up  and  overtops  all  its  history.  That  belief  it 
was  the  first  to  proclaim  and  would  fain  have  realized.  Hence  its 
power  and  its  popularity  over  the  whole  face  of  the  earth.  Hence,  also 
to  descend  from  great  things  to  small,  and  from  the  destiny  of  man 
to  that  of  the  drawing-room,  hence  the  seductiv.  ness  of  that  epoch 
and  the  charm  it  scattered  over  social  life.  Never  before  were  seen 
all  the  conditions,  all  the  classes  that  form  the  flower  of  a great 
people,  however  diverse  they  might  have  been  in  their  history  and 
still  were  in  their  interests,  thus  forgetting  their  past,  their  per- 
sonality, in  order  to  draw  near  to  one  another,  to  unite  in  a com- 
munion of  the  sweetest  manners  and  solely  occupied  in  pleasing 
one  another,  in  rejoicing  and  hoping  together  during  fifty  years 
which  were  to  end  in  the  most  terrible  conflicts  between  them.” 

At  the  death  of  King  Louis  XV.,  in  1774,  the  easy  mannered 
joyance,  the  peaceful  and  brilliant  charm  of  fashionable  and  philo- 
sophical society  were  reaching  their  end : the  time  of  stern  realities 
was  approaching  with  long  strides. 


M M 2 


CHAPTER  XY. 
louis  xyi. — (1775—1789.) 

At  the  news  that  Louis  XY.  had  just  heaved  his  last  sigh  in  the 
arms  of  his  pious  daughters,  Louis  XYI.  and  Marie  Antoinette  Loth 
Hung  themselves  upon  their  knees,  exclaiming,  “ 0 God,  protect  us, 
direct  us,  we  are  too  young.” 

The  monarch’s  youth  did  not  scare  the  country,  itself  everywhere 
animated  and  excited  by  a breath  of  youth.  There  were  congratu- 
lations on  escaping  from  the  well-known  troubles  of  a regency ; the 
king’s  ingenuous  inexperience,  moreover,  opened  a vast  field  for  the 
most  contradictory  hopes.  The  philosophers  counted  upon  taking 
possession  of  the  mind  of  a good  young  sovereign,  who  was  said  to 
have  his  heart  set  upon  his  people’s  happiness ; the  clergy  and  the 
Jesuits  themselves  expected  every  thing  from  the  young  prince’s 
pious  education;  the  old  parliaments,  mutilated,  crushed  down, 
began  to  raise  up  their  heads  again,  whilst  the  economists  were 
I tellec  already  preparing  their  most  daring  projects.  Like  literature,  the 
tual  state  arts  had  got  the  start,  in  the  new  path,  of  the  politicians  and  the 
of  1 ranee,  magistrates.  M.  Turgot  and  M.  de  Malesherbes  had  not  yet  laid 
their  enterprising  hands  upon  the  old  fabric  of  French  administra- 
tion, and  already  painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  and  music  had 
shaken  off  the  shackles  of  the  past.  The  conventional  graces  of 
Yanloo,  of  Watteau,  of  Boucher,  of  Fragonard,  had  given  place  to 
a severer  school.  Greuze  was  putting  upon  canvas  the  characters 
and  ideas  of  Diderot’s  Drame  natural ; but  Yien,  in  France,  was 


Lotus  XVI. 


533 


seconding  the  efforts  of  Winckelman  and  of  Raphael  Mengs  in  Italy ; 
he  led  his  pupils  back  to  the  study  of  ancient  art ; he  had  trained 
Eegnault,  Vincent,  Menageot,  and  lastly  Louis  David,  destined  to 
become  the  chief  of  the  modem  school ; Julien,  Houdon,  the  last  of 
the  Coustous,  were  following  the  same  road  in  sculpture : Soufflot, 
an  old  man  by  this  'time,  was  superintending  the  completion  of  the 
church  of  St.  Genevieve,  dedicated  by  Louis  XV.  to  the  comme- 
moration of  his  recovery  at  Metz,  and  destined,  from  the  majestic 
simplicity  of  its  lines,  to  the  doubtful  honour  of  becoming  the  Pan- 
thefon  of  the  revolution  j Servandoni  had  died  a short  time  since, 
leaving  to  the  church  of  St.  Sulpice  the  care  of  preserving  his 
memory  ; everywhere  were  rising  charming  mansions  imitated  from  First  acts 
the  palaces  of  Rome.  The  painters,  the  sculptors  and  the  archi- 
tects of  France  were  sufficient  for  her  glory  ; only  Gretry  and  Mon- 
signy  upheld  the  honour  of  that  French  music  which  was  attacked 
by  Grimm  and  by  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau ; but  it  was  at  Paris  that 
the  great  quarrel  went  on  between  the  Italians  and  the  Germans : 

Piccini  and  Gluck  divided  society,  wherein  their  rivalry  excited 
violent  passions.  Everywhere  and  on  all  questions,  intellectual 
movement  was  becoming  animated  with  fresh  ardour ; France  was 
marching  towards  the  region  of  storms,  in  the  blindness  of  her  con- 
fidence and  joyance ; the  atmosphere  seemed  purer  since  Madame 
Dubarry  had  been  sent  to  a convent  by  one  of  the  first  orders  of 
young  Louis  XVI. 

Already,  however,  farseeing  spirits  were  disquieted ; scarcely  had 
he  mounted  the  throne,  when  the  king  summoned  to  his  side,  as 
his  minister,  M.  de  Maurepas,  but  lately  banished  by  Louis  XV.,  in 
1749,  on  a charge  of  having  tolerated,  if  not  himself  written,  songs 
disrespectful  towards  Madame  de  Pompadour ; in  the  place  of  the 
duke  of  Aiguillon,  who  had  the  ministry  of  war  and  that  of  foreign 
affairs  both  together,  the  count  of  Muy  and  the  count  of  Vergennes 
were  called  to  power.  Some  weeks  later,  the  obscure  minister  of 
marine,  M.  de  Boynes,  made  way  for  the  superintendent  of  the 
district  (generalite)  of  Limoges,  M.  Turgot. 

Intimately  connected  with  the  most  esteemed  magistrates  and  Turgot, 
economists,  such  as  MM.  Trudaine,  Quesnay,  and  Gournay,  at  the 
same  time  that  he  was  writing  in  the  Encyclopaedia , and  constantly 
occupied  in  useful  work,  Turgot  was  not  yet  five  and  thirty  when 
he  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the  district  of  Limoges.  There, 
the  rare  faculties  of  his  mind  and  his  sincere  love  of  good  found 
their  natural  field ; the  country  was  poor,  crushed  under  imposts, 
badly  intersected  by  roads  badly  kept,  inhabited  by  an  ignorant 
populace,  violently  hostile  to  the  recruitment  of  the  militia.  He 


534 


History  of  France . 


His  career 
and  views 
of  reform. 


Maupeou 

retires. 


The  Albe 
Terray 
obliged  to 
refund. 


encouraged  agriculture,  distributed  the  talliages  more  equitably, 
amended  the  old  roads  and  constructed  new  ones,  abolished  forced 
labour  ( corvees ),  provided  for  the  wants  of  the  poor  and  wretched 
during  the  dearth  of  1770  and  1771,  and  declined,  successively, 
the  superintendentship  of  Rouen,  of  Lyons,  and  of  Bor- 
deaux, in  order  that  he  might  be  able  to  complete  the  useful 
tasks  he  had  begun  at  Limoges.  It  was  from  that  district  that  he 
was  called  to  a seat  in  the  new  cabinet.  Scarcely  had  he  been 
installed  in  the  department  of  marine,  and  begun  to  conceive  vast 
plans,  when  the  late  ministers  of  Louis  XY.  succumbed  at  last 
beneath  the  popular  hatred ; in  the  place  of  Abbe  Terray,  M.  Turgot 
became  comptroller-general. 

The  old  parliamentarians  were  triumphant ; at  the  same  time  as 
Abbe  Terray,  Chancellor  Maupeou  was  disgraced,  and  the  judicial 
system  he  had  founded  fell  with  him.  Unpopular  from  the  first, 
the  Maupeou  Parliament  had  remained  in  the  nation’s  eyes  the 
image  of  absolute  power  corrupted  and  corrupting.  The  suit 
between  Beaumarchais  and  Councillor  Goezman  had  contributed  to 
decry  it,  thanks  to  the  uproar  the  able  pamphleteer  had  managed 
to  cause ; the  families  of  the  former  magistrates  were  powerful, 
numerous,  esteemed,  and  they  put  pressure  upon  public  opinion. 
Imperturbable  and  haughty  as  ever,  Maupeou  refired  to  his  estate 
at  Thuit,  near  the  Andelys,  where  he  drew  up  a justificatory 
memorandum  of  his  ministry,  which  he  had  put  into  the  king’s 
hands,  without  ever  attempting  to  enter  the  court  or  Paris  again ; 
he  died  in  the  country,  at  tire  outset  of  the  revolutionary  storms, 
on  the  29th  of  July,  1792,  just  as  he  had  made  the  State  a patriotic 
present  of  800,000  livres.  At  the  moment  when  the  populace 
were  burning  him  in  effigy  in  the  streets  of  Paris  together  with 
Abbe  Terray,  when  he  saw  the  recall  of  the  parliamentarians,  and 
the  work  of  his  whole  life  destroyed,  he  repeated  with  his  usual 
coolness  : “ If  the  king  is  pleased  to  lose  his  kingdom — well,  he 
is  master.” 

Abbe  Terray  had  been  less  proud,  and  was  more  harshly  treated. 
It  was  in  vain  that  he  sought  to  dazzle  the  young  king  with  ably 
prepared  memorials ; he  had  to  refund  nearly  900,000  livres  to  the 
public  treasury.  Being  recognized  by  the  mob  as  he  was  passing 
over  the  Seine  in  a ferry  boat,  he  had  some  difficulty  in  escaping 
from  the  hands  of  those  who  would  have  hurled  him  into  the 
river. 

The  contrast  was  great  between  the  crafty  and  unscrupulous 
ability  of  the  disgraced  comptroller-general  and  the  complete 
disinterestedness,  large  views,  and  noble  desire  of  good  which 


Turgot's  financial  schemes.  535 

animated  his  successor.  After  his  first  interview  with  the  king,  at 
Compiegne,  M.  Turgot  wrote  to  Louis  XYI.  : — “Your  Majesty  has  Turgot’s 
been  graciously  pleased  to  permit  me  to  place  before  your  eyes  the 
engagement  you  took  upon  yourself,  to  support  me  in  the  execution 
of  plans  of  economy  which  are  at  all  times,  and  now  more  than 
ever,  indispensable.  I confine  myself  for  the  moment,  sir,  to 
reminding  you  of  these  three  expressions: — 1°  ISTo  bankruptcies ; 

2°  No  augmentation  of  imposts ; 3°  No  loans.”  M.  Turgot  set 
to  work  at  once.  Whilst  governing  his  district  of  Limoges,  he 
had  matured  numerous  plans  and  shaped  extensive  theories.  He 
belonged  to  his  times  and  to  the  school  of  the  philosophers  as 
regarded  his  contempt  for  tradition  and  history;  it  was  to 'natural 
rights  alone,  to  the  innate  and  primitive  requirements  of  mankind 
that  he  traced  back  his  principles  and  referred  as  the  basis  for  all 
his  attempts.  “ He  desired  no  more  to  reform  old  France  ; he 
wanted  a new  France.  Before  ten  years  are  over,”  he  would  say, 

“ the  nation  will  not  be  recognizable,  thanks  to  enlightenment. 

This  chaos  will  have  assumed  a distinct  form.  Your  Majesty  will 
have  quite  a new  people,  and  the  first  of  peoples.”  A profound 
error,  which  was  that  of  the  whole  Revolution,  and  the  con- 
sequences of  which  would  have  been  immediately  fatal,  if  the 
powerful  instinct  of  conservatism  and  of  natural  respect  for  the 
past  had  not  maintained  between  the  regimen  which  was  crumbling 
away  and  the  new  fabric  connexions  more  powerful  and  more 
numerous  than  their  friends  as  well  as  their  enemies  were 
aware  of. 

Two  fundamental  principles  regulated  the  financial  system  of  He  is  snp- 
M.  Turgot,  economy  in  expenditure  and  freedom  in  trade ; every-  ported  bv 
where  he  ferreted  out  abuses,  abolishing  useless  offices  and  pay-  Louis  XV1, 
ments,  exacting  from  the  entire  administration  that  strict  probity  of 
which  he  set  the  example.  Louis  XYI.  supported  him  conscien- 
tiously at  that  time  in  all  his  reforms  ; the  public  made  fun  of  it. 

It  was  on  account  of  his  financial  innovations  that  the  comptroller- 
general  particularly  dreaded  the  return  of  the  old  Parliament,  with 
which  he  saw  himself  threatened  every  day.  “ I fear  opposition 
from  the  Parliament,”  he  said  to  the  king.  “ Fear  nothing,” 
replied  the  king  warmly,  “ I will  stand  by  you ; ” and,  passing 
over  the  objections  of  the  best  politician  amongst  his  ministers,  he 
yielded  to  M.  de  Maurepas,  who  yielded  to  public  opinion.  On 
the  12th  of  November,  1774,  the  old  Parliament  was  formally 
restored,  subjected,  however,  to  the  same  jurisdiction  which  had 
controlled  the  Maupeou  Parliament.  The  latter  had  been  sent  to 
Versailles  to  form  a grand  council  there.  The  restored  magistrates 


History  of  France. 


The  Par- 
liaments. 


The  taxes. 


Neckei’s 

criticism. 


Bread 

riots. 


53s 

grumbled  at  the  narrow  limits  imposed  upon  their  authority ; the 
duke  of  Orleans,  the  duke  of  Chartres,  the  prince  of  Conti  sup- 
ported their  complaints  ; it  was  in  vain  that  the  king  for  some  time 
met  them  with  refusals ; threats  soon  gave  place  to  concessions ; 
and  the  parliaments  everywhere  reconstituted,  enfeebled  in  the  eyes 
of  public  opinion,  but  more  than  ever  obstinate  and  Fronde-like, 
found  themselves  free  to  harass,  without  doing  any  good,  the  march 
of  an  administration  becoming  every  day  more  difficult.  “ Your 
Parliament  may  make  barricades,”  Lord  Chesterfield  had  remarked 
contemptuously  to  Montesquieu,  “it  will  never  raise  barriers.” 

M.  Turgot,  meanwhile,  was  continuing  his  labours,  preparing  a 
project?  for  equitable  redistribution  of  the  talliage  and  his  grand 
system  of  a graduated  scale  ( hier archie ) of  municipal  assemblies, 
commencing  with  the  parish,  to  culminate  in  a general  meeting  of 
delegates  from  each  province ; he  threatened,  in  the  course  of  his 
reforms,  the  privileges  of  the  noblesse  and  of  the  clergy,  and  gave 
his  mind  anxiously  to  the  instruction  of  the  people,  whose  condi- 
tion and  welfare  he  wanted  to  simultaneously  elevate  and  augment; 
already  there  was  a buzz  of  murmurs  against  him,  confined  as  yet 
to  the  courtiers,  when  the  dearness  of  bread  and  the  distress  which 
ensued  in  the  spring  of  1775  furnished  his  adversaries  with  a 
convenient  pretext.  Up  to  that  time  the  attacks  had  been  cautious 
and  purely  theoretical.  M.  Flecker,  an  able  banker  from  Geneva, 
for  a long  while  settled  in  Paris,  hand  and  glove  with  the  philo- 
sophers, and  keeping  up,  moreover,  a great  establishment,  had 
brought  to  the  comptroller-general  a work  which  he  had  just 
finished  on  the  trade  in  grain ; on  many  points  he  did  not  share 
M.  Turgot’s  opinions.  “Be  kind  enough  to  ascertain  for  yourself,” 
said  the  banker  to  the  minister,  “ whether  the  book  can  be 
published  without  inconvenience  to  the  government.”  M.  Turgot 
was  proud  and  sometimes  rude  : “ Publish,  sir,  publish,”  said  he, 
without  offering  his  hand  to  take  the  manuscript,  “ the  public  shall 
decide.”  M.  Necker,  out  of  pique,  published  his  book ; it  had  an 
immense  sale  ; other  pamphlets,  more  violent  and  less  solid,  had 
already  appeared ; at  the  same  moment  a riot,  which  seemed  to 
have  been  planned  and  to  be  under  certain  guidance,  broke  out  in 
several  parts  of  France.  Drunken  men  shouted  about  the  public 
thoroughfares,  “ Bread  ! cheap  bread  ! ” 

Serious  damage  was  done  throughout  France  to  property,  and 
even  to  provisions ; barns  were  burnt,  farm-houses  plundered, 
wheat  thrown  in  to  the  river,  and  sacks  of  flour  ripped  to  pieces 
before  the  king’s  eyes  at  Versailles.  At  last  the  troubles  began  to 
subside,  and  the  merchants  recovered  their  spirits ; M.  Turgot  had 


Disturbances. 


537 


at  once  sent  fifty  thousand  francs  to  a trader  whom  the  rioters  had 
robbed  of  a boat  full  of  wheat  which  they  had  flung  into  the  river ; 
two  of  the  insurgents  were  at  the  same  time  hanged  at  Paris  on  a 
gallows  forty  feet  high,  and  a notice  was  sent  to  the  parish-priests, 
which  they  were  to  read  from  the  pulpit  in  order  to  enlighten  tho 
people  as  to  the  folly  of  such  outbreaks,  and  as  to  the  conditions  of 
the  trade  in  grain  : “ My  people,  when  they  know  the  authors  of 
the  trouble,  will  regard  them  with  horror,”  said  the  royal  circular.  Measures 
The  authors  of  the  trouble  have  remained  unknown ; to  his  last  p^t^em 
day,  M.  Turgot  believed  in  the  existence  of  a plot  concocted  by  down, 
the  prince  of  Conti,  with  the  design  of  overthrowing  him. 

Severities  were  hateful  to  the  king;  he  had  misjudged  his  own 
character,  when,  at  the  outset  of  his  reign,  he  had  desired  the 
appellation  of  Louis  le  Severe.  “ Have  we  nothing  to  reproach 
ourselves  with  in  these  measures  1 ” he  was  incessantly  asking 
M.  Turgot,  who  was  as  conscientious,  but  more  resolute,  than  his 
master.  An  amnesty  preceded  the  coronation,  which  was  to  take 
place  at  Rheims  on  the  11th  of  June,  1775. 

A grave  question  presented  itself  as  regarded  the  king’s  oath : 
should  he  swear,  as  the  majority  of  his  predecessors  had  sworn,  to 
exterminate  heretics  ? M.  Turgot  had  aroused  Louis  XVI. ’s  scruples 
upon  this  subject : “ Tolerance  ought  to  appear  expedient  in  point 
of  policy  for  even  an  infidel  prince,”  he  said ; “ but  it  ought  to  be 
regarded  as  a sacred  duty  for  a religious  prince.”  The  clergy, 
scared  by  the  minister’s  liberal  tendencies,  reiterated  their  appeals 
to  the  king  against  the  liberties  tacitly  accorded  to  Protestants. 

“ Finish,”  they  said  to  Louis  XVI.,  “ the  work  which  Louis  the 
Great  began,  and  which  Louis  the  Well-beloved  continued.”  The 
king  answered  with  vague  assurances ; already  MM.  Turgot  and 
de  Malesherbes  were  entertaining  him  with  a project  which 
conceded  to  Protestants  the  civil  status. 

M.  de  Malesherbes,  indeed,  had  been  for  some  months  past  M.  de  Ma- 
seconding  his  friend  in  the  weighty  task  which  the  latter  had  fesherbes 
undertaken.  Called  to  the  ministry  in  the  place  of  the  duke  of  cUdl'e-* 
La  Vrilliere,  his  first  care  was  to  protest  against  the  sealed  letters  forms. 

( lettres  de  cachet  - summary  arrest),  the  application  whereof  he 
was  for  putting  in  the  hands  of  a special  tribunal ; he  visited  the 
Bastille,  releasing  the  prisoners  confined  on  simple  suspicion.  He 
had  already  dared  to  advise  the  king  to  a convocation  of  the  states- 
general. 

Almost  the  whole  ministry  was  in  the  hands  of  reformers ; a 
sincere  desire  to  do  good  impelled  the  king  towards  those  who 
promised  him  the  happiness  of  his  people.  The  count  de  St. 


538 


< History  of  France . 


M de 

Saint  Ger- 
main and 
military 
reforms. 


Suppres- 
sion of  the 
“jurandes” 
and  “ mai- 
trises.” 


Germain,  who  succeeded  M.  de  Muy  at  the  war-office,  had  conceived 
a thousand  projects  of  reform ; he  wanted  to  apply  them  all  at 
once.  He  made  no  sort  of  case  of  the  picked  corps,  and  suppressed 
the  majority  of  them,  thus  irritating,  likewise,  all  the  privileged. 
“M.  de  St.  Germain,”  wrote  Frederick  II.  to  Voltaire,  “had  great 
and  noble  plans  very  advantageous  for  your  Welches;  but  every- 
body thwarted  him,  because  the  reforms  he  proposed  would  have 
entailed  a strictness  which  was  repugnant  to  them  on  ten  thousand 
sluggards,  well  frogged,  well  laced.”  The  enthusiasm  which  had 
been  excited  by  the  new  minister  of  war  had  disappeared  from 
amongst  the  officers ; he  lost  the  hearts  of  the  soldiers  by  wanting 
to  establish  in  the  army  the  corporal  punishments  in  use  amongst 
the  German  armies  in  which  he  had  served.  The  feeling  was  so 
strong,  that  the  attempt  was  abandoned.  “ In  the  matter  of 
sabres,”  said  a grenadier,  “ I like  only  the  edge.”  Violent  and 
weak  both  together,  in  spite  of  his  real  merit  and  his  genuine  worth, 
often  giving  up  wise  resolutions  out  of  sheer  embarrassment,  he 
nearly  always  failed  in  what  he  undertook  ; the  outcries  against  the 
reformers  were  increased  thereby ; the  faults  of  M.  de  St.  Germain 
were  put  down  to  M.  Turgot. 

The  task  which  that  energetic  and  well-meaning  statesman  had 
undertaken  was  above  his  strength.  Ever  occupied  with  the  public 
weal,  he  turned  his  mind  to  every  subject,  issuing  a multiplicity  of 
decrees,  sometimes  with  rather  chimerical  hopes.  He  had  proposed 
to  the  king  six  edicts ; two  were  extremely  important ; the  first 
abolished  jurorships  (t jurandes ) and  masterships  ( maitrises ) among 
the  workmen  : “ The  king,”  said  the  preamble,  “ wishes  to  secure 
to  all  his  subjects  and  especially  to  the  humblest,  to  those  who 
have  no  property  but  their  labour  and  their  industry,  the  full  and 
entire  enjoyment  of  their  rights,  and  to  reform,  consequently,  the 
institutions  which  strike  at  those  rights,  and  which,  in  spite  of 
their  antiquity,  have  failed  to  be  legalized  by  time,  opinion  and 
even  the  acts  of  authority.”  The  second  substituted  for  forced 
labour  on  roads  and  highways  an  impost  to  which  all  proprietors 
were  equally  liable.  ■ 

This  was  the  first  step  towards  equal  redistribution  of  taxes ; 
great  was  the  explosion  of  disquietude  and  wrath  on  the  part  of  the 
privileged ; it  showed  itself  first  in  the  council,  by  the  mouth  of 
M.  de  Miromesnil ; Turgot  sprang  up  with  animation.  “The 
keeper  of  the  seals,”  he  said,  “ seems  to  adopt  the  principle  that, 
by  the  constitution  of  the  State,  the  noblesse  ought  to  be  exempt 
from  all  taxation.  This  idea  will  appear  a paradox  to  the  majorit)’’ 
of  the  nation.  The  commoners  (roturiers)  are  certainly  the 


539 


Fall  of  Turgot  and  Malesherbes. 

greatest  number,  and  we  are  no  longer  in  the  days  when  their  voices 
did  not  count,”  The  king  listened  to  the  discussion  in  silence. 

<f  Come,”  he  exclaimed  abruptly,  “ I see  that  there  are  only 
M.  Turgot  and  I here  who  love  the  people,”  and  he  signed 
the  edicts. 

The  comptroller-general  was  triumphant ; but  his  victory  was  Fall  of  M„ 
but  the  prelude  to  his  fall.  Too  many  enemies  were  leagued  Turgot, 
against  him,  irritated  both  by  the  noblest  qualities  of  his  character, 
and  at  the  same  time  by  the  natural  defects  of  his  manners. 

Possessed  of  love  “for  a beautiful  ideal,  of  a rage  for  perfection,” 

M.  Turgot  had  wanted  to  attempt  everything,  undertake  every- 
thing, reform  everything  at  one  blow.  He  fought  single-handed. 

M.  de  Malesherbes,  firm  as  a rock  at  the  head  of  the  Court  of  Aids, 
supported  as  he  was  by  the  traditions  and  corporate  feeling  of  the 
magistracy,  had  shown  weakness  as  a minister.  The  two  friends 
fell  together.  M.  Turgot  had  espied  the  danger  and  sounded  some 
of  the  chasms  just  yawning  beneath  the  feet  of  the  nation  as  well 
as  of  the  king  ; he  committed  the  noble  error  of  believing  in  the 
instant  and  supreme  influence  of  justice  and  reason.  “ Sir,”  said 
he  to  Louis  XVI.,  “ you  ought  to  govern,  like  God,  by  general 
laws.”  Had  he  been  longer  in  power,  M.  Turgot  would  still  have 
failed  in  his  designs.  The  life  of  one  man  was  too  short,  and  the 
hand  of  one  man  too  weak,  to  modify  the  course  of  events,  fruit 
slowly  ripened  during  so  many  centuries.  It  was  to  the  honour  of 
M.  Turgot  that  he  discerned  the  mischief  and  would  fain  have 
applied  the  proper  remedy.  He  was  often  mistaken  about  the 
means,  oftener  still  about  the  strength  he  had  at  disposal.  He  had 
the  good  fortune  to  die  early,  still  sad  and  anxious  about  the  fate 
of  his  country,  without  having  been  a witness  of  the  catastrophes 
he  had  foreseen  and  of  the  sufferings  as  well  as  wreckage  through 
which  France  must  pass  before  touching  at  the  haven  he  would 
fain  have  opened  to  her. 

The  joy  of  the  courtiers  was  great,  at  Versailles,  when  the  news  Joy  of  the 
arrived  of  M.  Turgot’s  fall ; the  public  regretted  it  but  little  the  courtiers. 
inflexible  severity  of  his  principles,  which  he  never  veiled  by  grace 
of  manners,  a certain  disquietude  occasioned  by  the  chimerical 
views  which  were  attributed  to  him,  had  alienated  many  people 
from  him.  His  real  friends  were  in  consternation. 

A few  months  later  M.  de  St.  Germain  retired  in  his  turn,  not  to 
Alsace  again,  but  to  the  Arsenal  with  forty  thousand  livres  for 
pension.  The  first,  the  great  attempt  at  reform  had  failed  ; a vain 
attempt  had  been  made  to  establish  the  government  on  the  soundest 
as  well  as  the  most  moderate  principles  of  pure  philosophy;  at 


Foreign 
politics. 
The  Ameri- 
can War. 


M.  de  Choi- 
seul  wishes 
to  support 
the  Ameri- 
cans. 


540  History  of  France . 

home  a new  attempt,  holder  and  at  the  same  time  more  practical, 
was  soon  about  to  resuscitate  for  a while  the  hopes  of  liberal  minds; 
abroad  and  in  a new  world  there  was  already  a commencement  of 
events  which  were  about  to  bring  to  France  a revival  of  glory  and 
to  shed  on  the  reign  of  Louis  XYI.  a moment’s  legitimate  and 
brilliant  lustre. 

The  Seven  Years’  War  was  ended,  shamefully  and  sadly  for 
France ; M.  de  Choiseul,  who  had  concluded  peace  with  regret  and 
a bitter  pang,  was  ardently  pursuing  every  means  of  taking  his 
revenge.  To  foment  disturbances  between  England  and  her 
colonies  appeared  to  him  an  efficacious  and  a natural  way  of  grati- 
fying his  feelings.  “ There  is  great  difficulty  in  governing  States 
in  the  days  in  which  we  live,”  he  wrote  to  M.  Durand,  at  that 
time  French  minister  in  London;  “still  greater  difficulty  in 
governing  those  of  America ; and  the  difficulty  approaches  impos- 
sibility as  regards  those  of  Asia.  I am  very  much  astonished  that 
England,  which  is  but  a very  small  spot  in  Europe,  should  hold 
dominion  over  more  than  a third  of  America,  and  that  her  dominion 
should  have  no  other  object  but  that  of  trade.  ...  As  long  as  the 
vast  American  possessions  contribute  no  subsidies  for  the  support 
of  the  mother-country,  private  persons  in  England  will  still  grow 
rich  for  some  time  on  the  trade  with  America,  but  the  State  will  be 
undone  for  want  of  means  to  keep  together  a too  extended  power; 
if,  on  the  contrary,  England  proposes  to  establish  imposts  in  her 
American  domains,  when  they  are  more  extensive  and  perhaps  more 
populous  than  the  mother-country,  when  they  have  fishing,  woods, 
navigation,  corn,  iron,  they  will  easily  part  asunder  from  her, 
without  any  fear  of  chastisement,  for  England  could  not  undertake 
a war  against  them  to  chastise  them.”  He  encouraged  his  agents 
to  keep  him  informed  as  to  the  state  of  feeling  in  America,  wel- 
coming and  studying  all  projects,  even  the  most  fantastic,  that 
might  be  hostile  to  England. 

When  M.  de  Choiseul  was  thus  writing  to  M.  Durand,  the 
English  government  had  already  justified  the  fears  of  its  wisest  and 
most  sagacious  friends.  The  disruption  of  the  American  colonies, 
and  the  declaration  of  independence  created  in  Europe,  as  may  well 
be  supposed,  the  greatest  excitement.  Statesmen  followed  with 
increasing  interest  the  vicissitudes  of  a struggle  which  at  a distance 
had  lrom  the  first  appeared  to  the  most  experienced  an  unequal 
one.  “ Let  us  not  anticipate  events,  but  content  ourselves  with 
learning  them  when  they  occur/’  said  a letter,  in  1775,  to  M.  de 
Guines,  ambassador  in  London,  from  Louis  XYI.’s  minister  for 
foreign  affairs,  M.  de  Yergennes : “ I prefer  to  follow,  as  a quiet 


Division  in  the  French  cabinet. 


54* 

observer,  the  course  of  events  rather  than  try  to  produce  them  n 
lie  had  but  lately  said  with  prophetic  anxiety  : “ Far  from  seeking 
to  profit  by  the  embarrassment  in  which  England  finds  herself  on 
account  of  affairs  in  America,  we  should  rather  desire  to  extricate 
her.  The  spirit  of  revolt,  in  whatever  spot  it  breaks  out,  is 
always  of  dangerous  precedent ; it  is  with  moral  as  with  physical 
diseases,  both  may  become  contagious.  This  consideration  should 
induce  us  to  take  care  that  the  spirit  of  independence,  which  is 
causing  so  terrible  an  explosion  in  North  America,  have  no 
power  to  communicate  itself  to  points  interesting  to  us  in  this 
hemisphere.  ” 

Independence  was  not  yet  proclaimed,  and  already  the  committee  The 
charged  by  Congress  “ to  correspond  with  friends  in  England,  Ire-  a^ious^o 
land,  and  other  parts  of  the  world,”  had  made  inquiry  of  the  French  secure  the 
government,  by  roundabout  ways,  as  to  what  were  its  intentions 
regarding  the  American  colonies,  and  was  soliciting  the  aid  of 
France.  On  the -3rd  of  March,  1776,  an  agent  of  the  committee, 

Mr.  Silas  Deane,  started  for  France  ; he  had  orders  to  put  the  same 
question  point  blank  at  Versailles  and  at  Paris. 

The  ministry  was  divided  on  the  subject  of  American  affairs; 

M.  Turgot  inclined  towards  neutrality.  “ Let  us  leave  the  insur- 
gents," he  said,  “ at  full  liberty  to  make  their  purchases  in  our  ports 
and  to  provide  themselves  by  the  way  of  trade  with  the  munitions, 
and  even  the  money,  of  which  they  have  need.  A refusal  to  sell 
to  them  would  be  a departure  from  neutrality.  But  it  would  be  a 
departure  likewise  to  furnish  them  with  secret  aid  in  money,  and 
this  step,  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  conceal,  would  excite  just 
complaints  on  the  part  of  the  English.” 

This  was,  however,  the  conduct  adopted  on  the  advice  of  M.  de 
Vergennes ; he  had  been  powerfully  supported  by  the  arguments 
presented  in  a memorandum  drawn  up  by  M.  de  Kayneval,  senior 
clerk  in  the  foreign  office ; he  was  himself  urged  and  incited  by  the 
most  intelligent,  the  most  restless  and  the  most  passionate  amongst  Secret 
the  partisans  of  the  American  rebellion — Beaumarchais.  The  transac- 
versatile  author  of  “ Le  mariage  de  Figaro  ” had  for  a long  while  tbe° French 
been  pleading  the  cause  of  the  colonies,  sure,  he  said,  of  its  ultimate  foreign 
triumph.  On  the  10th  of  January,  1776,  three  weeks  before  the  office- 
declaration  of  independence,  M de  Vergennes  secretly  remitted  a 
million  to  M.  de  Beaumarchais ; two  months  later  the  same  sum 
was  entrusted  to  him  in  the  name  of  the  king  of  Spain.  Beau- 
marchais alone  was  to  appear  in  the  affair  and  to  supply  the  insur- 
gent Americans  with  arms  and  ammunition.  “ You  will  found,”  he 
had  been  told,  “ a great  commercial  house,  and  you  will  try  to 


Iff.  de  Ver- 
gennes 
and  Beau- 
marcha:  s. 


La  Fayette 
inAmerica. 


Washing- 
ton’s feel- 
ings to- 
wards 
France. 


542  History  of  France. 

draw  into  it  the  money  of  private  individuals  ; the  first  outlay  be- 
ing now  provided,  we  shall  have  no  further  hand  in  it,  the  affair 
would  compromise  the  government  too  much  in  the  eyes  of  the 
English.”  It  was  under  the  style  and  title  of  Rodrigo  Hortalez 
and  Go.  that  the  first  instalment  of  supplies,  to  the  extent  of  more 
than  three  millions,  was  forwarded  to  the  Americans ; and,  not- 
withstanding the  hesitation  of  the  ministry  and  the  rage  of  the 
English,  other  instalments  soon  followed.  Beaumarchais  was 
henceforth  personally  interested  in  the  enterprise ; he  had  com- 
menced it  from  zeal  for  the  American  cause  and  from  that  yearning 
for  activity  and  initiative  which  characterized  him  even  in  old  age. 
“ I should  never  have  succeeded  in  fulfilling  my  mission  here  with- 
out the  indefatigable,  intelligent  and  generous  efforts  of  M.  de 
Beaumarchais,”  wrote  Silas  Deane  to  the  secret  committee  of  Con- 
gress: “the  United  States  are  more  indebted  to  him,  on  every 
account,  than  to  any  other  person  on  this  side  of  the  Ocean.” 

The  hereditary  sentiments  of  Louis  XVI.  and  his  monarchical 
principles,  as  well  as  the  prudent  moderation  of  M.  Turgot,  retarded 
at  Paris  the  negotiations  which  caused  so  much  ill-humour  among 
the  English,  and  which  Silas  Deane  and  Franklin  were  endeavour- 
ing to  bring  to  a satisfactory  issue ; M.  de  Vergennes  still  preserved, 
in  all  diplomatic  relations,  an  apparent  neutrality.  “ It  is  my  line 
(metier),  you  see,  to  be  a royalist,”  the  Emperor  Joseph  II.  had 
said  during  a visit  he  had  just  paid  to  Paris,  when  he  was  pressed 
to  declare  in  favour  of  the  American  insurgents ; at  the  bottom  of 
his  heart  the  king  of  France  was  of  the  same  opinion ; he  had 
refused  the  permission  to  serve  in  America  which  he  had  been 
asked  for  by  many  gentlemen  : some  had  set  off  without  waiting  for 
it ; the  most  important  as  well  as  the  most  illustrious  of  them  all,- 
the  marquis  of  La  Fayette,  was  not  twenty  years  old  when  he  slipped 
away  from  Paris,  leaving  behind  .his  young  wife  close  to  her  con- 
finement, to  go  and  embark  upon  a vessel  which  he  had  bought, 
and  which,  laden  with  arms,  awaited  him  in  a Spanish  port ; 
arrested  by  order  of  the  court,  he  evaded  the  vigilance  of  his  guards ; 
in  the  month  of  July,  1777,  he  disembarked  in  America. 

Washington  did  not  like  France,  he  did  not  share  the  hopes 
which  some  of  his  fellow-countrymen  founded  upon  her  aid ; he 
made  no  case  of  the  young  volunteers  who  came  to  enrol  themselves 
amongst  the  defenders  of  independence  and  whom  Congress  loaded 
wdth  favours.  “ No  bond  but  interest  attaches  these  men  to 
America,”  he  would  say,  “and,  as  for  France,  she  only  lets  us  get 
our  munitions  from  her  because  of  the  benefit  her  commerce  derives 
from  it.’*  Prudent,  reserved,  and  proud,  Washington  looked  for 


Declaration  of  war. 


543 


America’s  salvation  to  only  America  herself ; neither  had  he  fore- 
seen, nor  did  he  understand  that  enthusiasm,  as  generous  as  it  is 
unreflecting,  which  easily  takes  possession  of  the  French  nation,  and 
of  which  the  United  States  were  just  then  the  object.  M.  de  La 
Fayette  was  the  first  who  managed  to  win  the  general’s  affection  Washing- 
and  esteem.  A great  yearning  for  excitement  and  renown,  a great  La 

zeal  for  new  ideas  and  a certain  political  perspicacity  had  impelled 
M.  de  La  Fayette  to  America ; he  showed  himself  courageous, 
devoted,  more  judicious  and  more  able  than  had  been  expected 
from  his  youth  and  character.  Washington  came  to  love  him  as 
a son.  The  great  and  strong  common-sense  of  the  American  general 
had  enlightened  him  as  to  the  conditions  of  the  contest  he  had 
entered  upon.  He  knew  it  was  a desperate  one,  he  foresaw  that  it 
would  be  a long  one  ; better  than  anybody  he  knew  the  weaknesses 
as  well  as  the  merits  of  the  instruments  which  he  had  at  disposal, 
he  had  learned  to  desire  the  alliance  and  the  aid  of  France.  She 
did  not  belie  his  hopes  ; at  the  very  moment  when  Congress  was 
refusing  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  Great  Britain  as  long  as  a 
single  English  soldier  remained  on  American  soil,  rejoicings  and 
thanksgivings  were  everywhere  throughout  the  thirteen  colonies 
greeting  the  news  of  the  recognition  by  France  of  the  Independence 
of  the  United  States  ; the  treaties  of  alliance,  a triumph  of  diplo- 
matic ability  on  the  part  of  Franklin,  had  been  signed  at  Paris  on 
the  6th  of  February,  1778. 

“ Assure  the  English  government  of  the  king’s  pacific  intentions,” 

M.  de  Yergennes  had  written  to  the  marquis  of  Noailles,  then 
French  ambassador  in  England.  George  III.  replied  to  these  mock- 
ing assurances  by  recalling  his  ambassador. 

“Anticipate  your  enemies,”  Franklin  had  said  to  the  ministers  of  George  III 
Louis  XVI.,  “act  towards  them  as  they  did  to  you  in  1755,  let  recalls  his 
your  ships  pat  to  sea  before  any  declaration  of  war,  it  will  be  time 
to  speak  when  a French  squadron  bars  the  passage  of  Admiral 
Howe,  who  has  ventured  to  ascend  the  Delaware.”  The  king\, 
natural  straightforwardness  and  timidity  were  equally  opposed  to 
this  bold  project ; he  hesitated  along  while  ; when  Count  d’Estaing 
at  last,  on  the  13th  of  April,  went  out  of  Toulon  harbour  to  sail 
for  America  with  his  squadron,  it  was  too  late,  the  English  were  on 
their  guard. 

When  the  French  admiral  arrived  in  America,  hostilities  had 
commenced  between  France  and  England,  without  declaration  of  war  de- 
war,  by  the  natural  pressure  of  circumstances  and  the  state  of  feel-  clared. 
ing  in  the  two  countries.  England  fired  the  first  shot  on  the  17th 
of  June,  1778. 


544 


History  of  France . 


The  French  From  the  day  when  the  duke  of  Choiseul  had  been  forced  to  sign 
navy  irn-  the  humiliating  treaty  of  1763,  he  had  never  relaxed  in  his  efforts 
proved.  ^ improve  the  French  navy.  In  the  course  of  ministerial  alterna- 
tions, frequently  unfortunate  for  the  work  in  hand,  it  had  neverthe- 
less been  continued  by  his  successors.  Counts  d’Estaing  and 
d’Orvilliers  nobly  maintained  the  honour  of  the  fleur-de-lys  against 
men  such  as  admiral  Howe  and  Lord  Keppel ; in  England  the  com- 
motion was  great  at  the  news  that  France  and  America  in  arms 
against  her  had  just  been  joined  by  Spain.  A government  essen- 
tially monarchical,  faithful  to  ancient  traditions,  the  Spaniards  had 
for  a long  while  resisted  the  entreaties  of  M.  de  Yergennes,  who 
availed  himself  of  the  stipulations  of  the  Family  pact.  Charles  III. 
felt  no  sort  of  sympathy  for  a nascent  republic,  he  feared  the  con- 
tagion of  the  example  it  showed  to  the  Spanish  colonies,  he  hesi- 
tated to  plunge  into  the  expenses  of  a war.  His  hereditary  hatred 
against  England  prevailed  at  last  over  the  dictates  of  prudence.  He 
was  promised,  moreover,  the  assistance  of  France  to  reconquer 
Gibraltar  and  Minorca.  The  king  of  Spain  consented  to  take  part 
in  the  wTar,  without  however  recognizing  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  or  entering  into  alliance  with  them. 

Situation  The  situation  of  England  was  becoming  serious,  she  believed 
of  Eng-  herself  to  be  threatened  with  a terrible  invasion.  As  in  the  days 
" " J of  the  Great  Armada,  “ orders  were  given  to  all  functionaries,  civil 

and  military,  in  case  of  a descent  of  the  enemy,  to  see  to  the  trans- 
portation into  the  interior  and  into  a place  of  safety  of  all  horses, 
cattle  and  flocks  that  might  happen  to  be  on  the  coasts.”  “ Sixty- 
six  allied  ships  of  the  line  ploughed  the  Channel,  fifty  thousand 
men,  mustered  in  Normandy,  were  preparing  to  burst  upon  the 
southern  counties.  A simple  American  corsair,  Paul  Jones,  ravaged 
with  impunity  the  coasts  of  Scotland.  The  powers  of  the  North, 
united  with  Iiussia  and  Holland,  threatened  to  maintain,  with  arms  in 
hand,  the  rights  of  neutrals,  ignored  by  the  English  admiralty- 
courts.  Ireland  awaited  only  the  signal  to  revolt ; religious 
quarrels  were  distracting  Scotland  and  England  ; the  authority  of 
Lord  North’s  cabinet  was  shaken  in  Parliament  as  well  as 
throughout  the  country,  the  passions  of  the  mob  held  sway  in 
London,  and  amongst  the  sights  that  might  have  been  witnessed 
was  that  of  this  great  city  given  up  for  nearly  a week  to  the  popu- 
lace, without  anything  that  could  stay  its  excesses  save  its  own 
lassitude  and  its  own  feeling  of  shame”  [M.  Cornelis  de  Witt, 
Histoire  de  Washington ]. 

So  many  and  such  imposing  preparations  were  destined  to  pro- 
duce but  little  fruit ; everywhere  the  strength  of  the  belligerents 


The  American  War. 


545 


was  being  exhausted  without  substantial  result  and  without  honour ; 
for  more  than  four  years  now  America  had  been  keeping  up  the 
war,  and  her  Southern  provinces  had  been  everywhere  laid  waste 
by  the  enemy  ; in  spite  of  the  heroism  which  was  displayed  by  the 
patriots  and  of  which  the  women  themselves  set  the  example,  General 
Lincoln  had  just  been  forced  to  capitulate  at  Charlestown;  Wash-  . 
ington,  still  encamped  before  New  York,  saw  his  army  decimated  by  tion  0f 
hunger  and  cold,  deprived  of  all  resources,  and  reduced  to  subsist  Charles- 
at  the  expense  of  the  people  in  the  neighbourhood.  All  eyes  town* 
were  turned  towards  France;  the  marquis  of  La  Fayette  had 
succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  king  and  the  French  ministry 
the  formation  of  an  auxiliary  corps  ; the  troops  were  already  on 
their  way  under  the  orders  of  Count  de  Rochambeau. 

Misfortune  and  disappointments  are  great  destroyers  of  some  bar- 
riers, prudent  tact  can  overthrow  others  ; Washington  and  the 
American  army  would  but  lately  have  seen  with  suspicion  the 
arrival  of  foreign  auxiliaries  ; in  1780,  transports  of  joy  greeted  the 
news  of  their  approach  ; M.  de  La  Fayette,  moreover,  had  been 
careful  to  spare  the  American  general  all  painful  friction.  Count 
de  Rochambeau  and  the  French  officers  were  placed  under  the 
orders  of  Washington,  and  the  auxiliary  corps  entirely  at  his  dis- 
posal. The  delicate  generosity  and  the  disinterestedness  of  the 
French  government  had  sometimes  had  the  effect  of  making  it 
neglect  the  national  interests  in  its  relations  with  the  revolted 
colonies  ; but  it  had  derived  therefrom  a spirit  of  conduct  invari- 
ably calculated  to  triumph  over  the  prejudices,  as  well  as  the  jealous 
pride  of  the  Americans. 

“ The  history  of  the  War  of  Independence  is  a history  of  hopes  The 
deceived,”  said  Washington.  He  had  conceived  the  idea  of  making  French  in. 
himself  master  of  New  York  with  the  aid  of  the  French.  The  Amenca* 
transport  of  the  troops  had  been  badly  calculated ; Rochambeau 
brought  to  Rhode  Island  only  the  first  division  of  his  army,  five 
thousand  men  about,  and  Count  de  Guichen,  whose  squadron  had 
been  relied  upon,  had  just  been  recalled  to  France.  Washington 
was  condemned  to  inaction.  “ Our  position  is  not  sufficiently  bril- 
liant,” he  wrote  to  M.  de  La  Fayette,  “to  justify  our  putting  pres- 
sure upon  Count  de  Rochambeau ; I shall  continue  our  arrange- 
ments, however,  in  the  hope  of  more  fortunate  circumstances.” 

The  American  army  was  slow  in  getting  organized,  obliged  as  it  had 
been  to  fight  incessantly  and  make  head  against  constantly  recur- 
ring difficulties ; it  was  getting  organized,  however ; the  example 
of  the  French,  the  discipline  which  prevailed  in  the  auxiliary  corps, 
the  good  understanding  thenceforth  established  amongst  the 

JS  N 


Campaign 
of  1781. 


The  Eng- 
lish and 
the  Dutch. 


546  History  of  France. 

officers,  helped  Washington  in  his  difficult  task.  From  the  first 
the  superiority  of  the  general  was  admitted  by  the  French  as  well 
as  by  the  Americans ; naturally  and  by  the  mere  fact  of  the  gifts 
he  had  received  from  God,  Washington  was  always  and  everywhere 
chief  of  the  men  placed  within  his  range  and  under  his  influence. 

After  many  and  painful  efforts,  the  day  of  triumph  was  at  last 
dawning  upon  General  Washington  and  his  country.  Alternations 
of  success  and  reverse  had  signalized  the  commencement  of  the 
campaign  of  1781.  Lord  Cornwallis,  who  commanded  the  English 
armies  in  the  South,  was  occupying  Virginia  with  a considerable 
force,  when  Washington,  who  had  managed  to  conceal  his  designs 
from  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  shut  up  in  Hew  York,  crossed  Phila- 
delphia on  the  4th  of  September  and  advanced  by  forced  marches 
against  the  enemy.  The  latter  had  been  for  some  time  past  harassed 
by  the  little  army  of  M.  de  La  Fayette,  The  fleet  of  Admiral  de 
Grasse  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  English.  Lord  Cornwallis  threw 
himself  into  Yorktown ; on  the  30th  of  September  the  place  was 
invested,  and  on  the  17th  October  it  capitulated. 

Whilst  the  United  States  were  celebrating  their  victory  with 
thanksgivings  and  public  festivities,  their  allies  were  triumphing 
at  all  the  different  points,  simultaneously,  at  which  hostilities  had 
been  entered  upon.  Becoming  embroiled  with  Holland,  where  the 
republican  party  had  prevailed  against  the  stadtholder,  who  was 
devoted  to  them,  the  English  had  waged  war  upon  the  Dutch 
colonies.  Admiral  Rodney  had  taken  St.  Eustache,  the  centre  of 
an  immense  trade ; he  had  pillaged  the  warehouses  and  laden  his 
vessels  with  an  enormous  mass  of  merchandise ; the  convoy  which 
was  conveying  a part  of  the  spoil  to  England  was  captured  by 
Admiral  La  Motte-Piquet ; M.  de  Bouille  surprised  the  English 
garrison  remaining  at  St.  Eustache  and  recovered  possession  of  the 
island,  which  was  restored  to  the  Dutch.  They  had  just  main- 
tained gloriously,  at  Dogger  Bank,  their  old  maritime  renown : 
“ Officers  and  men  all  fought  like  lions,”  said  Admiral  Zouttman. 
The  firing  had  not  commenced  until  the  two  fleets  were  within 
pistol-shot.  The  ships  on  both  sides  were  dismasted,  scarcely  in 
a condition  to  keep  afloat ; the  glory  and  the  losses  were  equal, 
but  the  English  admiral,  Hyde  Parker,  was  irritated  and  displeased  ; 
George  III.  went  to  see  him  on  board  his  vessel : “ I wish  your 
Majesty  younger  seamen  and  better  ships,”  said  the  old  sailor-,  and 
he  insisted  on  resigning.  This  was  the  only  action  fought  by  the 
Dutch  duiing  the  war ; they  left  to  Admiral  de  Kersaint  the  job 
of  recovering  from  the  English  their  colonies  of  Demerara,  Esse- 
quibo  and  Berbice  on  the  coasts  of  Guiana.  A small  Franco- 


The  French  in  India. 


547 


Spanish  army  was  at  the  same  time  besieging  Minorca ; the  fleet 
was  considerable,  the  English  were  ill-prepared ; they  were  soon 
obliged  to  shut  themselves  up  in  Fort  St.  Philip,  and,  finally,  to 
surrender  ('February  4tli,  1782). 

As  early  as  1778,  even  before  the  maritime  war  had  burst  out  in 
Europe,  France  had  lost  all  that  remained  of  her  possessions  on 
the  Coromandel  coast.  Pondicherry,  scarcely  risen  from  its  ruins, 
was  besieged  by  the  English,  and  had  capitulated  on  the  17th  of 
October,  after  a heroic  resistance  of  forty  days’  open  trenches. 
Since  that  day  a Mussulman,  Hyder  Ali,  conqueror  of  the  Car- 
natic, had  struggled  alone  in  India  against  the  power  of  England : 
it  was  around  him  that  a group  had  been  formed  by  the  old 
soldiers  of  Bussy,  and  by  the  French  who  had  escaped  from  the 
disaster  of  Pondicherry.  It  was  with  their  aid  that  the  able 
robber-chief,  the  crafty  politician,  had  defended  and  consolidated 
the  empire  he  had  founded  against  that  foreign  dominion  which 
threatened  the  independence  of  his  country.  He  had  just  suffered 
a series  of  reverses,  and  he  was  on  the  point  of  being  forced  to 
evacuate  the  Carnatic,  and  take  refuge  in  his  kingdom  of  Mysore 
when  he  heard,  in  the  month  of  July,  1782,  of  the  arrival  of  a 
French  fleet  commanded  by  M.  de  Suffren.  Hyder  Ali  had  already 
been  many  times  disappointed.  The  preceding  year  Admiral  d’Orves 
had  appeared  on  the  Coromandel  coast  with  a squadron,  the  Sultan 
had  sent  to  meet  him,  urging  him  to  land  and  attack  Madras,  left 
defenceless  ; the  admiral  refused  to  risk  a single  vessel  or  land  a 
single  man,  and  he  returned,  without  striking  a blow,  to  Ile-de- 
France.  Ever  indomitable  and  enterprising,  Hyder  Ali  hoped 
better  things  of  the  new  comers  : he  was  not  deceived.  Six 
months,  however,  had  scarcely  elapsed  when  he  died,  leaving  to 
his  son  Tippoo  Sahib  affairs  embroiled  and  allies  enfeebled.  At 
this  news  the  Mahrattas,  in  revolt  against  England,  hastened  to 
make  peace,  and  Tippoo  Sahib,  who  had  just  seized  Tanjore,  was 
obliged  to  abandon  his  conquest,  and  go  to  the  protection  of  Mala- 
bar. Ten  thousand  men,  only,  remained  in  the  Carnatic  to  back 
the  little  corps  of  French ; these  had  resumed  the  offensive  and 
were  preparing  to  make  fresh  sallies,  when  it  was  known  at  Cal- 
cutta that  the  preliminaries  of  peace  had  been  signed  at  Paris  on 
the  9th  of  February.  The  English  immediately  proposed  an  armis- 
tice. The  Surveillante  shortly  afterwards  brought  the  same  news, 
with  orders  for  Suffren  to  return  to  France.  India  was  definitively 
given  up  to  the  English,  who  restored  to  the  French  Pondicherry, 
Chandernugger,  Mahe  and  Karikal,  the  last  strips  remaining  of 
that  French  dominion  which  had  for  a while  been  triumphant 

»n  2 


TheFrench 
in  India. 


Suffren 
and  Hyder 
Ali. 


Reception 
of  M.  de 
Suffren  at 
Versailles. 


Negotia- 
tions for 
peace. 


548  History  of  France. 

throughout  the  Peninsula.  The  feebleness  and  the  vices  of  Louis 
XY.’s  government  weighed  heavily  upon  the  government  of  Louis 
XYI.  in  India  as  well  as  in  France,  and  at  Paris  itself. 

It  is  to  the  honour  of  mankind  and  their  consolation  under 
great  reverses  that  political  checks  and  the  inutility  of  their  efforts 
do  not  obscure  the  glory  of  great  men.  M.  de  Suffren  had  just 
arrived  at  Paris,  he  was  in  low  spirits ; M.  de  Castries  took  him 
to  Versailles.  There  was  a numerous  and  brilliant  court.  On 
entering  the  guards’  hall,  “ Gentlemen,”  said  the  minister  to  the 
officers  on  duty,  “this  is  M.  de  Suffren.”  Everybody  rose,  and 
the  bodyguards,  forming  an  escort  for  the  admiral,  accompanied 
him  to  the  king’s  chamber.  His  career  was  over ; the  last  of  the 
great  sailors  of  the  ancien  regime  died  on  the  8th  of  December,  1788. 

Whilst  Hyder  Ali  and  M.  de  Suffren  were  still  disputing  India 
with  England,  that  power  had  just  gained  in  Europe  an  important 
advantage  in  the  eyes  of  public  opinion  as  well  as  in  respect  of 
her  supremacy  at  sea ; we  allude  to  the  town  and  fortress  of  Gib- 
raltar which,  after  being  invested  by  the  Franco-Spanish  army  for 
a considerable  time,  was  relieved  and  revictualled  by  Lord  Howe  in 
1782. 

Peace  was  at  hand,  however  : all  the  belligerents  were  tired  of 
the  strife,  the  marquis  of  Rockingham,  was  dead  ; his  ministry, 
after  being  broken  up,  had  re-formed  with  less  lustre  under  the 
leadership  of  Lord  Shelburne ; William  Pitt,  Lord  Chatham’s 
second  son,  at  that  time  twenty-two  years  of  age,  had  a seat  in 
the  cabinet.  Already  negotiations  for  a general  peace  had  begun 
at  Paris,  but  Washington,  who  eagerly  desired  the  end  of  the  war, 
did  not  yet  feel  any  confidence.  On  the  5th  of  December,  at  the 
opening  of  Parliament,  George  III.  announced  in  the  speech  from 
the  throne  that  he  had  offered  to  recognize  the  independence  of 
the  American  colonies.  “ In  thus  admitting  their  separation  from 
the  crown  of  this  kingdom,  I have  sacrificed  all  my  desires  to  the 
wishes  and  opinion  of  my  people,”  said  the  king.  “ I humbly 
pray  Almighty  God  that  Great  Britain  may  not  feel  the  evils 
which  may  flow  from  so  important  a dismemberment  of  its  empire, 
and  that  America  may  be  a stranger  to  the  calamities  which  have 
before  now  proved  to  the  mother-country  that  monarchy  is  in- 
separable from  the  benefits  of  constitutional  liberty.  Religion, 
language,  interests,  affections  may  still  form  a bond  of  union  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  and  I will  spare  no  pains  or  attention  to 
promote  it.”  “ I was  the  last  man  in  England  to  consent  to  the 
independence  of  America,”  said  the  king  to  John  Adams,  who  was 
the  first  to  represent  the  new  republic  at  the  Court  of  St.  James’s } 


549 


France  after  the  American  war. 

“ I will  now  be  tbe  last  in  the  world  to  sanction  any  violation  of 
it.”  Honest  and  sincere  in  his  concessions  as  he  had  been  in  his 
persistent  obstinacy,  the  king  supported  his  ministers  against  the 
violent  attacks  made  upon  them  in  Parliament.  The  prelimi- 
naries of  general  peace  had  been  signed  at  Paris  on  the  20th  of 
January,  1783. 

To  the  exchange  of  conquests  between  France  and  England  was  results 
added  the  cession  to  France  of  the  island  of  Tobago  and  of  the  for  France. 
Senegal  river  with  its  dependencies.  The  territory  of  Pondicherry 
and  Karikal  received  some  augmentation.  For  the  first  time  for 
more  than  a hundred  years  the  English  renounced  the  humiliating 
conditions  so  often  demanded  on  the  subject  of  the  harbour  of 
Dunkerque.  Spain  saw  herself  confirmed  in  her  conquest  of  the 
Floridas  and  of  the  island  of  Minorca.  Holland  recovered  all  her 
possessions,  except  Negapatam. 

France  came  out  exhausted  from  the  struggle,  but  relieved  in  her 
own  eyes  as  well  as  those  of  Europe  from  the  humiliation  inflicted 
upon  her  by  the  disastrous  Seven  Years’  War,  and  by  the  treaty  of 
1763.  She  saw  triumphant  the  cause  she  had  upheld,  and  her 
enemies  sorrow-stricken  at  the  dismemberment  they  had  suffered. 

It  w'as  a triumph  for  her  arms  and  for  the  generous  impulse  which 
had  prompted  her  to  support  a legitimate  but  for  a long  while 
doubtful  enterprise.  A fresh  element,  however,  had  come  to  add 
itself  to  the  germs  of  disturbance,  already  so  fruitful,  which  were 
hatching  within  her.  She  had  promoted  the  foundation  of  a 
Republic  based  upon  principles  of  absolute  right,  the  government 
had  given  way  to  the  ardent  sympathy  of  the  nation  for  a people 
emancipated  from  a long  yoke  by  its  deliberate  will  and  its  indo-  longing 
mitable  energy.  France  felt  her  heart  still  palpitating  from  the  free(iom> 
efforts  she  had  witnessed  and  shared  on  behalf  of  American  free- 
dom ; the  unreflecting  hopes  of  a blind  emulation  were  already 
agitating  many  a mind.  “ In  all  states,”  said  Washington,  “ there 
are  inflammable  materials  which  a single  spark  may  kindle.”  In 
1783,  on  the  morrow  of  the  American  war,  the  inflammable  mate- 
rials everywhere  accumulated  in  France  were  already  providing 
means  for  that  immense  conflagration  in  the  midst  of  which  the 
country  well-nigh  perished. 

After  a few  inefficient  and  useless  ministers,  Necker  had  been 
called  to  the  important  post  so  ably  filled  by  Turgot.  Public 
opinion  was  favourable  to  him,  his  promotion  was  well  received ; 
it  presented,  however,  great  difficulties:  he  had  been  a banker, 
and  hitherto  the  comptrollers-general  had  all  belonged  to  the 
class  of  magistrates  or  superintendents;  he  was  a Protestant, 


550  History  of f France. 

and,  as  such,  could  not  hold  any  office.  The  clergy  were  in  com- 
motion ; they  tried  certain  remonstrances.  “We  will  give  him  up 
to  you,”  said  M.  de  Maurepas,  “ if  you  undertake  to  pay  the  debts 
of  the  State.”  The  opposition  of  the  Church,  however,  closed  to 
the  new  minister  an  important,  opening ; at  first  director  of  the 
treasury,  then  director-general  of  finance,  M.  decker  never  received 
the  title  of  comptroller-general,  and  was  not  admitted  to  the 
council.  From  the  outset,  with  a disinterestedness  not  devoid  of 
ostentation,  he  had  declined  the  salary  attached  to  his  functions. 
The  courtiers  looked  at  one  another  in  astonishment : “ It  is  easy 
to  see  that  he  is  a foreigner,  a republican  and  a Protestant,”  people 
said.  M.  de  Maurepas  laughed  : “ M.  decker,”  he  declared,  “ is  a 
maker  of  gold ; he  has  introduced  the  philosopher’s  stone  into  the 
kingdom.” 

Necker  at  This  was  for  a while  the  feeling  throughout  France.  “ No 
of  affairs  bankruptcies,  no  new  imposts,  no  loans,”  M.  Turgot  had  said,  and 
had  looked  to  economy  alone  for  the  resources  necessary  to  restore 
the  finances.  Bolder  and  less  scrupulous,  M.  Necker,  who  had  no 
idea  of  having  recourse  to  either  bankruptcy  or  imposts,  made 
unreserved  use  of  the  system  of  loans.  During  the  five  years  that 
his  ministry  lasted,  the  successive  loans  he  contracted  amounted  to 
nearly  500  million  livres.  There  was  no  security  given  to  insure 
its  repayment  to  the  lenders.  The  mere  confidence  felt  in  the 
minister’s  ability  and  honesty  had  caused  the  money  to  flow  into 
the  treasury. 

M.  Necker  did  not  stop  there  : a foreigner  by  birth,  he  felt  no 
respect  for  the  great  tradition  of  French  administration  ; practised 
in  the  handling  of  funds,  he  had  conceived  as  to  the  internal 
His  finan-  government  of  the  finances  theories  opposed  to  the  old  system;  the 
cial  plans,  superintendents  established  a while  ago  by  Bichelieu  had  become 
powerful  in  the  central  administration  as  well  as  in  the  provinces, 
and  the  comptroller-general  was  in  the  habit  of  accounting  with 
them  ; they  nearly  all  belonged  to  old  and  notable  families  ; some 
of  them  had  won  the  public  regard  and  esteem.  The  new 
minister  suppressed  several  offices  and  diminished  the  importance 
of  some  others ; the  treasurers-general,  numbering  forty-eight,  were 
reduced  to  a dozen,  and  the  twenty-seven  treasurers  of  the  navy  and 
of  war  to  two  ; the  farmings-general  (of  taxes)  were  renewed  with  an 
advantage  to  the  treasury  of  fifteen  millions:  The  posts  at  court 

likewise  underwent  reform : the  courtiers  saw  at  one  blow  the 
improper  sources  of  their  revenues  in  the  financial  administration 
cut  off,  and  obsolete  and  ridiculous  appointments,  to  which 
numerous  pensions  were  attached,  reduced.  Their  discontent  was 


NECKER  AT  SAINT  OUEN, 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


M.  Necker  and  the  “ Compte  Rendu.” 


5Si 


becoming  every  day  more  noisy,  without  ns  yet  shaking  the  credit 
of  M.  Necker.  He  thought  the  moment  had  come  for  giving 
public  opinion  the  summons  of  which  he  recognized  the  necessity ; 
he  felt  himself  shaken  at  court,  weakened  in  the  regard  of  M.  de 
Maurepas,  who  was  still  powerful  in  spite  of  his  great  age  and 
jealous  of  him  as  he  had  been  of  M.  Turgot ; he  had  made  up  his 
mind,  he  said,  to  let  the  nation  know  how  its  affairs  had  been 
managed,  and  in  the  early  days  of  the  year  1781  he  published  his 
Compte  rendu  au  roi. 

It  was  a hold  innovation ; hitherto  the  administration  of  the 
finances  had  been  carefully  concealed  from  the  eyes  of  the  public 
as  the  greatest  secret  in  the  affairs  of  State ; for  the  first  time  the 
nation  was  called  upon  to  take  cognizance  of  the  position  of  the 
public  estate  and,  consequently,  pass  judgment  upon  its  adminis- 
tration. The  very  reforms  brought  about  by  the  minister  rendered 
his  fall  more  imminent  every  day.  He  had  driven  into  coalition 
against  him  the  powerful  influences  of  the  courtiers,  of  the  old 
families  whose  hereditary  destination  was  office  in  the  administra- 
tion, and  of  the  Parliament  everywhere  irritated  and  anxious.  He 
had  lessened  the  fortunes  and  position  of  the  two  former  classes, 
and  his  measures  tended  to  .strip  the  magistracy  of  the  authority 
whereof  they  were  so  jealous;  obliged  finally  to  send  in  his 
resignation  (1781),  he  was  replaced  by  M.  de  Calonne. 

It  was  court-influence  that  carried  the  day  and,  in  the  court,  that 
of  the  queen,  prompted  by  her  favourite,  Madame  de  Polignac. 
Tenderly  attached  to  his  wife,  who  had  at  last  given  him  a son, 
Louis  XVI.,  delivered  from  the  predominant  influence  of  M.  de 
Maurepas,  was  yielding,  almost  unconsciously,  to  a new  power. 
Marie  Antoinette,  who  had  long  held  aloof  from  politics,  henceforth 
changed  her  part;  at  the  instigation  of  the  friends  whom  she 
honoured  with  a perhaps  excessive  intimacy,  she  began  to  take  an 
important  share  in  affairs,  a share  which  was  often  exaggerated  by 
public  opinion,  more  and  more  hard  upon  her  every  day. 

Received  on  her  arrival  in  France  with  some  mistrust,  of  which 
she  had  managed  to  get  the  better  amongst  the  public,  having  been 
loved  and  admired  as  long  as  she  was  dauphiness,  the  young  queen, 
after  her  long  period  of  constraint  in  the  royal  family,  had  soon 
profited  by  her  freedom  ; she  had  a horror  of  etiquette,  to  which 
the  court  of  Austria  had  not  made  her  accustomed,  she  gladly 
escaped  from  the  grand  palaces  of  Louis  XIV.,  where  the  traditions 
of  his  reign  seemed  still  to  exercise  a secret  influence,  in  order  to 
seek  at  her  little  manor-house  of  Trianon  new  amusements  and 
rustic  pleasures,  innocent  and  simple,  and  attended  with  no  other 


AD.  1781. 
His 

“ Compte 
Rendu.” 


His  down- 
fall. Re- 
placed by 
M.  de  Ca- 
lonne. 


The  queen 
Marie 
Antoinette. 


552 


History  of  France . 


inconvenience  but  the  air  of  cliquedom  and  almost  of  mystery  in 
which  the  queen’s  guests  enveloped  themselves. 

In  the  home-circle  of  the  royal  family,  the  queen  had  not  found 
any  intimate  friend : the  king’s  aunts  had  never  taken  to  her ; the 
crafty  ability  of  the  count  of  Provence  and  the  giddiness  of  the  count 
of  Artois  seemed  in  the  prudent  eye  of  Maria  Theresa  to  be  equally 
dangerous  ; Madame  Elizabeth,  the  heroic  and  pious  companion  of 
the  evil  days,  was  still  a mere  child  ; already  the  duke  of  Chartres, 
irreligious  and  debauched,  displayed  towards  the  queen  who  kept 
him  at  a distance  symptoms  of  a bitter  rancour  which  was  destined 
to  bear  fruit ; Marie  Antoinette,  accustomed  to  a numerous  family, 
affectionately  united,  sought  friends  who  could  “love  her  for 
herself,”  as  she  used  to  say.  An  illusive  hope,  in  one  of  her  rank, 
for  which  she  was  destined  to  pay  dearly.  She  formed  an  attach- 
ment to  the  young  princess  of  Lamballe,  daughter-in-law  of  the 
duke  of  Penthievre,  a widow  at  twenty  years  of  age,  affectionate 
and  gentle,  for  whom  she  revived  the  post  of  lady-superintendent, 
abolished  by  Mary  Leczinska.  The  court  was  in  commotion,  and 
the  public  murmured  ; the  queen  paid  no  heed,  absorbed  as  she  was 
in  the  new  delights  of  friendship ; the  intimacy,  in  which  there 
was  scarcely  any  inequality,  with  the  princess  of  Lamballe,  was 
soon  followed  by  a more  perilous  affection ; the  countess  Jules  de 
Polignac,  who  was  generally  detained  in  the  country  by  the  narrow- 
ness of  her  means,  appeared  at  court  on  the  occasion  of  a festival ; 
the  queen  was  pleased  with  her,  made  her  remain  and  loaded 
her  and  her  family,  not  only  with  favours  but  with  unbounded 
and  excessive,  familiarity.  Finding  the  court-circles  a constraint 
and  an  annoyance,  Marie  Antoinette  became  accustomed  to  seek  in 
Madame  de  the  drawing-room  of  Madame  de  Polignac  amusements  and  a 
Polignac.  freedom  which  led  before  long  to  sinister  gossip.  Those  who  were 
admitted  to  this  royal  intimacy  were  not  always  prudent  or 
discreet,  they  abused  the  confidence  as  well  as  the  generous  kind- 
ness of  the  queen ; their  ambition  and  their  cupidity  were  equally 
concerned  in  urging  Marie  Antoinette  to  take  in  the  government  a 
part  for  which  she  was  not  naturally  inclined.  M.  de  Calonne  was 
intimate  with  Madame  de  Polignac ; she,  created  a duchess  and 
appointed  governess  to  the  children  of  France  (the  royal  children), 
was  all-powerful  with  her  friend  the  queen ; she  dwelt  upon  the 
talents  of  M.  de  Calonne,  the  extent  and  fertility  of  his  resources ; 
M.  de  Yergennes  was  won  over,  and  the  office  of  comptroller- 
general,  which  had  but  lately  been  still  discharged  with  lustre  by 
M.  Turgot  and  M.  hTecker,  fell  on  the  30th  of  October,  1784,  into 
the  hands  of  M.  de  Calonne. 


The  royal 
family  of 
Prance. 


M.  de  Calonne. 


553 


Discredited  from  the  very  first  by  a dishonourable  action,  he  had 
invariably  managed  to  get  his  vices  forgotten,  thanks  to  the  charms 
of  a brilliant  and  fertile  wit.  Prodigal  and  irregular  as  superin- 
tendent of  Lille,  he  imported  into  the  comptroller-generalship 
habits  and  ideas  opposed  to  all  the  principles  of  Louis  XVI. 

“ The  reputation  of  M.  de  Calonne,”  says  M.  Necker  in  his 
memoires,  “ was  a contrast  to  the  morality  of  Louis  XVI.,  and  I JJj11fee>sCa’ 
know  not  by  what  argumentation,  by  what  ascendancy  such  a financial 
prince  was  induced  to  give  a place  in  his  council  to  a magistrate  views> 
who  was  certainly  found  agreeable  in  the  most  elegant  society  of 
Paris  hut  whose  levity  and  principles  were  dreaded  by  the  whole 
of  Prance.  Money  was  lavished,  largesses  were  multiplied,  there 
was  no  declining  to  be  goodnatured  or  complaisant,  economy  was 
made  the  object  of  ridicule,  it  was  daringly  asserted  that  immensity 
of  expenditure,  animating  circulation,  was  the  true  principle  of 
credit.” 

If  the  first  steps  of  M.  de  Calonne  dismayed  men  of  foresight 
and  of  experience  in  affairs,  the  public  was  charmed  with  them,  no 
less  than  the  courtiers.  The  bail  des  fermes  was  re-established,  the 
Caisse  d’escompte  had  resumed  payment,  the  stock -holders  ( rentiers ) 
received  their  quarters’  arrears,  the  loan  whereby  the  comptroller- 
general  met  all  expenses  had  reached  1 1 per  cent.  “ A man  who 
wants  to  borrow,”  M.  de  Calonne  would  say,  “ must  appear  rich, 
and  to  appear  rich  he  must  dazzle  by  his  expenditure.  Act  we 
thus  in  the  public  administration.  Economy  is  good  for  nothing, 
it  warns  those  who  have  money  not  to  lend  it  to  an  indebted 
Treasury,  and  it  causes  decay  amongst  the  arts  which  prodigality 
vivifies.” 

The  captivation  was  general,  the  blindness  seemed  to  be  so  Excite- 
likewise ; a feverish  impulse  carried  people  away  into  all  new-  France1 
tangled  ways,  serious  or  frivolous.  Mesmer  brought  from  Germany 
his  mysterious  revelations  in  respect  of  problems  as  yet  unsolved 
by  science,  and  pretended  to  cure  all  diseases  around  the  magnetic 
battery ; the  adventurer  Cagliostro,  embellished  with  the  title  of 
count  and  lavishing  gold  by  handfuls,  bewitched  court  and  city. 

At  the  same  time  splendid  works  in  the  most  diverse  directions 
maintained  at  the  topmost  place  in  the  world  that  scientific  genius 
of  France  which  the  great  minds  of  the  seventeenth  century  had 
revealed  to  Europe.  The  ladies  of  fashion  crowded  to  the  brilliant 
lectures  of  Fourcroy.  The  princes  of  pure  science,  M.  de  Lagrange,  science. 
M.  de  Laplace,  M.  Monge,  did  not  disdain  to  wrench  themselves 
from  their  learned  calculations  in  order  to  second  the  useful  labours 
of  Lavoisier.  Bold  voyagers  were  scouring  the  world,  pioneers  of 


554  History  of  France . 

those  enterprises  of  discovery  which  had  appeared  for  a while 
abandoned  during  the  seventeenth  century.  M.  de  Bougainville 
coveries.  had  jus^  comP^ted  the  round  of  the  world,  and  the  English 
captain,  Cook,  during  the  war  which  covered  all  seas  with  hostile 
ships,  had  been  protected  by  generous  sympathy.  The  name  of 
another  distinguished  sailor,  M.  de  La  Peyrouse,  must  not  be 
forgotten;  nor  should  we  leave  unnoticed  the  first  attempts  in 
aerial  locomotion  made  by  MM.  de  Montgolfier  and  Pilatre  de 
Bozier. 

So  many  scientific  explorations,  so  many  new  discoveries  of 
nature’s  secrets  were  seconded  and  celebrated  by  an  analogous 
movement  in  literature.  Bousseau  had  led  the  way  to  impassioned 
admiration  of  the  beauties  of  nature ; Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre  had 
just  published  his  Etudes  de  la  Nature  ; he  had  in  the  press  his 
Paul  et  Virginie  ; the  Abbe  Delille  was  reading  his  Jardin,  and  M. 
Literature,  de  St.  Lambert  his  Saisons.  In  their  different  phases  and  according 
to  their  special  instincts,  all  minds,  scholarly  or  political,  literary  or 
philosophical,  were  tending  to  the  same  end  and  pursuing  the  same 
attempt.  It  was  nature  which  men  wanted  to  discover  or  recover : 
scientific  laws  and  natural  rights  divided  men’s  souls  between 
them.  Buffon  was  still  alive,  and  the  great  sailors  were  every  day 
enriching  with  their  discoveries  the  Jardin  du  Boi ; the  physicists 
and  the  chemists,  in  the  wake  of  Lavoisier,  were  giving  to  science 
a language  intelligible  to  common  folks ; the  juris-consults  were 
attempting  to  reform  the  rigours  of  criminal  legislation  at  the  same 
time  with  the  abuses  they  had  entailed,  and  Beaumarchais  was 
bringing  on  the  boards  his  Manage  de  Figaro. 

Figaro  ridiculed  everything  with  a dangerously  pungent  vigour ; 
the  days  were  coming  when  the  pleasantry  was  to  change  into 
insults.  Already  public  opinion  was  becoming  hostile  to  the 
queen  : she  was  accused  of  having  remained  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  her  German  family ; the  people  were  beginning  to  call  her  the 
The  queen  Austrian.  This  direful  malevolence  on  the  part  of  public  opinion, 
unpopular,  springing  from  a few  acts  of  imprudence,  and  fomented  by  a long 
diamond  series  of  calumnies,  burst  forth  on  the  occasion  of  a scandalous  and 
neckiace.  grievous  occurrence ; we  mean  the  affair  of  the  diamond  necklace, 
which  led  to  the  arrest  of  the  cardinal  de  Bohan. 

Guilty  in  the  king’s  eyes,  a dupe  according  to  the  judgment  of 
history,  Cardinal  Bohan  was  exiled  to  his  abbey  of  Chaise-Lieu, 
less  to  be  pitied  than  the  unhappy  queen  abruptly  wrenched  from 
the  sweet  dreams  of  a romantic  friendship  and  confidence,  as  well 
as  from  the  nascent  joys  of  maternal  happiness,  to  find  herself 
henceforth  confronting  a deluded  people  and  an  ever- increasing 


The  Notables  and  the  Parliament . 555 

hostility  which  was  destined  to  unjustly  persecute  her  even  to  the 
block. 

M.  de  Calonne  had  taken  little  part  in  the  excitement  which  the 
trial  of  Cardinal  Kohan  caused  in  court  and  city  : he  was  absorbed  notables, 
by  the  incessantly  recurring  difficulties  presented  by  the  condition  Downfall 
of  the  Treasury  ; speculation  had  extended  to  all  classes  of  society  ; (ja’onne 
loans  succeeded  loans,  everywhere  there  were  formed  financial  com- 
panies, without  any  resources  to  speak  of,  speculating  on  credit. 
Parliament  began  to  be  alarmed,  and  enregistered  no  more  credits 
save  with  repugnance.  In  view  of  the  stress  at  the  Treasury,  of 
growing  discontent,  of  vanished  illusions,  the  comptroller-general 
meditated  convoking  the  Assembly  of  Notables,  the  feeble  resource 
of  the  old  French  kingship  before  the  days  of  pure  monarchy,  an 
expedient  more  insufficient  and  more  dangerous  than  the  most  far- 
seeing  divined  after  the  lessons  of  the  philosophers  and  the  con- 
tinuous abasement  of  the  kingly  Majesty. 

The  convocation  of  the  Notables  brought  about  the  views  of  the 
minister,  who  had  staked  his  popularity  upon  it  (1787) ; he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Lomenie  de  Brienne,  a minister  who  “ had  nothing  but 
bad  moves  to  make,”  says  M.  Mignet.  Three  edicts  touching  the  Agitation 
trade  in  grain,  forced  labour  and  the  provincial  assemblies  were  “ 
first  sent  up  to  the  Parliament  and  enregistered  without  any  dif-  m3Dt. 
ficulty ; the  two  edicts  touching  the  stamp-tax  and  equal  assess- 
ment of  the  impost  were  to  meet  with  more  hindrance  ; the  latter 
at  any  rate  united  the  sympathies  of  all  the  partisans  of  genuine  re- 
forms ; the  edict  touching  the  stamp-tax  was  by  itself  and  first  sub- 
mitted for  the  approval  of  the  magistrates  : they  rejected  it,  asking, 
like  the  notables,  for  a communication  as  to  the  state  of  finance. 

“ It  is  not  states  of  finance  we  want,”  exclaimed  a councillor,  Saba- 
tier de  Cabre,  “ it  is  States-general.”  This  bold  sally  became  a 
theme  for  deliberation  in  the  Parliament.  “ The  nation  represented 
by  the  States-general,”  the  court  declared,  “ is  alone  entitled  to 
grant  the  king  subsidies  of  which  the  need  is  clearly  demonstrated.” 

At  the  same  time  the  Parliament  demanded  the  impeachment  of 
M.  de  Calonne ; he  took  fright  and  sought  refuge  in  England. 

The  mob  rose  in  Paris,  imputing  to  the  court  the  prodigalities  with 
which  the  Parliament  reproached  the  late  comptroller-general. 

Sad  symptom  of  the  fatal  progress  of  public  opinion  ! The  cries 
heretofore  raised  against  the  queen  under  the  name  of  Austrian 
were  now  uttered  against  Madame  Deficit , pending  the  time  when 
the  fearful  title  of  Madame  Veto  would  give  place  in  its  turn  to  the 
sad  name  of  the  woman  Capet  given  to  the  victim  of  October  16, 

1793. 


556 


History  of  France. 


Bed  of 
justice. 

The  par- 
liament 
sent  to 
Troyes. 


Provincial 

assem- 

blies. 


The  king  summoned  the  Parliament  to  Versailles,  and  on  the  6th 
of  August,  1787,  the  edicts  touching  the  stamp-tax  and  territorial 
subvention  were  enregistered  in  bed  of  justice.  The  Parliament 
had  protested  in  advance  against  this  act  of  royal  authority,  which 
it  called  “ a phantom  of  deliberation.”  On  the  13th  of  August,  the 
court  declared  “ the  registration  of  the  edicts  null  and  without 
effect,  incompetent  to  authorize  the  collection  of  imposts  opposed  to 
all  principles ; ” this  resolution  was  sent  to  all  the  seneschalties  and 
bailiwicks  in  the  district.  It  was  in  the  name  of  the  privilege  of 
the  two  upper  orders  that  the  Parliament  of  Paris  contested  the  royal 
edicts  and  made  appeal  to  the  supreme  jurisdiction  of  the  States- 
general ; the  people  did  not  see  it,  they  took  out  the  horses  of 
M.  d’Espremesnil,  whose  fiery  eloquence  had  won  over  a great 
number  of  his  colleagues,  and  he  was  carried  in  triumph.  On  the 
15th  of  August,  the  Parliament  was  sent  away  to  Troyes,  to  be, 
however,  recalled  a little  more  than  a month  later.  M.  de  Brienne 
hoped  thus  to  obtain  a loan  of  420,000,000,  which  was  to  be  raised 
in  the  course  of  five  years.  The  king  held  a bed  of  justice  at  Ver- 
sailles, and  insisted  upon  the  registration  of  the  necessary  edicts ; 
notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  M.  de  Malesherbes  and  the  duke  of 
Nivernais,  the  Parliament  inscribed  on  the  registers  that  it  was  not 
to  be  understood  to  take  any  part  in  the  transcription  'here  ordered 
of  gradual  and  progressive  loans  for  the  years  1788,  1789,  1790, 
1791  and  1792.  In  reply,  the  duke  of  Orleans  was  banished  to 
Villers-Cotterets,  whilst  Councillors  Freteau  and  Sabatier,  who  had 
made  themselves  conspicuous  by  their  opposition,  were  arrested  and 
taken  to  a state -prison. 

The  contest  extended  as  it  grew  hotter ; everywhere  the  Parlia- 
ments took  up  the  quarrel  of  the  court  of  Paris  ; the  formation  of 
the  provincial  assemblies  furnished  new  centres  of  opposition ; the 
petty  noblesse  made  alliance  with  the  magistracy,  the  antagonism 
of  principles  became  every  day  more  evident ; after  the  five  months 
elapsed  since  the  royal  session,  the  Parliament  was  still  protesting 
against  the  violence  done  to  it.  “ I had  no  need  to  take  or  count 
the  votes,”  said  the  king’s  reply ; “ being  present  at  the  deliberation, 
I judged  for  myself  without  taking  any  account  of  plurality.  If 
plurality  in  my  courts  were  to  force  my  will,  the  monarchy  would 
be  nothing  but  an  aristocracy  of  magistrates.”  “Ho,  Sir,  no  aris- 
tocracy in  France,  but  no  despotism  either,”  replied  the  members  of 
parliament. 

The  indiscretion  of  a printer  made  M.  d’Espremesnil  acquainted 
with  the  great  designs  which  were  in  preparation ; at  his  instiga- 
tion the  Parliament  issued  a declaration  as  to  the  reciprocal  rights 


Disturbances . 


557 


and  duties  of  the  monarch  and  the  nation.  “ France,”  said  the 
resolution,  “ is  a monarchy  hereditary  from  male  to  male,  governed 
by  the  king  following  the  laws ; it  has  for  fundamental  laws  the 
nation’s  right  to  freely  grant  subsidies  by  means  of  the  States- 
general  convoked  and  composed  according  to  regulation,  the  customs 
and  capitulations  of  the  provinces,  the  irremoveability  of  the  magis- 
trates, the  right  of  the  courts  to  enregister  edicts,  and  that  of  each 
citizen  to  be  judged  only  by  his  natural  judges,  without  liability 
ever  to  be  arrested  arbitrarily.”  “ The  magistrates  must  cease  to 
exist  before  the  nation  ceases  to  be  free,”  said  a second  protest. 

Bold  and  defiant  in  its  grotesque  mixture  of  the  ancient  prin- 
ciples of  the  magistracy  with  the  novel  theories  of  philosophy,  the 
resolution  of  the  Parliament  was  quashed  by  the  king.  Orders  Arrest  of 
were  given  to  arrest  M.  d’Espremesnil  and  a young  councillor,  d’Espre-  ^ 
Goislard  de  Montsabert,  who  had  played  also  an  active  part  in  the  Goislard  de 
spirited  resistance  to  the  orders  of  the  court,  The  former  was  taken  Montsa- 
to  the  island  of  St.  Marguerite,  and  the  latter  imprisoned  at  Pierre  tert;* 
Encise. 

Notwithstanding  his  promise  to  convoke  the  States-general  for 
the  1st  of  May,  1789,  M.  de  Brienne  became  more  and  more  unpo- 
pular, and  disturbances  broke  out  in  several  points  of  the  kingdom. 

Legal  in  Normandy,  violent  in  Brittany,  tumultuous  in  Bearn,  the 
parliamentary  protests  took  a politic  and  methodical  form  in  Dau- 
phiny.  An  insurrection  amongst  the  populace  of  Grenoble,  soon  Disturb- 
supported  by  the  villagers  from  the  mountains,  had  at  first  flown  an^e  m 
to  arms  at  the  sound  of  the  tocsin.  The  members  of  the  Parlia-  provinces, 
ment,  on  the  point  of  leaving  the  city,  had  been  detained  by  force, 
and  their  carriages  had  been  smashed.  The  troops  offered  little 
resistance ; an  entry  was  effected  into  the  house  of  the  governor, 
the  duke  of  Clermont-Tonnerre,  and,  with  an  axe  above  his  head, 
the  insurgents  threatened  to  hang  him  to  the  chandelier  in  his 
drawing-room  if  he  did  not  convoke  the  Parliament.  Bagged  ruf- 
fians ran  to  the  magistrates,  and  compelled  them  to  meet  in  the 
sessions-hall.  The  members  of  parliament  succeeded  with  great 
difficulty  in  pacifying  the  mob.  As  soon  as  they  found  themselves 
free,  they  hastened  away  into  exile.  Other  hands  had  taken  up 
their  quarrel.  A certain  number  of  members  of  the  three  orders 
met  at  the  town  hall,  and,  on  their  private  authority,  convoked  for 
the  21st  of  July  the  special  states  of  Dauphiny,  suppressed  a while 
before  by  Cardinal  Bichelieu. 

The  duke  of  Clermont-Tonnerre  had  been  superseded  by  old 
Marshal  Vaux,  rough  and  ready.  He  had  at  his  disposal  twenty 
thousand  men.  Scarcely  had  he  arrived  at  Grenoble  when  he  wrote 


The  three 
orders  of 
Dauphiny. 


M.  Necker 

resumes 

office. 


55 B History  of  France . 

to  Versailles,  “ It  is  too  late,”  he  said.  The  prerogatives  of  royal 
authority  were  maintained,  however.  The  marshal  granted  a meet- 
ing of  the  states-provincial,  hut  he  required  permission  to  he  asked 
of  him.  He  forbade  the  assembly  to  be  held  at  Grenoble.  It  was 
in  the  castle  of  Vizille,  a former  residence  of  the  dauphins,  that  the 
three  orders  of  Dauphiny  met,  closely  united  together  in  wise  and 
patriotic  accord.  The  archbishop  of  Vienne,  Lefranc  de  Pom- 
pignan,  brother  of  the  poet,  lately  the  inveterate  foe  of  Voltaire,  an 
arcfently  and  sincerely  pious  man,  led  his  clergy  along  the  most 
liberal  path  ; the  noblesse  of  the  sword,  mingled  with  the  noblesse 
of  the  robe,  voted  blindly  all  the  resolutions  of  the  third  estate ; 
these  were  suggested  by  the  real  head  of  the  assembly,  M.  Mounier, 
judge-royal  of  Grenoble,  a friend  of  M.  Necker’s,  an  enlightened, 
loyal,  honourable  man,  destined  ere  long  to  make  his  name  known 
over  the  whole  of  France  by  his  courageous  resistance  to  the  out- 
bursts of  the  National  Assembly.  Unanimously  the  three  orders 
presented  to  the  king  their  claims  to  the  olden  liberties  of  the  pro- 
vince ; they  loudly  declared,  however,  that  they  were  prepared  for 
all  sacrifices  and  aspired  to  nothing  but  the  common  rights  of  all 
Frenchmen.  The  double  representation  of  the  third  in  the  estates 
of  Dauphiny  was  voted  without  contest,  as  well  as  equal  assessment 
of  the  impost  intended  to  replace  forced  labour.  Throughout  the 
whole  province  the  most  perfect  order  had  succeeded  the  first  mani- 
festations of  popular  irritation. 

Meanwhile  the  Treasury  was  found  to  be  empty ; all  the  resources 
were  exhausted,  disgraceful  tricks  had  despoiled  the  hospitals  and 
the  poor ; credit  was  used  up,  the  payments  of  the  State  were  back- 
ward ; the  discount-bank  ( caisse  cC escompte)  was  authorized  to 
refuse  to  give  coin.  To  divert  the  public  mind  from  this  painful 
situation,  Brienne  proposed  to -the  king  to  yield  to  the  requests  of 
the  members  of  Parliament,  of  the  clergy,  and  of  the  noblesse 
themselves.  A decree  of  August  8,  1788,  announced  that  the 
States -general  would  be  convoked  May  1,  1789;  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  plenary  court  was  suspended  to  that  date.  Concessions 
wrested  from  the  weakness  and  irresolution  of  governments  do  not 
strengthen  their  failing  powers.  Brienne  had  exhausted  his  bold- 
ness as  well  as  his  basenesses ; he  succumbed  beneath  the  outcry  of 
public  wrath  and  mistrust. 

On  the  25th  of  August,  1788,  the  king  sent  for  M.  Necker. 
For  an  instant  his  return  to  power  had  the  effect  of  restoring  some 
hope  to  the  most  far-sighted.  On  his  coming  into  office,  the 
Treasury  was  empty,  there  was  no  scraping  together  as  much  as 
five  thousand  livres.  The  need  was  pressing,  the  harvests  were 


Pj/\. I 


MARIE  ANTOINETTE. 


LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


559 


M.  Necker  resumes  office. 

bad ; the  credit  and  the  able  resources  of  the  great  financier 
sufficed  for  all ; the  funds  went  up  thirty  per  cent,  in  one  day, 
certain  capitalists  made  advances,  the  chamber  of  the  notaries  of 
Paris  paid  six  millions  into  the  Treasury,  M.  Necker  lent  two  crisis, 
millions  out  of  his  private  fortune.  The  great  financial  talents  of 
the  minister,  his  probity,  his  courage  had  caused  illusions  as  to  his 
political  talents ; useful  in  his  day  and  in  his  degree,  the  new 
minister  was  no  longer  equal  to  the  task.  The  distresses  of  the 
Treasury  had  powerfully  contributed  to  bring  about,  to  develope 
the  political  crisis ; the  public  cry  for  the  States-general  had  arisen 
in  a great  degree  from  the  deficit ; but  henceforth  financial 
resources  did  not  suffice  to  conjure  away  the  danger;  the  Discount- 
bank  had  resumed  payment,  the  State  honoured  its  engagements, 
the  phantom  of  bankruptcy  disappeared  from  before  the  frightened 
eyes  of  stockholders ; nevertheless  the  agitation  did  not  subside, 
minds  were  full  of  higher  and  more  tenacious  concernments. 

Every  gaze  was  turned  towards  the  States-general.  Scarcely  was 
M.  Necker  in  power,  when  a royal  proclamation,  sent  to  the  Parlia- 
ment returning  to  Paris,  announced  the  convocation  of  the  Assembly 
for  the  month  of  January,  1789. 

The  States-general  themselves  had  become  a topic  of  the  most  The  States- 
lively  discussion.  Amidst  the  embarrassment  of  his  Government,  summoned, 
and  in  order  to  throw  a sop  to  the  activity  of  the  Opposition, 

Brienne  had  declared  his  doubts  and  his  deficiency  of  enlighten- 
ment as  to  the  form  to  be  given  to  the  deliberations  of  that  ancient 
assembly,  always  convoked  at  the  most  critical  junctures  of  the 
national  history,  and  abandoned  for  175  years  past.  “ The 
researches  ordered  by  the  king,”  said  a decree  of  the  Council, 

“have  not  brought  to  light  any  positive  information  as  to  the 
number  and  quality  of  the  electors  and  those  eligible,  any  more 
than  as  to  the  form  of  the  elections ; the  king  will  always  try  to 
be  as  close  as  possible  to  the  old  usages,  and,  when  they  are 
unknown,  his  Majesty  will  not  supply  the  hiatus  till  after  con- 
sulting the  wish  of  his  subjects,  in  order  that  the  most  entire 
confidence  may  hedge  a truly  national  assembly.  Consequently 
the  king  requests  all  the  municipalities  and  all  the  tribunals  to 
make  researches  in  their  archives  ; he  likewise  invites  all  scholars 
and  well-informed  persons,  and  especially  those  who  are  members 
of  the  Academy  of  inscriptions  and  literature,  to  study  the  question 
and  give  their  opinion.”  In  the  wake  of  this  appeal,  a flood  of  Pamphlets, 
tracts  and  pamphlets  had  inundated  Paris  and  the  provinces : 
some  devoted  to  the  defence  of  ancient  usages ; the  most  part 
intended  to  prove  that  the  Constitution  of  the  olden  monarchy 


Agitation 
through- 
out France. 


Mirabeau. 


560  History  of  France . 

of  France  contained  in  principle  all  the  political  liberties  which 
■were  but  asking  permission  to  soar ; some  finally,  bolder  and  the 
most  applauded  of  all,  like  that  of  Count  d’Entraigues,  Note  on 
the  States-general , their  rights  and  the  manner  of  convoking  them, 
and  that  of  the  Abbe  Sieyes,  What  is  the  third  estate  ? Count 
d’Entraigues’  pamphlet  began  thus : “ It  was  doubtless  in  order 
to  give  the  most  heroic  virtues  a home  worthy  of  them  that  heaven 
willed  the  existence  of  republics,  and,  perhaps  to  punish  the 
ambition  of  men,  it  permitted  great  empires,  kings  and  masters 
to  arise.”  Sieyes’  pamphlet  had  already  sold  to  the  extent  of 
thirty  thousand  copies;  the  development  of  his  ideas  was  an 
audacious  commentary  upon  his  modest  title.  “What  is  the  third 
estate  ? ” said  that  able  revolutionist : “ Nothing.  What  ought  it 
to  be  1 Everything  1 ” It  was  hoisting  the  flag  against  the  two 
upper  orders. 

The  whole  of  France  was  fever-stricken.  The  agitation  was 
contradictory  and  confused,  a medley  of  confidence  and  fear,  joy 
and  rage,  everywhere  violent  and  contagious.  This  time  again 
Dauphiny  showed  an  example  of  politic  and  wrise  behaviour. 
The  preparatory  assemblies  were  tumultuous  in  many  spots  : in 
Provence  as  well  as  in  Brittany  they  became  violent.  In  his 
province,  Mirabeau  was  the  cause  or  pretext  for  the  troubles. 
Born  at  Bignon,  near  Nemours,  on  the  9th  of  March,  1749,  well 
known  already  for  his  talent  as  a writer  and  orator  as  well  as  for 
the  startling  irregularities  of  his  life,  he  was  passionately  desirous 
of  being  elected  to  the  States-general.  “ I don’t  think  I shall  be 
useless  there,”  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Cerruti.  Nowhere,  however, 
was  his  character  worse  than  in  Provence : there  people  had 
witnessed  his  dissensions  with  his  father  as  well  as  with  his  wife. 
Public  contempt,  a just  punishment  for  his  vices,  caused  his 
admission  into  the  states-provincial  to  be  unjustly  opposed.  The 
assembly  was  composed  exclusively  of  nobles  in  possession  of  fiefs, 
of  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  and  of  a small  number  of  municipal 
officers.  It  claimed  to  elect  the  deputies  to  the  States-general 
according  to  the  ancient  usages.  Mirabeau’s  common  sense,  as 
well  as  his  great  and  powerful  genius,  revolted  against  the  absurd 
theories  of  the  privileged ; he  overwhelmed  them  with  his  terrible 
eloquence,  whilst  adjuring  them  to  renounce  their  abuseful  and 
obsolete  rights ; he  scared  them  by  his  forceful  and  striking 
hideousness  : “ Generous  friends  of  peace,”  said  he,  addressing  the 
two  upper  orders,  “I  hereby  appeal  to  your  honour!  Nobles  of 
Provence,  the  eyes  of  Europe  are  upon  you,  weigh  well  your 
answer  ! Ye  men  of  God,  have  a care ; God  hears  you  ! But,  if 


Mirabccin  and  the  States-General.  561 

you  keep  silence  or  if  you  intrench  yourselves  in  the  vague 
utterances  of  a piqued  self-love,  allow  me  to  add  a word.  In  all 
ages,  in  all  countries,  aristocrats  have  persecuted  the  friends  of  the 
people,  and  if,  by  I know  not  what  combination  of  chances,  there 
have  arisen  one  in  their  own  midst,  he  it  is  whom  they  have  struck 
above  all,  thirsting  as  they  were  to  inspire  terror  by  their  choice  of 
a victim.  Thus  perished  the  last  of  the  Gracchi,  by  the  hand  of 
the  patricians ; but,  wounded  to  the  death,  he  flung  dust  towards 
heaven,  calling  to  witness  the  gods  of  vengeance,  and  from  that 
dust  sprang  Marius,  Marius  less  great  for  having  exterminated  the 
Cimbri  than  for  having  struck  down  at  Rome  the  aristocracy  of 
the  noblesse.” 

Mirabeau  was  shut  out  from  the  states-provincial,  and  soon  Mirabeau 
adopted  eagerly  by  the  third  estate.  Elected  at  Marseilles  as  well  ret^.ne<i 
as  at  Aix  for-  the  States-general,  he  quieted,  in  these  two  cities  Marseilles 
successively,  riots  occasioned  by  the  dearness  of  bread.  The  people,  for 
in  their  enthusiasm,  thronged  upon  him,  accepting  his  will  without 
a murmur  when  he  restored  to  their  proper  figure  provisions 
lowered  in  price  through  the  terror  of  the  authorities.  The  petty 
noblesse  and  the  lower  provincial  clergy  had  everywhere  taken  the 
side  of  the  third  estate.  Mirabeau  was  triumphant : “ I have 
been,  am,  and  shall  be  to  the  last,”  he  exclaimed,  “ the  man  for 
public  liberty,  the  man  for  the  constitution.  Woe  to  the  privileged 
orders,  if  that  means  better  be  the  man  of  the  people  than  the 
man  of  the  nobles,  for  privileges  will  come  to  an  end,  but  the 
people  is  eternal ! ” 

The  day  of  meeting  of  the  States-general  was  at  hand.  Almost 
everywhere  the  elections  had  been  quiet,  and  the  electors  less 
numerous  than  had  been  anticipated.  We  know  what  indifference 
and  lassitude  may  attach  to  the  exercise  of  rights  which  would  not 
be  willingly  renounced ; ignorance  and  inexperience  kept  away 
from  the  primary  assemblies  many  working-men  and  peasants; 
the  middle  class  alone  proceeded  in  mass  to  the  elections.  The 
irregular  slowness  of  the  preparatory  operations  had  retarded  the 
convocations ; for  three  months,  the  agitation  attendant  upon 
successive  assemblies  kept  France  in  suspense.  Paris  was  still  plunder  of 
voting  on  the  28th  of  April,  1789,  the  mob  thronged  the  streets ; Reveillon’s 
all  at  once  the  rumour  ran  that  an  attack  was  being  made  on  the  tor^ 
house  of  an  ornamental-paper  maker  in  the  faubourg  St.  Antoine, 
named  Reveillon.  Starting  as  a simple  journeyman,  this  man  had 
honestly  made  his  fortune ; he  was  kind  to  those  who  worked  in 
his  shops  : he  was  accused,  nevertheless,  amongst  the  populace,  of 
having  declared  that  a journeyman  could  live  on  fifteen  sous  a day. 


The 

Govern- 
ment is 
powerless. 


A.D.  1789. 
Opening  of 
the  States* 
general 
(May). 


562  History  of  France . 

The  day  before,  threats  had  been  levelled  at  him ; he  had  asked 
for  protection  from  the  police,  thirty  men  had  been  sent  to  him. 
The  madmen  who  were  swarming  around  his  house  and  stores  soon 
got  the  better  of  so  weak  a guard,  everything  was  destroyed  ; the 
rioters  rushed  to  the  archbishop’s,  there  was  voting  going  on 
there;  they  expected  to  find  Eeveillon,  whom  they  wanted  to 
murder.  They  were  repulsed  by  the  battalions  of  the  French  and 
Swiss  guards.  More  than  two  hundred  were  killed.  Money  was 
found  in  their  pockets.  The  Parliament  suspended  its  prosecutions 
against  the  ringleaders  of  so  many  crimes.  The  Government, 
impotent  and  disarmed,  as  timid  in  presence  of  this  riot  as  in 
presence  of  opposing  parties,  at  last  came  before  the  States-general, 
but  blown  about  by  the  contrary  winds  of  excited  passions, 
without  any  guide  and  without  fixed  resolves,  without  any  firm 
and  compact  nucleus  in  the  midst  of  a new  and  unknown  Assembly 
without  confidence  in  the  troops,  who  wTere  looked  upon,  however, 
as  a possible  and  last  resort. 

The  States-general  were  presented  to  the  king  on  the  2nd  of 
May,  1789.  It  seemed  as  if  the  two  upper  orders,  by  a prophetic 
instinct  of  their  ruin,  wanted,  for  the  last  time,  to  make  a parade 
of  their  privileges.  Introduced  without  delay  to  the  king,  they 
left,  in  front  of  the  palace,  the  deputies  of  the  third  estate  to  wait 
in  the  rain.  The  latter  were  getting  angry,  and  already  beginning 
to  clamour,  when  the  gates  were  opened  to  them.  In  the  magnifi- 
cent procession  on  the  4th,  when  the  three  orders  accompanied  the 
king  to  the  church  of  St.  Louis  at  Versailles,  the  laced  coats  and 
decorations  of  the  nobles,  the  superb  vestments  of  the  prelates 
easily  eclipsed  the  modest  cassocks  of  the  country-priests  as  well 
as  the  sombre  costume  imposed  by  ceremonial  upon  the  deputies  of 
the  third  estate ; the  bishop  of  Nancy,  M.  de  la  Fare,  maintained 
the  traditional  distinctions  even  in  the  sermon  he  delivered  before 
the  king  : " Sir,”  said  he,  “ accept  the  homage  of  the  clergy,  the 
respects  of  the  noblesse  and  the  most  humble  supplications  of  the 
third  estate.”  The  untimely  applause  which  greeted  the  bishop’s 
words  was  excited  by  the  picture  he  drew  of  the  misery  , in  the 
country-places  exhausted  by  the  rapacity  of  the  fiscal  agents.  At 
this  striking  solemnity,  set  off  with  all  the  pomp  of  the  past, 
animated  with  all  the  hopes  of  the  future,  the  eyes  of  the  public 
sought  out,  amidst  the  sombre  mass  of  deputies  of  the  third 
(estate),  those  whom  their  deeds,  good  or  evil,  had  already  made 
celebrated : Malouet,  Mounier,  Mirabeau,  the  last  greeted  with  a 
murmur  which  was  for  a long  while  yet  to  accompany  his  name. 

“ When  the  summons  by  name  per  bailiwick  took  place,”  writes 


The  King  and  M.  Necker . 


563 


an  eye-witness,  “ there  were  cheers  for  certain  deputies  who 
were  known,  hut  at  the  name  of  Mirabeau  there  was  a noise  of 
a very  different  sort.  He  had  wanted  to  speak  on  two  or  three 
occasions,  but  a general  murmur  had  prevented  him  from  making 
himself  heard.  I could  easily  see  how  grieved  lie  was,  and  I 
observed  some  tears  of  vexation  standing  in  his  bloodshot  eyes  ” 
[Souvenirs  de  Dumont , 47]. 

The  opening  of  the  session  took  place  on  the  5th  of  May.  The 
royal  procession  had  been  saluted  by  the  crowd  with  repeated  and 
organized  shouts  of  “ Harrah  ! for  the  duke  of  Orleans  ! ” which  had 
disturbed  and  agitated  the  queen.  “ The  king,”  says  Marmontel, 

“ appeared  with  simple  dignity,  without  pride,  without  timidity, 
wearing  on  his  features  the  impress  of  the  goodness  which  he  had 
in  his  heart,  a little  affected  by  the  spectacle  and  by  the  feelings 
which  the  deputies  of  a faithful  nation  ought  to  inspire  in  its 
king.”  His  speech  was  short,  dignified,  affectionate,  and  without  speeches 
political  purport.  With  more  of  pomp  and  detail,  the  minister  of  the 
confined  himself  within  the  same  limits.  “ Aid  his  Majesty,”  said 
he,  “ to  establish  the  prosperity  of  the  kingdom  on  solid  bases,  seek 
for  them,  point  them  out  to  your  sovereign,  and  you  will  find  on 
his  part  the  most  generous  assistance.”  The  mode  of  action  cor- 
responded with  this  insufficient  language.  Crushed  beneath  the 
burthen  of  past  defaults  and  errors,  the  government  tendered  its 
abdication,  in  advance,  into  the  hands  of  that  mightily  bewildered 
Assembly  it  had  just  convoked.  The  king  had  left  the  verification 
of  powers  to  the  States-general  themselves.  M.  Necker  confined 
himself  to  pointing  out  the  possibility  of  common  action  between 
the  three  orders,  recommending  the  deputies  to  examine  those 
questions  discreetly.  “ The  king  is  anxious  about  your  first 
deliberations,”  said  the  minister,  throwing  away  at  hap-hazard 
upon  leaders  as  yet  unknown  the  direction  of  those  discussions 
which  he  with  good  reason  dreaded. 

It  was  amidst  a chaos  of  passions,  wills,  and  desires,  legitimate 
or  culpable,  patriotic  or  selfish,  that  there  was,  first  of  all,  pro- 
pounded the  question  of  verification  of  powers.  Prompt  and 
peremptory  on  the  part  of  the  noblesse,  hesitating  and  cautious  on 
the  part  of  the  clergy,  the  opposition  of  the  two  upper  orders  to 
any  common  action  irritated  the  third  estate ; its  appeals  had  ended 
in  nothing  but  conferences  broken  off,  then  resumed  at  the  king’s 
desire,  and  evidently  and  painfully  to  no  purpose.  “By  an 
inconceivable  oversight  on  the  part  of  M.  Necker  in  the  local 
apportionment  of  the  building  appointed  for  the  Assembly  of  the  tionof*" 
States-general,  there  was  the  throne-room  or  room  of  the  three  powers. 

o o 2 


History  of  France. 


504 


of  the 
Ministers. 


orders,  a room  for  the  nohlesse,  one  for  the  clergy,  and  none  for  the 
commons,  who  remained,  quite  naturally,  established  in  the  states- 
room,  the  largest,  the  most  ornate,  and  all  fitted  up  with  tribunes 
for  the  spectators  who  took  possession  of  the  public  boxes  ( ioges 
communes)  in  the  room.  When  it  was  perceived  that  this  crowd  of 
strangers  and  their  plaudits  only  excited  the  audacity  of  the  more 
violent  speakers,  all  the  consequences  of  this  installation  were  felt. 
Would  anybody  believe,”  continues  M.  Malouet,  “ that  M.  Necker 
Hesitation  had  an  idea  of  inventing  a ground-slip,  a falling-in  of  the  cellars 
of  the  Menus,  and  of  throwing  down,  during  the  night,  the 
carpentry  of  the  grand  room,  in  order  to  remove  and  install  the 
three  orders  separately  ? It  was  to  me  myself  that  he  spoke  of  it, 
and  I had  great  difficulty  in  dissuading  him  from  the  notion,  by 
pointing  out  to  him  all  the  danger  of  it.”  The  want  of  foresight 
and  the  nervous  hesitation  of  the  ministers  had  placed  the  third 
estate  in  a novel  and  a strong  situation.  Installed  officially  in  the 
states-room,  it  seemed  to  be  at  once  master  of  the  position,  waiting 
for  the  two  upper  orders  to  come  to  it.  Mirabeau  saw  this  with 
that  rapid  insight  into  effects  and  consequences  which  constitutes, 
to  a considerable  extent,  the  orator’s  genius.  The  third  estate  had 
taken  possession,  none  could  henceforth  dispute  with  it  its  privi- 
leges, and  it  was  the  defence  of  a right  that  had  been  won  which 
wTas  to  inspire  the  fiery  orator  with  his  mighty  audacity,  when  on 
the  23rd  of  June,  towards  evening,  after  the  miserable  affair  of  the 
Mirabeau  rt>yal  session,  the  marquis  of  Dreux-Breze  came  back  into  the 
and  M.  de  room  to  beg  the  deputies  of  the  third  estate  to  withdraw.  The 
king’s  order  was  express,  but  already  certain  nobles  and  a large 
number  of  ecclesiastics  had  joined  the  deputies  of  the  commons ; 
their  definitive  victory  on  the  27th  of  June  and  the  fusion  of  the 
three  orders  were  foreshadowed  ; Mirabeau  rose  at  the  entrance  of 
the  grand-master  of  the  ceremonies  : “ Go,”  he  shouted,  “ and  tell 
those  who  send  you,  that  we  are  here  by  the  will  of  the  people,  and 
that  we  shall  not  budge  save  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.”  This 
was  the  beginning  of  revolutionary  violence. 

On  the  12th  of  June  the  battle  began;  the  calling  over  of  the 
bailiwicks  took  place  in  the  States-room.  The  third  estate  sat 
alone.  At  each  province,  each  chief-place,  each  roll  ( proces - 
verbal ),  the  secretaries  repeated  in  a loud  voice,  “ Gentlemen  of 
the  clergy1?  None  present.  Gentlemen  of  the  noblesse?  None 
present.”  Certain  parish-priests  alone  had  the  courage  to  separate 
from  their  order  and  submit  their  powers  for  verification.  All  the 
deputies  of  the  third  (estate)  at  once  gave  them  precedence.  The 
day  of  persecution  was  not  yet  come. 


Dreux- 

Breze. 


The  National  Assembly . 


565 


Legality  still  stood,  the  third  estate  maintained  a proud  modera- 
tion, the  border  was  easily  passed,  a name  was  sufficient. 

The  title  of  States-general  was  oppressive  to  the  new  Assembly,  What  was 
it  recalled  the  distinction  between  the  orders  as  well  as  the  humble 

name  01 

posture  of  the  third  estate  heretofore.  “ This  is  the  only  true  the  itew 
name,”  exclaimed  Abbe  Sieyes  : “ Assembly  of  acknowledged  and  asseml5ly  ? 
verified  representatives  of  the  nation.”  This  was  a contemptuous 
repudiation  of  the  two  upper  orders.  Mounier  replied  with  another 
definition:  “Legitimate  Assembly  of  the  majority  amongst  the 
deputies  of  the  nation,  deliberating  in  the  absence  of  the  duly 
invited  minority.”  The  subtleties  of  metaphysics  and  politics  are 
powerless  to  take  the  popular  fancy.  Mirabeau  felt  it : “ Let  us 
call  ourselves  representatives  of  the  people  / ” he  shouted.  Lor 
this  ever  fatal  name  he  claimed  the  kingly  sanction  : “ I hold  the 
king’s  veto  so  necessary,”  said  the  great  orator,  “ that,  if  he  had  it 
not,  I would  rather  live  at  Constantinople  than  in  France.  Yes,  I 
protest,  I know  of  nothing  more  terrible  than  a sovereign  aristo- 
cracy of  six  hundred  persons  who,  having  the  power  to  declare 
themselves  to-morrow  irremoveable  and  the  next  day  hereditary, 
would  end,  like  the  aristocracies  of  all  countries  in  the  world,  by 
swooping  down  upon  everything.” 

An  obscure  deputy  here  suggested  during  the  discussion  the 
name  of  National  Assembly , often  heretofore  employed  to  designate 
the  States-general ; Sieyes  took  it  up,  rejecting  the  subtle  and 
carefully  prepared  definitions : “ I am  for  the  amendment  of  M.  - 
Legrand,”  said  he,  “and  I propose  the  title  of  National  Assembly .” 

Four  hundred  and  ninety- one  voices  against  ninety  adopted  this 
simple  and  superb  title.  In  contempt  of  the  two  upper  orders  of 
the  State,  the  national  assembly  was  constituted.  The  decisive 
step  was  taken  towards  the  French  Revolution. 

During  the  early  days,  in  the  heat  of  a violent  discussion,  History  is 
Rarrere  had  exclaimed,  “ You  are  summoned  to  recommence  re*ed 
history.”  It  was  an  arrogant  mistake.  For  more  than  eighty  years 
modern  France  has  been  prosecuting  laboriously  and  in  open  day 
the  work  which  had  been  slowly  forming  within  the  dark  womb  of 
olden  France.  In  the  almighty  hands  of  eternal  God  a people’s 
history  is  interrupted  and  recommenced  never. 


APPENDIX 


A— SOURCES  OE  THE  HISTORY  OE  ERANCE. 


I.— COLLECTIONS  OP  DOCUMENTS,  MEMOIRS,  LAWS,  CHARTERS,  ETC. 


Bibliotheque  Historique  de  la  France, 
contenant  le  catalogue  des  ouvrages  im- 
primes  et  manuscrits  qui  traitent  de  l’his- 
toire  de  ce  royaume,  ou  qui  y ont  rapport ; 
avec  des  notes  critiques  et  historiques. 
Par  feu  Jacques  Lelong,  pretre  de  l’Ora- 
toire,  bibliothecaire  de  la  maison  de  Paris. 
Nouvelle  edition,  revue,  conigee  et  con- 
siderablement  augmentee  par  M.  Fevret 
de  Fontette.  5vols.  folio.  One  of  the  best 
and  most  useful  works  of  its  kind. 

Bibliotheque  Nationale,  catalogue  de 
Thistoire  de  France.  10  vols.  4to. 

Table  Chronologique  des  Diplomes, 
chartes,  titres  et  actes  imprimes  con- 
cemant  l’histoire  de  France,  par  MM.  de 
Brequigny  et  Pardessus.  7 vols.  folio. 

Diplomata,  chartse,  epistolae,  leges, 
aliaque  instrumenta  ad  res  gallo-francicas 
spectantia.  Prius  collecta  a Y.  Y.  C.  C. 
de  Brequigny  et  la  Porte  du  Theil ; nunc 
nova  ratione  ordinata,  plurimumque 
aucta,  jubente  ac  moderante  Academia 
inscriptionem  et  bumaniorum  litterarum, 
edidit  J.-M.  Pardessus.  5 vols.  folio. 

Recueil  des  Historiens  des  Gaules  et  de 
la  France.  Commence  par  les  benedictins 
de  la  congregation  de  Saint-Maur  et  con- 
tinue par  l’Academie  des  inscriptions  et 
belles  lettres.  22  vols.  folio,  in  progress. 

Collection  des  Documents  Inedits  rela- 
tifs  a l’histoire  de  France.  Publies  sous 
les  auspices  du  ministere  de  l’instruction 
publique.  177  vols.  4to,  in  progress. 

Recueil  general  des  Anciennes  Lois 
Fran^aises,  depuis  l’an  420  jusqu’a  la 
revolution  de  1789.  Contenant  la  notice 
des  principaux  monumens  des  Merovin- 
giens,  des  Carlovingiens  et  des  Capetiens, 
et  le  texte  des  ordonnances,  edits,  de- 
clarations, lettres  patentes,  reglemens, 
arrets  du  conseil,  etc.,  de  la  troisieme  race, 
qui  ne  sont  pas  abroges,  ou  qui  peuvent 
servir,  soit  a l’interpretation,  soit  & l’his- 
toire du  droit  public  et  prive.  Avec  notes 


de  concordance,  table  chronologique  et 
table  generale  analytique  et  alphabetique 
des  matieres.  Par  MM.  Jourdan,  Decrusy, 
et  Isambert.  22  vols.  8vo. 

Collection  des  Memoires  relatifs  a l’his- 
toire  de  France,  depuis  la  fondation  de  la 
monarchic  fran9aise  jusqu’au  xiiie  siecle. 
Avec  une  introduction,  des  supplements, 
des  notices  et  des  notes,  par  M.  F.  Guizot. 
31  vols.  8vo.  This  collection  is  valuable 
because  it  comprises  in  a portable  and  con- 
venient shape  a large  number  of  docu- 
ments : but  it  has  been  edited  in  a slovenly 
manner. 

Collection  des  Chroniques  Nationales 
Fran9aises  ecrites  en  langue  vulgaire,  du 
xiiie  au  xvie  siecle,  avec  notes  et  eclaircis- 
sements  par  J.-A.  Buchon.  47  vols.  8vo. 

Collection  complete  des  Memoires  rela- 
tifs a l’histoire  de  France,  depuis  le  regne 
de  Philippe- Auguste  jusqu’a  la  paix  de 
Paris  conclue  en  1763.  Avec  des  notices 
sur  chaque  auteur  et  des  observations  sur 
chaque  ouvrage,  par  MM.  Petitot  et  Mon- 
merque.  131  vols.  8vo. 

Nouvelle  collection  des  Memoires  pour 
servir  a l’histoire  de  France,  depuis  le 
xiiie  siecle  jusqu’a  la  fin  du  xviiie.  Pre- 
cedes de  notices  pour  caracteriser  chaque 
auteur  des  memoires  et  son  epoque,  suivis 
de  l’analyse  des  documents  historiques  qui 
s’y  rapportent,  par  MM.  Michaud  et  Pou- 
joulat.  32  vols.  8vo. 

Gallia  Christiana,  in  provincias  ecclesi- 
asticas  distributa.  Qua  series  et  histuria 
archiepiscoporum,  episcoporum  et  abba- 
tum  Franciae  vicinarumque  ditionum,  ab 
origine  Ecclesiarum  ad  nostra  tempora 
dedueitur,  et  probatur  ex  authenticis  in- 
sirumentis  ad  calcem  appositis.  Opera 
et  studio  domni  Dionysii  Sammarthani, 
presbyteri  et  monachi  ordinis  Sancti 
Benedicti  e congregatione  Sancti  Mauri. 
Yols.  1 — 16  folio,  in  progress . Continued 
by  the  Institute  cf  France. 


Sources  of  the  History  of  France . 


567 


Concilia  Antiqua  Galliae,  tres  in  tomos 
ordine  digesta.  Cum  epistolis  Pontifi- 
cum,  principam  constitutionibus,  et  aliis 
Gallicanae  rei  ecclesiastics  monimentis. 
Quorum  plurima  vel  integra,  vel  magna 
ex  parte,  nunc  primum  in  lucem  exeunt. 
Opera  et  studio  Jacobi  Sirmondi,  socie- 
tatis  Jesu  presbyteri.  3 vols.  folio. 

Histoire  Lititeraire  de  la  France,  ou  Ton 
traite  de  l’origine  et  du  progies,  de  la  de- 
cadence et  du  retablissement  des  sciences 
parini  les  Gaulois  et  parmi  les  Fran9ois  ; 
du  gout  et  du  genie  des  uns  et  des  autres 
pour  les  lettres  en  chaque  siecle ; de  leurs 
anciennes  eooles ; de  l’etablissement  des 
universites  en  France ; des  principaux 
colleges ; des  Academies  des  sciences  et 
des  belles-lettres ; des  meilleures  biblio- 
theques  anciennes  et  modernes  ; des  plus 
celebres  imprimeurs  ; et  de  tout  ce  qui 
a uu  rapport  particular  a la  litterature. 
Avec  les  eloges  historiques  des  Gaulois  et 
des  Francois  qui  s’y  sont  fait  quelque  re- 
putation, le  catalogue  et  la  chronologie  de 


leurs  ecrits  ; des  remat  ques  historiques  et 
critiques  sur  les  principaux  ouvrages;  le 
denombrement  des  diffei  entes  editions  ; le 
tout  justifie  par  les  citations  des  auteuts 
originaux.  Par  de3  Eeligieux  Benedictins 
de  la  congregation  de  Saint-Maur.  Vols. 
1 — 27  4to.  Continued  by  the  Institute  of 
France. 

Historia  Universitatis  Parisiensis,  ipsius 
fundationem,  nationes,  facultates,  magis- 
tratus,  decreta,  censuras  et  judicia  in 
negotiis  fidei,  privilegia,  comitia,  lega- 
tiones,  reformationes  ; item  antiquissimas 
Gailorum  academias,  aliarum  quoque  uni- 
versitatum  et  religiosorum  ordinum,  qui 
ex  eadem  communi  matre  exierunt,  insti- 
tutiones  et  fundationes,  aliaque  id  genus  ; 
cum  instrumentis  publicis  et  authenticis, 
a Carolo  magno  ad  nostro  tempora,  or- 
dine chronologico  complectens.  Authore 
Caesare-Fgassio  Bulaeo,  eloquentiae  emerito 
professore,  antiquo  rectore  et  scriba  ejus- 
dem  universitatis.  6 vols.  folio.  Outrage 
curieux  (Lalanne). 


II.— LIST  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  AUTHORITIES  FOR  EACH  EPOCH. 


1. — Ttie  Gauls,  and  the  Origin  of  the 
French  Monarchy. 

Histoire  des  Gaulois,  depuis  les  temps 
les  plus  recules  jusqu’a  l’entiere  soumis- 
sion  de  la  Gaule  a la  domination  romaine, 
par  Amedee  Thierry.  3 vols.  8vo. 

Histoire  critique  de  l’etablissement  de  la 
monari  hie  Frant^oise  dans  les  Gaules,  par 
M.  l’abbe  Dubos.  2 vols.  4to.  Dubos,  says 
Montesquieu,  had  made  a conspiracy 
against  the  aristocracy. 

Histoire  de  l’ancien  gouvernement  de  la 
France,  avec  quatorze  lettres  historiques 
sur  les  Parlements  ou  Jfitats  generaux,  par 
M.  le  comte  de  Boulainvilliers.  3 vols.  8vo. 
Aims  at  proving  the  superiority  of  the  no- 
bility to  the  rest  of  the  community. 

Observations  sur  l’histoire  de  France, 
par  l’abbe  de  Mably,  nouvelle  edition, 
revue  par  M.  Guizot.  3 vols.  8vo. 

Essais  sur  l’histoire  de  France,  pour 
faire  suite  aux  observations  de  l’abbe  de 
Mably,  par  F.  Guizot.  8vo.  Paris. 

2. — The  Merovingians. 

Histoire  des  institutions  Merovingien- 
nes,et  du  gouvernement  des  Merovingiens, 
par  T.  M.  Lehuerou.  2 vols.  8vo. 

Recits  des  temps  Merovingiens,  precedes 
de  considerations  sur  l’histoire  de  France, 
par  Augustin  Thierry.  2 vols.  8vo.  Paris. 


Histoire  des  Francs,  par  Gregoire  de 
Tours.  [300—589.]  G.  1,  2.  S.H.F. 
4 vols.  8V0.1  Le  plus  pre deux  monument 
des  premiers  temps  de  notre  histoire.  (La- 
lanne.) 

Chronique  de  Fredegaire.  [583 — 641.] 
G.  2.  Le  seul  monument  qui  nous  fasse 
connaitre  V histoire  de  cette  obscure  epoque. 
(Lalanne.) 

Continuations  anonymes  de  Fredegaire. 
{642—768.]  G.  2. 

Vie  de  Dagobert  I.  Par  un  moine  de 
Saint  Denis.  [600 — 651.]  G.  2. 

Yie  de  saint  Leger,  eveque  d’Autun. 
[Par  un  moine  de  Saint-Symphorien 
d’Autun.  616—683.]  G.  2. 

Yie  de  Pepin  le  Yieux,  dit  de  Landen, 
maire  du  palais  en  Austrasie.  [622—752.1 
G.  2.  J 

3. — The  Carlovingians. 

Annales  des  rois  Pepin,  Charlemagne 
et  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  par  Eginhard. 
[740—829.]  G.  3.  S.H.F.  8vo.  Le  meil- 
leur  ouvrage  d’histoire  de  cette  epoque.  (La- 
lanne.) 


1 G. — Collection  of  memoirs  published 
by  M.  Guizot. 

S H.F. — Publications  of  the  Soci4t6  de 
V Histoire  de  France. 


568 


History  of  France. 


Yie  de  Charlemagne,  par  Eginhard. 
[740—814.]  G.  vol.  3. 

i)es  faits  et  gestes  de  Charles  le  Grand, 
roi  des  Francs  et  empereur,  par  un  moine 
de  Saint-Gall.  [771—812.]  G.  vol.  3. 

De  la  vie  et  des  actions  de  Louis  le  De- 
bonnaire,  par  Thegan.  [813 — 835.]  G.  3. 

Yie  de  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  par  l’Ano- 
nyme  dit  l’Astronome.  [768—840.]  G.  3. 

Histoire  des  dissensions  des  fils  de  Louis 
le  Debonnaire,  par  Nithard.  [814 — 843.] 
G.  3. 

Faits  et  gestes  de  Louis  le  Pieux  (ou  le 
Debonnaire),  par  Errnold  le  Noir.  [780 — 
826.]  G.  4. 

Annales  de  Saint-Bertin.  [840 — 882.] 
G.  4.  S.H.F.  8vo. 

Annales  de  Metz.  [883 — 903.]  G.  4. 

Histoire  de  l’eglise  de  Reims,  par  Fro- 
doard.  [290- 940. J G.  5. 

Siege  de  Paris  par  les  Normands,  poeme 
d’Abbon.  [885—896.]  G.  6. 

Chronique  de  Frodoard.  [877 — 978.] 
G.  6. 

4. — The  Capetians. 

Chronique  de  Raoul  Glaber.  [900  — 
1044.]  G.  6. 

Richer,  Histoire  de  son.  temps.  [888 — 
954.]  S.H.F.  8vo. 

Vie  du  roi  Robert,  par  Helgaud.  [997 
—1031  ] G.  6. 

Poeme  d’Adalberon,  eveque  de  Laon, 
adresse  a Robert,  roi  des  Fran9ais.  [1006] 
G.  6. 

Vie  de  Bouchard  [Burckhardt],  comte  de 
Melun  et  de  Corbeil.  [Par  Eudes,  moine 
de  l’abbaye  de  Saint-Maur  des  Fosses. 
[950—1058.]  G.  6. 

Fragmens  [anonymes]  de  l’histoire  des 
Franyais,  de  l’avenement  de  Hugues- 
Capet  a la  mort  de  Philippe  Ier.  [987 — 
1110.]  G.  6. 

Chronique  de  Hugues  [moine]  de  Fleury 
[Saint-Benoit  sur  Loire],  949 — 1108, 
Chronicon  Floriacense].  G.  7. 

Proces-verbal  du  sacre  de  Philippe  Ier, 
a Reims,  le  23  mai  1059.  G.  7. 

Histoire  du  monastere  de  Vezelai,  par 
Hugues  de  Poitiers.  [Livres  II. — 1Y. 
1140—1167.]  G.  7. 

Histoire  des  croisades,  par  Guibert  de 
Nogent.  [1080 — 1100.]  G.  9. 

Yie  de  Guibert  de  Nogent,  par  lui 
meme.  [1053—1190.]  G.  9,  10. 

Yie  de  Saint  Bernard,  abbe  de  Clair- 
vaux.  Par  Guillaume  de  Saint-Thierri, 
Arnaud  de  Bonneval  et  Geoffroi  de  Clair- 
vaux.  1091—1153.  G.  10. 

Vie  de  Philippe-Auguste,  par  Rigord. 
[1165—1208.]  G. 


Yie  de  Philippe-Auguste,  par  Guillaume 
le  Breton,  et  autres.  [1165 — 1223.]  G.  11. 

Yie  de  Louis  VIII.  par  un  anonyme. 
[1223—1226.]  G.  11. 

Des  faits  et  gestes  de  Louis  VIII.,  poeme 
historique,  par  Nicholas  de  Bray.  [1223 
—12261.  G 11. 

La  Philippide,  poeme  historique,  par 
Guillaume  le  Breton.  G.  12. 

Chronique  de  Guillaume  de  Nangis. 
[1113—1327].  G.  13.  S H.F.  2 vols.  8vo. 

Histoire  de  l’heresie  des  Albigeois,  et  de 
la  sainte  guerre  entreprise  contre  eux, 
[1203 — 1218,]  par  Pierre  de  Yaulx-Cernay. 
G.  14. 

Chanson  de  la  croisade  contre  les  Albi- 
geois. [1207—1218.]  S.H.F.,  vol.  1,  8vo. 
D I.  1207—1219.  4to.3 

Histoire  de  la  Guerre  des  Albigeois. 
[1202—1219.]  G.  15. 

Chronique  de  Guillaume  dePuy-Laurens, 
contenant  1’ histoire  de  1’ expedition  contre 
les  Albigeois.  [1200—1272.]  G.  15. 

Des  Gestes  glorieux  des  Fran9ais.  [1202 
— 1311.]  Chronique  dite  de  Simon  de 
Montfort.  G.  15. 

Histoire  des  croisades,  par  Guillaume  de 
Tyr.  [610—1184.]  G.  15—18. 

Chronique  d’Ernoul  et  de  Bernard  le 
Tresorier.  • [1101—1231.]  G.  19.  S.H.F. 
8vo. 

Histoire  des  croisades,  par  Albert  d’Aix. 
(Chronicon  Hierosolymitanum.)  [1095 — 
1120.]  G.  20,  21. 

L’Ystoire  de  li  Normant,  laquelle  com- 
pila  un  moine  de  mont  de  Cassin,  et  la 
manda  a lo  abbe  Desidere  de  mont  de 
Cassym.  [ — 1078  ] S.H.F.  8vo. 

Chronique  de  Robert  Viscart  et  de  ses 
freres.  [ —1282.]  S.H.F.  S.H.F.  8vo. 

Histoire  des  dues  de  Normandie  et  des 

rois  d’Angleterre.  [ — 1220.]  S.H.F. 

8vo. 

Histoire  des  Francs  qui  ont  pris  Jerusa- 
lem, par  Raimond  d’Agiles,  chapelain  du 
comte  Raimond  de  Toulouse.  [1096 — 
1100.]  G.  21. 

Histoire  des  croisades  [historia  Hieroso- 
lymitana],  par  Jacques  de  Yitry.  [1096 
—1220.]  G.  22. 

Faits  et  gestes  du  prince  Tancrede  [de 
Sicile  J pendant  ^expedition  de  Jerusalem, 
par  Raoul  de  Caen.  [1096 — 1105.]  G.  23. 

Histoire  de  la  premiere  croisade,  par 
Robert  le  Moine.  [1095 — 1099.]  G.  23. 

Histoire  des  croisades,  par  Foulcher  de 
Chartres.  [1095 — 1127.]  G.  24. 


2 D.I. — Collection  of  Documents  inSdits , 
published  by  the  French  Government. 


Sources  of  the  History  of  France.  569 


Histoire  de  la  croisade  de  Louis  VII., 
par  Odon  de  Deuil.  [1146—1148.]  G. 
2 i. 

Histoire  de  Normandie,  par  Orderic 

Vital.  [ —1141.]  G 25—28.  S.H.F. 

5 vols.  8vo. 

Histoire  des  Normands,  par  Guillaume 
de  Jumiege.  [850 — 1137.]  G.  29. 

Vie  de  Guillaume  le  Conquerant,  par 

Guillaume  de  Poitiers.  [ — 1070] 

G.  29. 

Histoire  de  la  guerre  de  Navarre  en  1276 
et  1277,  par  Guillaume  Anelier,  de  Tou- 
louse. D.I.  4to. 

Les  Graudes  Chroniques  de  France. 
[376 — 1381.]  Paris,  Techener,  6 vols  8vo. 

Geoffrey  de  Ville  Hardouiu,  de  la  con- 
queste  de  Constantinople.  [1198-1207.] 
Mi.  i.  1.  Bu.  3.  P.  i.  I.3  See  also  M.  Na- 
talis de  Wailly’s  edition,  royal  8vo.  Sous 
tons  les  rapports  cette  chronique  ojfre  un 
vif  inter  et.  (Lalanne.) 

Continuation  de  l’histoire  de  Ville-Har- 
douin,  d’apres  les  memoires  de  Henri  de 
Valenciennes.  Mi.  i.  1.  Bu.  43. 

Cuvelier  ( Robert)  chronique  de  Ber- 
trand Hu  Guesclin.  D I.  4to.  An  histo- 
rical poem  in  monorhyme  stanzas. 

Chronique  metrique  de  Saint-Magloire. 
[1223—1292.]  Bu.  7. 

Chronique  metrique  d’ Adam  de  la  Halle, 
[1282  F]  Bu.  7. 

Branche  des  royaux  lignages.  Chroni- 
que metrique  de  Guillaume  Guiart.  [1160 
—1306  ] Bu.  7,  8 

Chronique  metrique  de  Philippe  le  Bel, 
par  Godefroy  de  Paris.  [1300—1316.] 
Bu  9. 

Livre  de  la  taille  de  Paris  en  Pan  1313. 
Bu.  9. 

Les  chroniques  de  Jean  Froissart.  [1325 
—1400]  Bu.  10 — 25.  S.H.F.  in  progress. 
N’a  pas  d’ autre  passion  que  celle  de  voir 
et  dx  narrer. 

Memoires  du  Sire  de  Joinville.  See  also 
M.  Natalis  de  Wailly’s  splendid  edition, 
published  by  Didot.  [1245 — 1270.]  Mi. 
i.  1.  P.  i.  2.  S.H.F.  Plus  sens4  qu’en- 
thousiaste,  plus  fin  que  passionne.  (La- 
lanne.) 

Lettre  de  Jean-Pierre  Sarrazins,  cham- 
bellan  du  roi  de  France,  a Nicolas  Ar- 


3 Mi.  Collection  of  Memoirs  published 
by  Messrs.  Michaud  and  Poujoulat. 

Bu.  Collection  of  Memoirs  published  by 
M.  Buchon. 

P.  Memoirs  published  by  Messrs.  Petitot 
and  Monmerque. 


rode,  sur  la  premiere  croisade  de  Saint 
Louis.  [1248—1261.]  Mi.  i.  1. 

Extraits  des  historiens  arabes,  relatifs 
aux  deux  croisades  de  Saint  Louis.  [1243 
—1270.]  Mi.  i.  1. 

5. — The  Valois. 

Anciens  memoires  du  XIVe  siecle  sur 
Bertrand  du  Guesclin.  [1320 — 1380.] 
Mi.  i.  1.  P.  i.  4. 

Chronique  des  quatre  premiers  Valois. 
[1327—1393.]  S H.F.  8vo. 

Le  livre  des  fais  et  bonnes  meurs  du 
sage  roy  Charles  [V.],  par  Christine  de 
Pisan.  [1336—1380.]  Mi.  i.  1,  2.  P.  i. 
8.  S.H.F.  8vo.  An  authentic  narrative , 
hut  written  in  too  pompous  a style. 

La  chronique  du  bon  due  Louis  de 
Bourbon.  [1360 — 1410.]  S.H.F.  8vo. 

Le  livre  des  faicts  du  bon  messire  Jean 
le  Maingre,  dit  mareschal  de  Boucicaut. 
[1368—1421.]  Mi.  i 2.  P.  6,  7. 

Chronique  du  Religieux  de  Saint  Denis. 
[1380- 1422.]  D.I.  6 vols.  4to. 

Histoire  de  Charles  VI.,  roy  de  France, 
par  Jean  Juvenal  des  Ursins.  [1380  - 
1422.]  Mi.  i.  2. 

Monstrelet  (Enguerrand  de),  chroniques 
[1400  - 1444].  Bu.  26—32.  S.H.F.  6 vols. 
8vo.  Very  valuable,  hut  most  tediously 
written.  Contain  a number  of  official  docu- 
ments. 

Lefevre  de  Saint-Remy  (Jean),  me- 
moires. [1407—1435.]  Bu.  32,  33. 

Memoires  de  Pierre  de  Fenin.  [1408 — 
1425.]  Mi.  i.  2.  P.  i.  7.  Very  partial  on 
the  Burgundian  side. 

Journal  d’un  bourgeois  de  Paris  sous  le 
regne  de  Charles  VI.  [1408 — 1422.]  Mi. 
i.  2. 

Cousinot  (Guillaume),  Chronique  de  la 
Pucelle.  [1422 — 1429.]  12mo.  An  inte- 
resting worh. 

Cochon  (Pierre),  chronique  Normande. 
[1118 — 1430.]  A decided  champion  of  the 
Armagnacs. 

Memoires  concern  ant  la  Pucelle  d’ Or- 
leans. [1422—1429.]  Mi.  i.  3.  Bu.  34. 
P.  i.  3. 

Chartier  (Jean)  chronique  de  Charles 
VII.  [1422—1401.] 

Histoire  d’Artus  III.,  due  de  Bretaigne, 
comte  de  Richemont  et  connestable  de 
France,  contenant  ses  memorables  faicts 
depuis  l’an  1413  jusques  it  Pan  1457  ; mise 
en  lumiere  par  Th.  Godefroy.  Mi.  i.  3. 
P.  1—8. 

Memoires  relatifs  et  Florent,  sire  d’ll- 
liers  [par  Denis  Godefroy].  Mi.  i.  3. 
P.  i.  8. 


$70 


History  of  France. 


Journal  d’un  bourgeois  de  Paris  sous  le 
regne  de  Charles  VII.  [1422—1449.]  Mi. 
i.  3.  Bu.  40. 

Les  ler  et  2e  livre  des  me  moires  de  mes- 
sire  Olivier  de  la  Marche.  [1435 — 1488.] 
Mi.  i.  3.  Precieux  pour  Vhistoire  du 
temps. 

S’ensuyt  l’estat  de  la  maison  du  due 
Charles  de  Bourgongne,  dit  le  Hardy, 
compose  par  Olivier  de  la  Marche.  [1474.] 
Mi.  i.  3.  P.  i.  9,  10. 

Memoires  de  Jacques  du  Clercq,  sieur 
de  Beauvoir  en  Ternois.  [1448 — 1467.] 
Mi.  i.  3.  Bu.  37—40.  P.  i.  11.  Full  of 
details  on  the  dukes  of  Burgundy. 

‘Chronique  de  Mathieu  de  Coussy  (or 
d’Escouchy),  [1444—1461.]  Bu.  35,  36. 
S.H  F.  3.  vols.  8vo. 

Memoires  de  Philippe  de  Comines. 
[1464-1498.]  Mi.i.4.  Pi.  11- 13.  S.H.F. 
3 vols.  8vo.  II  voit  son  temps  tel  qu’il 
est,  et  le  peint  avec  des  couleurs  qui  ne 
viennent  point  de  Vecole.  (Lalanne.) 

Les  chroniquesdu  tres-chrestienet  tres- 
victorieux  Louys  de  Valois,  feu  roy  de 
France,  unziesme  de  ce  nom ; avecques 
plusieurs  aultres  adventures  advenues 
tant  en  ce  royaume  de  France,  comme  es 
pays  voisins.  [1460 — 1483.]  Mi.  i.  4.  P. 
i.  13 — 14.  Cette  chronique  est  appelee 

bien  a tort  “ Chronique  Scandaleuse (La- 
lanne.) 

Basin  (Thomas),  Histoire  de  Charles 

VII.  et  de  Louis  XI.  S.H.F.  4 vols.  8vo. 
Preciruse  chronique . (Lalanne.) 

Journal  des  fitats  generaux  de  1484,  par 
Jean  Masselin.  D.  i.  4to. 

Memoires  de  Guillaume  de  Villeneuve. 
[1494 — 1497.]  Mi.  i.  4.  P.  i.  14.  Invalu- 
able for  the  history  of  the  wan's  of  Charles 

VIII.  in  Italy. 

Panegyrique  du  chevallier  sans  repro- 
che,  Louis  de  la  Tremoille,  par  Jean 
Bouchet.  [1460 — 1525.]  Mi.  i.  4.  P.  i.  14. 

Tres-joyeuse,  plaisante  et  recreative 
histoire  du  bon  chevalier  sans  paour  et 
sans  reprouche,  composee  par  le  loyal  ser- 
viteur.  [1476—1520.]  Mi.i.4.  S.H.F. 8vo. 
P.  i.  15,  16.  Un  des  chefs- d’ oeuvre  de  notre 
langue.  (Lalanne.) 

Chronique  du  bon  chevalier  messire 
Jacques  de  Lalain,  pere  et  compagnon  de 
l’ordre  de  la  toison  d’Or,  par  messire 
Georges  Chastellain.  [1430 — 1453.]  Bu.  41. 

Declaration  de  tous  les  hautz  faietz  et 
glorieuses  adventures  du  due  Philippe  de 
Bourgongne,  par  messire  Georges  Chas- 
tellain, son  indiciaire  [historiographs] . 
[1464—1470.]  Bu.  42,  43. 

Chroniques  de  Jean  Molinet.  [1470 — 
1506.]  Bu.  43,  47. 


6.  —Branch  of  Orleans. 

Histoire  des  choses  memorables  adve- 
nues du  reigne  de  Louis  XII.  et  Francis 
ler,  par  Robert  de  la  March,  seigneur  de 
Fleurange.  [1499—1521.]  Mi.  i.  5.  P. 
i.  16.  Curieux  memoires  ....  rivacitS 
naive  et  un  peu  favfaronne.  (Lalanne.) 

Journal  de  Louise  de  Savoye.  [1476 — 
1522.]  Mi.  i.  5.  P.  i.  16.  Short , but  very 
interesting . 

Les  memoires  de  messire  Martin  du 
Bellay,  seigneur  de  Langey,  chevalier  de 
l’ordre  du  roy,  capitaine  de  cinquante 
hommes  d’armes  de  ses  ordonnances,  et 
son  lieutenant  general  en  ses  pays  et 
duche  de  Normandie,  eul’absen cede  mon- 
seigneur le  Dauphin.  [1512 — 1534.]  Mi. 
i.  5. 

Les  memoires  de  messire  Guillaume  du 
Bellay.  [1535—1536.]  Mi.  i.  5.  P.  i.  17, 
18,  19. 

7. — Branch  of  Valois- Angoule  me. 

Les  memoires  de  messire  Martin  du 
Bellay.  [1536—1547.]  Mi.  i.  5.  P.  i. 
18,  19. 

Journal  d’un  bourgeois  de  Paris  sous 
la  regne  de  Francis  Ier.  [1515 — 1536  ] 
S ILF.  8vo. 

Memoires -journaux  de  Francois  de  Lor- 
raine, due  d’Aumale  et  de  Guise.  [1547 
—1563.]  Mi.  i 6. 

Memoires  du  prince  de  Conde.  Becueil 
des  choses  memorables  faites  et  passees 
pour  le  faict  de  la  religion  et  estat  de  ce 
royaume,  depuis  la  mort  du  roy  Henry  II. 
jusqu’en  l’annee  1564.  [1559 — 1564.]  Mi. 
i.  6 

Memoires  d’ Antoine  du  Puget,  sieur  de 
Saint-Marc,  relatifs  aux  troubles  de  Pro- 
vence. [1561 — 1596  ] Mi.  i.  6. 

Commentaires  de  messire  Blaise  de 
Montluc,  mareschal  de  France.  [1521 — • 
1574.]  Mi.  i.  7.  S H.F.  5 vols.  8vo.  P.  i. 
20 — 22.  II  faut  faire  soigneusem ent  la 
part  du  caractere  fanfaron  de  Vauteur. 
(Lalanne.) 

Commentaires  des  dernieres  guerres  en 
la  Gaule  Belgique,  entre  Henry  second  du 
nom,  tres-chrestien  roy  de  France,  et 
Charles  cinquiesme,  empereur,  et  Philippe 
son  fils,  roy  d’Espaigne,  par  Francis  de 
Rabutin.  [1551—.]  Mi.  i.  7.  P.  i.  31,  32. 

Memoires  sur  Gaspard  de  Saulx,  seig- 
neur de  Tavannes.  [1515 — 1573.]  Mi.  i. 
8.  P.  i 23. 

Memoires  de  Guillaume  de  Saulx,  seig- 
neur de  Tavannes.  [1560 — 1595.]  Mi. 
i.  8.  P.  i.  35. 

Le  siege  de  Metz  par  Bertrand  de  Sali- 
gnac.  [1552.].  Mi.  i.  8.  P.  i.  32. 


Sources  of  the  History  of  France . 


571 


Discours  de  Gaspard  de  Coligny,  ou  sont 
sommairement  coutenues  les  choses  qui  se 
sont  passees  durant  le  siege  de  Saint- 
Quentin.  [1557.]  Mi.  i.  9.  P.  i.  32. 

Memoire  de  la  Chastre,  surle  voyage  de 
M.  le  due  de  Guise  en  Italie.  [1556 — 
1557  ] Mi.  i.  8.  P.  i.  32. 

Memoires  de  Guillaume  de  Rochechou- 
art.  [1497—1565.]  Mi.  i.  8.  P.  i.  33. 

Memoires  de  Claude  Haton.  [1553 — 
1582.]  D i.  2 vols.  4<to. 

Memoires  d’Achille  Gamon.  [1558 — 
1586.]  Mi.  i.  4.  P.  i.  34. 

8. — The  Bourbons. 

Memoires  de  Jean  Philippi.  [1560 — 

1590.]  Mi.  i 8.  P.  i.  34. 

Memoires  de  la  vie  de  Francis  de  See- 
peaux,  mareschal  de  Vielleville.  [1527 — 
1571.]  Mi.  i.  9.  P.  i.  26—28. 

Memoires  de  Michel  de  Castelnau. 
[1559—1570.]  Mi.  i.  9.  P.  i.  33.  Me- 
moires fort  interessants.  (Lalanne.) 

Memoires  de  Jean  de  Mergey.  [1554 — - 
1589.]  Mi.  i.  9.  P.  i.  34. 

Memoires  de  Francis  de  la  Noue.  [1562 
—1570.]  Mi.  i.  9.  P.  i.  34.  On  the 
Protestant  side,  but  impartial,  and  well 
written. 

Brantome  (Pierre  de  Bourdeille,  sieur 
de)  Vies  des  grands  capitaines,  dames 
illustres,  etc.  S.H.F.  9 vols.  8vo.  Le  plus 
fidele  miroir  des  moeurs  de  cette  epoque. 
(Lalanne.) 

M ^moires  de  Boy  vin  du  Villars  [1550 
— 1569.]  Mi.  i.  10.  P.  i.  28 — 30.  Curieux, 
et  ecrits  d’un  ton  de  franchise  et  de  verite. 
(Boissonade.) 

Memoires  de  Marguerite  de  Yalois. 
[1569-1582.]  Mi.  i.  l/  P.  i.  37.  S.H.F. 
8vo.  1842.  S’est  peinte  d’une  plume 
legere. 

Memoires  de  messire  Philippe  Hurault, 
comte  de  Cheverny.  [1553 — 1599.]  Mi. 
i.  10.  P.  i.  36.  The  transactions  carried 
on  by  the  royalist  party  are  explained  in 
detail . 

Memoires  de  Philippe  Hurault,  abbe  de 
Pontlevoy,  eveque  de  Chartres.  [1599 — 
1601.]  Mi.  i.  10.  P.  i.  36. 

Memoires  de  Henri  de  la  Tour  d’ Au- 
vergne, due  de  Bouillon,  adressez  a Son 
fils  le  prince  de  Sedan.  [1555 — 1586.] 
Mi.  i.  11.  P.  i.  35. 

Memoires  du  due  d’Angouleme,  pour  ser- 
vir  a l’histoire  des  rkgnes  de  Henri  III.  et 
de  Henri  IY.  [1589—1593.]  Mi  i.  11. 
P.  i.  44. 

Memoires  de  Th.  Agrippa  d’Aubigne. 
[1551 — 1562.]  8vo.  Ne  doivent  etre  lus 
quavec  une  certaine  mefiance.  (Lalanne.) 


Memoires  d’Estat  de  Monsieur  de  Yille- 
roy,  secretaire  des  commandemens  des 
rois  Charles  IX.,  Henri  III.,  Henri  IV.,  et 
Louis  XIII.  [1574—1594.]  Mi.  i.  11.  P.  i. 
44. 

Memoires  de  Jacques-Auguste  de  Thou. 
[1553—1601.]  Mi.  i.  11.  P.  i.  37-  These 
memoirs,  originally  written  in  Latin,  form 
part  of  the  author’s  great  work  “ Historia 
sui  temporis.” 

Memoires  de  Jean  Choisnin.  [1571 — 
1573.]  Mi.  i.  11.  P.  38; 

Eelation  faite  par  maitre  Jacques  Gil- 
lot,  de  ce  qui  se  passa  au  Parlement 
touchant  la  regence  de  la  reine  Marie  de 
Medieis.  [1610.]  Mi.  i.  11.  P.  i.  49. 

Memoires  du  marquis  de  Beauvais- 
Nangis.  [1562—1641.]  S.H.F. 

Journal  du  proces  du  marquis  de  la 
Boulaye.  [Maximilien  fichalard.  Decem- 
ber 1649,  May,  1650.]  S.H.F. 

Memoires  de  Mathieu  Merle,  baron  de 
Salavas.  [1570 — 1580.]  Mi.  i.  11.  P.  i.38. 

Memoires  de  Jacques  Pape,  seigneur  de 
Saint-Auban.  [1572 — 1587.]  Mi.  i.  11. 
P.  i.  43. 

Memoire  fidele  des  choses  qui  se  sont 
passees  a la  mort  de  Louis  XIII.,  par 
Dubois,  Tun  des  valets  de  chambre  de 
S.M.  [1643.]  Mi.  i.  11. 

Memoires  de  Michel  de  Marillac.  [1593 
—1594.]  Mi.  i.  11.  P.  i.  49. 

Memoires  de  Claude  Groulart,  ou  voya- 
ges par  lui  faits  en  cour.  [J  588 — 1603.] 
Mi.  i.  11.  P.  i.  49.  Peignent  en  traits 
vifs  et  caracteristiques  toute  la  classe 
grave  de  la  societe  de  cette  epoque. 
(Poirson.) 

Chronologie  novenaire  de  Palma  Cayet. 
[1576—1597.]  Mi.  i.  12. 

Chronologie  septenaire  de  Palma  Cayet. 
[1598-1604.]  Mi.  i.  12.  P.  i.  38—43. 
Ouvrages  fort  importants.  (Lalanne.) 

Memoires  et  correspondance  de  Jacques 
Nompar  de  Caumont,  due  de  la  Force 
[1572 — 1640.]  Renseignements  precieux 
sur  des  points  particuliers.  (Poirson.) 

Memoires  et  journal  de  Pierre  de  l’Es- 
toile.  [.  . . — 1574.] 

Registre  journal  de  Henri  III,  roi  de 
France  et  de  Pologne,  par  P.  de  l’Estoile. 
[1574—1589.]  Mi!  ii.  1. 

Memoires  et  journal  de  Pierre  de  l’Es- 
toile. — Begne  de  Ilenri  IV.,  royde  France 
et  de  Navarre.  [1589 — 1610.] 

Memoires  et  journal  de  Pierre  de  l’Es- 
toile. — Begne  de  Loys  XIII.,  roy  de  France 
et  de  Navarre.  [1610 — 1611.]  Mi.  ii.  1. 
P.  i.  45 — 49.  A new  and  complete  edition 
of  these  interesting  and  valuable  journals 
is  now  in  progress. 


572 


History  of  France. 


Memoires  des  sages  et  royales  (Econo- 
mies d’Estat  de  Henry  le  Grand,  ou  me- 
moires de  Sully.  [1570 — 1611.  Mi.  ii.  2, 
3.  P ii.  1 — 9.  Pleins  de  fonts  et  precieux 
pour  Vhistoire.  (Lalanne.) 

Les  negociations  du  president  Jeannin. 
[1598—1609.]  Mi.  ii.  4.  P.  ii.  11—15 

Melanges  diplomatiques  du  president 
Jeannin.  [1595 — 1623.]  Mi.  ii.  4.  P.  ii. 
16.  Deploy  a une  capacity  egale  a son 
integrity.  (Lalanne.) 

Memoires  de  Francois  Duval,  marquis 
de  Fontenay-Mareuil.  [1609 — 1647.]  Mi. 
ii.  5.  P.  i.  50 — 51.  Memoires  interes- 

sants.  (Lalanne.) 

Memoires  de  P.  Phelypeaux  de  Pont- 
chartrain.  [1610 — 1620.]  Mi.  ii.  5.  P.  ii. 
16,  17. 

Conference  de  Loudun.  [1616.]  Mi. 
ii.  3. 

Memoires  du  due  de  Rohan.  [1610 — 
1629  ] Mi.  ii.  5.  P.  ii.  18,  19.  TJn  des 
plus  beaux  monuments  historiques  et  lilt6- 
raires  de  cette  epoque.  (Haag.) 

Memoires  du  due  de  Rohan  sur  la  guerre 
de  la  Valteline.  [1630 — 1637.]  Mi.  ii.  5. 

Memoires  du  marechal  de  Bassompierre. 
[1579-1640.]  Mi.  ii.  6.  P.  ii.  19—21. 
S.H.F,  3 vols.  Pleins  de  details  prScieux 
et  authentiques. 

Memoires  de  Madame  de  Mornay.  [1549 
— 1606.]  S.H.F.  2 vols.  Narration  sincere, 
honnete,  sans  restriction.  (Poirson.) 

Memoires  du  marechal  d’Estrees.  [1610 
—1617.]  Mi.  ii.  6.  P.  ii.  16. 

Memoires  du  sieur  de  Pontis.  [1597 — 
1652.]  Mi.  ii.  6.  P.  ii.  31.  Memoires 
a classer  parmi  les  romans  historiques. 
(D’Avrigny.) 

Memoires  du  cardinal  de  Richelieu. 
[1600—1638.]  Mi.  ii.  7—9.  P.  ii.  21  bis 
— 30.  De  la  plus  haute  importance.  Leur 
authenticity  avait  ete  bien  a tort  attaquee 
par  Voltaire.  (Lalanne.) 

Les  Historiettes  de  Tallemant  des  Reaux. 
Paris,  Techener,  9 vols.  8vo.  Anecdotes 
de  tout  genre  sur  les  hommes  de  la  pre- 
miere moitie  du  xvi  *e.  siecle. 

Testament  de  S.  E.  Armand-Jean  du 
Plessis,  cardinal  due  de  Richelieu.  [1642.] 
Mi.  ii.  9. 

Memoires  d’Arnauld  d’Andilly.  [1600 
—1656.]  Mi.  ii.  9.  P.  ii.  33,  34. 

Memoires  de  Mathieu  Mole.  [1614 — 
1650  ] S.H.F.  4 vols.  Documents  depour- 
vus  d’ inter  et.  (Lalanne.) 

Memoires  de  l’abbe  Antoine  Arnauld. 
[1634—1675  ] Mi.  ii.  9.  P ii.  34. 

Memoires  de  Gaston,  due  d’ Orleans. 
1608—1636.]  Mi.  ii.  9.  P.  ii.  31. 

Memoires  de  la  duchesse  de  Nemours. 


[1618-1653.]  Mi.  ii.  9.  P.  ii.  34.  Me- 
moires piquants,  spirit  uels,  mais  un  pen 
secs.  (Ste.  Beuve.) 

Memoires  de  Madame  de  Motteville. 
[1630—1666.]  Mi.  ii.  10.  P.  ii.  36—40. 
Portent  au  plus  haut  degre,  dans  leur 
allure  negligee,  le  caractere  de  la  verite. 
(Lalanne.) 

Memoires  du  Pere  Fr.  Berthod.  [1652 
—1653.]  Mi.  ii.  10.  P.  ii.  48. 

La  vie  du  cardinal  de  Rais.  [1630 — 
1655.]  Mi.  iii.  1.  P.  ii.  44 — 46. 

Complement  des  memoires  du  cardinal 
de  Retz.  Redige  d’apres  les  documents 
originaux,  par  M.  Champollion-Figeac. 
[1654 — 1679.]  Mi.  iii.  1.  An  excellent 
edition  of  the  cardinal's  memoirs  forms 
part  of  Messrs  Hachette's  collection,  “ Les 
Grands  Lcrivains  de  la  France,”  and  is 
now  in  progress. 

Memoires  de  Guy  Joly.  [1643 — 1665.] 
Mi  iii.  2.  P.  ii.  47". 

Memoires  concernant  le  cardinal  de  Retz, 
par  Claude  Joly.  [1648 — 1655.]  Mi,  iii. 

2.  P ii.  47-  Peuvent  etre  regardes  comme 
la  contre-partie  des  memoires  du  Cardinal 
de  Retz.  (Lalanne.) 

Memoires  de  Pierre  Lenet.  [1649 — 
1659.]  Mi.  iii.  2.  P.  ii.  53,  54.  Ecrits 
avec  beaucoup  de  franchise 

Journal  d’ Olivier  Lefevre  d’Ormesson. 
[1643—1672.]  D.I.  2 vols.  4to. 

Memoires  du  comte  de  Brienne,  avec 
additions,  inedites.  [1613  | 1661.]  Mi.  iii. 

3.  P.  ii.  35,  36. 

Memoires  de  Claude  de  Bourdeille,  comte 
de  Montresor.  [1632 — 1637.]  Mi.  iii.  3. 
P.  ii.  54.  Tres  inter essants ; souvent  r4- 
imprimSs.  (Lalanne.) 

Relation  faite  par  le  vicomte  de  Fon- 
trailles.  [1612.]  Mi.  iii.  3.  P.  ii.  54. 

Memoires  du  comte  de  la  Chatre.  [1638 
—1643.]  Mi.  iii.  3.  P.  ii.  51. 

Memoires  de  Nicolas  Joseph  Foucault. 
[1675—1706.]  D.I. 

Memoires  du  comte  de  Coligny-Saligny. 
[1617—1690.  S.H.F. 

Memoires  de  Daniel  de  Cosnac.  [1650 
— 1701.]  S.H.F.  2 vols.  Tres  curieux,  tres 
animes,  tres  piquants. 

Memoires  du  marquis  le  Villette.  [1672 
—1704.]  S.H.F. 

Extrait  des  memoires  de  Henri  de  Cam- 
pion. Mi.  iii.  3.  P.  ii.  51.  Memoires 
pleins  d’intSret.  A good  and  complete 
edition  of  these  memoirs  was  published  in 
the  “ Bibliotheque  Elzdvirienne”  of  M.  P. 
Jannet.  12mo.  (Lalanne.) 

Lettres  du  vicomte  de  Turenne,  pour 
servir  d’introduction  a sea  memoires. 
[1627—1643.]  Mi.  iii.  3. 


Sources  of  the  History  of  France . 573 


Me  moires  du  marechal  vicomte  de  Tu- 
rgnne.  [1643 — 1658.]  Mi.  iii  3. 

Memoires  de  Mademoiselle  de  Montpen- 
sier.  [1627—1688.]  Mi.  iii.  4.  P.  ii.  40— 
43.  Tres  veridiques.  (Sainte  Beuve.) 

Memoires  de  Valentin  Conrart.  [1652.] 
Mi.  iii.  4 P.  ii.  48. 

Memoires  du  marquis  de  Montglat. 
[1635—1668]  Mi.  iii.  5.  P.  ii.  49—51. 
Off  rent  des  renseignements  precieux. 

Memoires  du  due  de  la  Rochefoucauld. 
[1630—1652.]  Mi.  iii.  5.  P.  ii.  51,  52. 
See  also  the  edition  published  by  Messrs. 
Hachette  in  the  Grands  £crivains.  L’his- 
toire  de  la  regence  d' Anne  d’Autriche  y est 
racontee  avec  nettete  et  une  Cleg  ante  pre- 
cision. (Lalanne.) 

Memoires  de  Jean  Herault  de  Gourville. 
[1642—1697.]  Mi.  iii.  5.  P.  ii.  52.  Gil 
Bias  superieur.  (Sainte  Beuve.) 

Memoires  d’Omer  Talon.  [1630 — 1653.] 
Mi.  iii.  6.  P.  ii.  60 — 63. 

Memoires  de  l’abbe  de  Choisy.  [1661 — 
1683.]  Mi.  iii.  6.  P.  ii.  63.  Agreablement 
Ccrits  (Lalanne.) 

Memoires  du  due  de  Guise.  [1647 — - 
1648.]  Mi  iii.  7.  P-  ii  55,  56. 

Memoires  du  marechal  de  Gramont. 
[1604—1677.]  Mi.  iii.  7.  P.  ii.  56,  57. 

Relation  du  passage  du  Rhin,  par  le 
comte  de  Guiche.  [1672.]  Mi.  iii.  7. 

Memoires  du  marechal  du  Plessis.  [1627 
—1671.]  Mi.  iii.  7.  P.  ii.  57. 

Memoires  de  M.  de  ***  [le  comte  de 
Bregry].  [1643 — 1690.]  Mi.  iii.  7.  P.  ii. 
58,  59. 

Me'moires  de  P.  de  la  Porte.  [1624 — 
1666.]  Mi.  iii.  8.  P.  ii.  59. 

Histoire  de  Madame  Henri ette  d’Angle- 
terre.  [1659 — 1670.]  Mi.  iii.  8.  P.  ii.  64. 

Me'moires  de  la  cour  de  Prance,  pendant 
les  annees  1688  et  1689.  Mi.  iii.  8.  P.  ii.  65. 

Memoires  du  marquis  de  la  Fare.  [1672 
—1693.]  Mi.  iii.  8.  P.  ii.  65. 

Souvenirs  de  Madame  de  Gaylus.  Mi. 
iii.  8.  P.  ii.  66.  Suite  rapide  de  portraits 
et  d’esquisses.  Elle  y excelle.  (Ste.  Beuve.) 


Memoires  du  marquis  de  Torcy.  [1687 
—1713.]  Mi.  iii.  8.^  P.  ii.  67,  68. 

Memoires  du  marechal  de  Villars.  [1672 
—1734.]  Mi.  iii.  9.  P.  ii.  68- -71. 

Memoires  du  comte  de  For  bin.  [1675 — 
1710.]  Mi.  iii.  9.  P.  ii.  74,  75. 

Memoires  de  Duguay-Trouin.  [1689 — - 
1715.]  Mi.  iii.  9.  P.  75. 

Memoires  politiques  et  militaires,  com- 
poses par  l’abbe  Millot,  sur  les  pieces  re- 
cueillies  par  le  due  de  Noailles.  [1682 — ■ 
1766.]  Mi.  iii.  10.  P.  ii.  71-74. 

Memoires  secrets  de  Duclos,  sur  les 
regnes  de  Louis  XIV.  et  de  Louis  XV. 
[1700-1726.]  Mi.  iii.  10.  P.  ii.  76,  77. 
Abort  dent  en  renseignements. 

Memoires  de  Madame  de  Staal.  Mi.  iii. 
10.  P.  ii.  77,  78.  Forment  une  des  plus 
agreables  lectures.  (Vinet.) 

Journal  et  Memoires  du  marquis  d’Ar- 
genson.  [1657—1757.]  S.H.F.  5 vols.  8vo. 
II  choque,  mais  il  instruit.  (Ste.  Beuve.) 

Chronique  de  la  Regence  et  du  regne  de 
Louis  XV.,  ou  journal  de  Barbier,  avocat 
au  Parlement.  S.H.F.  4 vols.  Charpen- 
tier,  8 vols.  12mo.  ( Best  edition.)  Tin  des 
ouvrages  les  plus  interessants  que  nous 
ayons  sur  le  xviiie.  sie.de.  (Lalanne.) 

Journal  du  marquis  de  Dangeau.  [1684 
— 1720.]  Paris,  Didot,  19  vols.  8vo.  Utile 
d consulter,  mais  ennuyeux. 

Memoires  complets  et  authentiques  du 
due  de  Saint  Simon.  [1691 — 1723.]  Paris, 
Hachette,  20  vols.  8vo.  Ne  doivent  etre 
lus  qu’ avec  une  certame  precaution,  cm'  les 
erreurs,  volontaires  ou  non,  n’y  sont  pas 
rares.  (Lalanne.) 

Journal  et  memoires  de  Mathieu  Marais, 
avocat  au  Parlement  de  Paris.  [1707 — 
! 1733.]  Paris,  Didot,  4 vols.  8vo.  In- 
teressants. 

Memoires  du  due  de  Luynes  sur  la  cour 
de  Louis  XV.  [1735 — 1758.]  Paris,  Didot, 

| 17  vols.  8vo.  Journal  d peu  pres  dans  le 
m&me  genre  que  celui  de  Dangeau.  (La- 
lanne.) 


574 


History  of  France . 


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Historical  Tables . 


575 


0.— TABLE  OP  THE  FEUDAL  DISMEMBERMENT  OP  THE  KINGDOM  OF 
FRANCE,  ABOUT  THE  END  OF  THE  NINTH  CENTURY. 


Duchy  of  Gascony,  became  hereditary  in  . 

872 

Viscounty  of  Limoges,  became  hereditary  in 

887 

Viscounty  of  B^arn  . . . . . . 

819 

Lordship  of  Bourbon  . 

• 

. . . 

890 

County  of  Toulouse  ..... 

850 

County  of  the  Lyonnais 

• 

. 

890 

Marquisate  of  Septimania  . • . . 

878 

Lordship  of  Beaujolai3  . 

• 

. . . 

890 

County  of  Barcelona  ..... 

864 

Duchy  of  Burgundy 

• 

... 

887 

County  of  Carcassonne  ..... 

819 

County  of  Chalons  . . 

♦ 

. . . 

886 

Viscounty  of  Narbonne ..... 

802 

Duchy  of  France  . . 

• 

. . 

830 

County  of  Roussillon  ..... 

812 

County  of  Vexin  . . 

« 

• . . 

878 

County  of  Urgel  ...... 

884 

County  of  Vermandois  . 

• 

. about 

880 

County  of  Poitiers 

880 

County  of  Valois  . . 

• 

. about 

880 

County  of  Auvergne 

864 

County  of  Ponthieu  . 

• 

. 

859 

Duchy  of  Aquitaine 

864 

County  of  Boulogne  . . 

• 

. about 

860 

County  of  Angouleme  ..... 

866 

County  of  Anjou  . . 

• 

875 

County  of  P^rigord 

866 

County  of  Maine  . . 

County  of  Brittany  . 

• 

• 

853 

824 

D.— TABLE  OF  THE  FEUDAL  DISMEMBERMENT  OF  THE  KINGDOM  OF 
FRANCE,  ABOUT  THE  END  OF  THE  TENTH  CENTURY. 


Duchy  of  Gascony,  became  hereditary  in  . 875 

Viscounty  of  B&m 819 

Viscounty  of  Bigorre,  end  of  the  9th  century 

County  of  Fezensac 920 

County  of  Armagnac 960 

County  of  Lectoure,  end  of  the  10th  century 
County  of  Astarac  ....  about  930 
County  of  Toulouse  .....  850 

County  of  Barcelona 864 

County  of  Rouergue  .....  820 

County  of  Carcassonne 819 

Viscounty  of  Narbonne,  end  of  the  9th  cent. 
County  of  Melgueil,  commencement  of  the 
9th  century 

Lordship  of  Montpellier  ....  975 

County  of  Roussillon,  middle  of  the  9th  cent. 
County  of  Urgel  ......  884 

County  of  Poitiers  ......  880 

Duchy  of  Aquitaine  . .....  864 

County  of  Auvergne  .....  864 

County  of  Angouleme  . . . . . 866 

County  of  P4rigord  .....  866 

County  of  Lower  March  .....  866 

Viscounty  of  Limoges  .....  887 

Viscounty  of  Turenne,  middle  of  the  9 th  cent. 

Viscounty  of  Bourges 927 

Lordship  of  Bourbon,  end  of  the  9th  century 
County  of  Macon  920 


Duchy  of  Burgundy,  became  hereditary  in  877 

County  of  Chalons 886 

Lordship  of  Salins  ......  920 

County  of  Nevers 987 

County  of  Tonnerre,  end  of  the  10th  century 

County  of  Sens 914 

County  of  Champagne,  end  of  the  9th  cent. 

County  of  Blois 834 

County  of  Rethel,  middle  of  the  10th  century 
County  of  Corbeil,  middle  of  the  10  th  century 
Barony  of  Montmorency,  middle  o^the  10th 
century 

County  of  Vexin 878 

County  of  Meulan  ......  969 

County  of  Vermandois  .....  880 

County  of  Valois 880 

County  of  Soissons,  end  of  the  10th  century 

County  of  Reims 940 

County  of  Ponthieu  ......  859 

County  of  Boulogne  .....  860 

County  of  Guines 965 

County  of  Venddme,  end  of  the  10th  century 

Duchy  of  Normandy 912 

County  of  Anjou  ......  870 

County  of  Maine  ......  853 

Lordship  of  Bellemo  ......  940 

County  of  Brittany 

Barony  of  Foug&res,  end  of  the  10th  cent.  1008 

County  of  Flanders  ......  860 


576 


History  of  France . 


E.-TABLE  SHOWING  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  PARLIAMENT  OF  PARTS. 

Persons  comprising  the  Parliament  : — The  king;  the  princes  of  the  blood  royal ; the 
peers  of  the  realm ; the  chancellor  ; the  conseillers  d honneur ; four  muitres  des  requetes 
du  conseil  du  roi;  the  procureur-general  (solicitor),  and  his  substitute  (assistants);  three 
avocats  du  roi  (king’s  counsel)  ; two  premiers  presidents ; nine  presidents  a mortier ; a 
number  of  councillors. 

Inferior  officers  One  registrar  in  chief  {greffier)  for  civil  cases,  one  for  criminal 
cases,  and  one  for  presentations ; lour  notaries  and  secretaries  of  the  court ; several 
special  registrars;  one  usher  ( huissier ) in  chief;  twenty-two  subordinate  ones. 

ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  THE  PROVINCIAL  PARLIAMENTS, 
with  the  date  of  their  creation. 


Aix,  1501 ; 

Besan^on,  1676; 

Bordeaux,  1462 ; 

Bourges  or  Dijon,  1477 ; 
Brittany,  1553 ; 

The  grand  conseil,  which 
^ was  both  a tribunal 
judging  in  certain  spe- 
cial cases,  and  a poli- 
tical council.  Charles 
VIII  modified  its  func- 
tions (1497),  assigning  ( 
them  to  two  different 
courts  t — 


Dombes,  1.338 ; 

Grenoble,  1453; 

Metz,  1635  ; 

Nancy,  1769; 

Normandy,  1499 ; 

/ The  grand  conseil 

maine(  I a special  court 
of  justice. 


Pau, 1620 ; 

Rennes,  1553; 

Rouen,  1499. 

Toulouse,  1303. 

Tournai  and  Douai,  1668. 
re- 


The  conseil  d'etat  pre- 
served the  political 
functions.  It  was  sub- 
divided into  four  sec- 
tions which  were  or- 
ganized by  Richelieu 
. (1624). 


\ 


The  parlement  was  en- 
trusted with  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice. 
But  it  soon  assumed  a 
political  character,  es-  . 
pecially  in  connection  ^ 
with  the  registration 
( enregistrement ) of  the 
taxes  ( edits  bureaux) . 
Under  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIV.  it  consisted 
of  five  courts  ( cham - 
bres)  : — 


The  chambre  des  comp - 
tes  became  sedentary 
about  the  year  1319; 
it  had  to  examine  and 
regulate  the  accounts 
of  the  government  offi- 
cers, to  settle  every- 
thing connected  with 
the  management  of 
the  royal  domains, 
the  temporalities  of 
the  Church,  etc.  Its 
principal  officers  were, 
under  the  reign  of 
' Louis  XIV 


The  conseil  d’en  haut, 
also  called  conseil  se- 
cret,or  conseildu  cabinet, 
for  the  discussions  of 
foreign  political  to- 
pics. Its  members 
were  exclusively  the 
princes  of  the  blood, 
and  the  ministers. 

A judicial  court. 

A treasury  or  financial 
court. 

A court  for  the  settle- 
ment of  home  ques- 
tions ( conseil  des  de- 
peches). 

rl.  La  grand ' chambre,  chambre  du  parlement,  chambre 
des  plaids  (by  opposition  to  the  chambre  des  en- 
quetes) . This  was  the  most  important  of  all. 
There  were  held  the  beds  of  justice ; letters  of 
grace,  pardon,  abolition,  etc.,  were  also  presented 
and  examined  at  the  grand ’ chambre.  It  consisted 
of  the  senior  president,  nine  presidents  a mortier, 
twenty-five  lay,  and  twelve  clerical  councillors. 

2.  La  chambre  de  la  Tournelle.  Existed  as  far  back 
as  1436,  and  judged  the  only  petty  cases  of  a cri- 
minal nature.  In  1515  its  jurisdiction  was  ex- 
tended to  all  cases  of  the  kind. 

3.  Les  chambres  des  enquetes.  The  first  existed  at  the 
beginning  of  the  14th  centurv  ; a second  was  esta- 
blished in  1319;  a third  in  1521;  a fourth  in  1543, 
and  a fifth  in  1568.  The  two  last  were  suppressed  in 
1756.  Preliminary  examination  of  cases  of  appeal. 

4.  La  chambre  des  requetes.  Decided  on  all  cases 
brought  immediately  before  the  parliament.  Its 
earliest  organization  dates  from  1304,  or  even  from 
1291,  when  Philip  III.  appointed  three  maitres  des 
requetes  and  one  notary  for  the  purpose  of  collecting 
the  petitions  during  the  session  of  the  Parliament. 

5.  La  chambre  des  vacations , instituted  in  1405;  con- 
firmed in  1499  and  1519.  Judged  preliminary  civil 
cases,  and  all  criminal  cases  during  the  autumn 
vacations  of  the  other  courts. 

La  chambre  de  la  maree  was  a kind  of  police  court 
or  commission  established  to  settle  and  regulate 
the  sale  of  salt-water  fish,  and  to  decide  in  all 
cases  connected  with  that  industry. 

The  grands-jours  were  assizes  held  at  irregular 
periods  and  in  various  places  in  order  to  despatch 
long-pending  law-suits,  punish  cases  of  oppres- 
sion or  gross  misdemeanour,  relieve  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  people,  etc.  Instances  of  grands-jours 

' occur  between  the  14th  and  the  17th  centuries. 

1.  One  first  president,  and  twelve  others. 

2.  Seventy-eight  masters  (maitres  des  comptes),  who 
delivered  judgment. 

3.  Thirty-eight  revisers  (correcteurs) . These  officers 
were  established  in  1410. 

4.  A hundred  and  eighty-two  clerks  or  auditeurs, 
who  had  to  prepare  and  draw  up  the  reports. 

5.  One  attorney-general,  and  one  solicitor-general. 


Historical  Tables. 


577 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  MEROVINGIAN  DYNASTY. 


Clodion 
(k.  427-448). 

Meroveus 


(k.  448-458). 

Childeric  I. 
(k.  458-481). 

Clovis 

(k.  481-511). 


Thierry  I.,  Chlodoinir,  Childebert  I.,  Clotaire  I., 

k.  of  Austrasia.  k.  of  Orleans.  k.  of  Paris.  k.  of  Soissons, 

d.  534.  d 524.  d.  558.  sole  king 

(558-561). 


Caribert,  Gontran,  Sigebert  I.=Brunehaut, 
k.  of  Paris  k.  of  Burgundy  k.  of  Austrasia 

( d . 567).  and  of  Orleans  ( d . 575). 

(d.  593).  jj 


Chilperic  I., 
k.  of  Soissons  =s 
Fredegonde 
(d.  584). 


Childebert  II., 
k.  of  Austrasia  and 
Burgundy  (d.  596). 


Theodebert, 
k.  of  Austrasia 
(d.  312). 


I 

Thierry  II., 
k.  of  Burgundy 
(d.  613). 


Clotaire  II., 
sole  king 
(613-628). 


Dagobert  I., 
sole  king 
(628-638). 


Sigebert  II.,  Clovis  XI., 

k.  of  Austrasia  (638-656). 

(d.  656). 


I 

Caribert, 
k.  of  Aquitaine 
(d.  631). 

Boggis, 

d.  of  Aquitaine. 

I 

Eudes, 

d.  of  Aquitaine 
(688-735). 


Dagobert  II., 
last  Merovingian 
k.  of  Austrasia 
(d.  679). 

Clotaire  IV., 
k.  of  Austrasia 
(d.  719). 


Clotaire  HI.,  Childeric  II.,  Thierry  III., 
k.  of  Neustria  k.  of  Austrasia,  k.  of  Burgundy. 
(656-670).  then  sole  k.  [ 

(d.  673).  | 


Clovis  Chilperic  II.  Clovis  III.  Childebert  III. 
(673-674).  | (691 — 695).  (695-711). 

Childeric  III.  Dagobert  III. 

(742-752),  (711-715). 

deposed  by  Pepin  le  Bref. 

Thierry  IV. 
(720-737). 

P P 


History  of  France . 


573 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  CAELOTINGIAHS. 


Pepin  of  Landen, 
mayor  of  the  palace  in  Austrasia 
(d.  639). 


Saint  Arnnlf, 
brother  of  Pepin 
(d.  640). 


Grimoald 
(d.  656). 


Drogo, 

d.  of  Champagne 
(d.  708). 


Grimoald, 
mayor  in 
Neustria 
(d.  714). 


Begga  = Ansegbia 
(d.  678). 


Pepin  of  Heristal, 
d.  of  the  Franks 
(d.  714). 


Charles  Martel 
(d.  741). 


Carloman, 
becomes  a monk 
(747). 


, . I 

Pepin  le  Bref, 
k.  of  the  Franks 
(752-768). 


Childebrand 
(d.  753). 


Grippo 
(d.  753). 


Charlemagne 

(768-814). 

Louis  le  Debonnaire 
(814-840). 


Carloman 
(k.  771). 


Lothaire, 

Pepin, 

Louis  the 

Charles  the 

emperor 

(d.  838). 

German, 

Bald, 

(d.  875). 

(d.  876). 

k.  of  France 

1 

(d.  877). 
| 

Louis  II. 

1 

Lothaire, 

Charles,  Pepii 

ill. 

Ch 

arles 

1 

Louis 

emperor 

k.  of 

k.  of  k.  of 

the  Fat 

the 

(d.  855). 

Lorraine 

Burgundy  Aquitaine 

k.  and 

Stammerer 

(d.  869). 

and 

emperor 

(d.  879). 

Provence 

(d.  888). 

(d.  863). 

Louis  III. 

Carloman 

Charles  the  Simple 

(d.  882). 

(d.  884). 

(d.  929). 

Louis  IV. 
(k.  954). 


Lothaire 
(d.  986). 

Louis  V. 

(d.  987). 


Charles 
d.  of  Lorraine 
(d.  992). 


Historical  Tables . 


579 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  CAPETIAN  DYNASTY. 


L Feom  the  Accession  op  Hugh  Capet  to  the  Accession  of  the 
House  of  Valois. 

Robert  the  Strong,  count  of  = Adelaide,  daughter  of 
Anjou  (d.  867).  | Louis  le  Debonnaire. 

. 


Eudes,  count  of  Paris, 
king,  888-898. 


Hugh  le  Grand  or  le  Blan«, 
king  of  France  and  count  of  Paris. 
(d.  956). 

I 


Robert,  duke  of  France, 
(d.  923). 


Emma  = Rodolph,  or  Raoul, 
king  of  France,  from 
923  to  936. 


Robert,  k.  996-1031. 


Henry  I., 
k.  1031-1060. 


Robert,  duke  of  Burgundy. 


Philip  I.,  k.  1060-1108. 


Hugh,  founder  of  the 
Capetian  counts  of  Vermandoia 
and  Valois. 


Louis  VI.  (le  Gros),  k.  1108-1137. 
Louis  VII.  (le  Jeune),  k.  1137-1180. 
Philip  II.  (Augustus),  k.  1180-1223. 
Louis  VIII.,  k!  1223-1226. 

I 


Louis  IX.  (St.  Louis), 
k.  1226-1270. 


I 

Robert,  founder 
of  the  counts  of 
Artois. 


Alphonse,  count  of 
Poitiers  and 
Toulouse. 


I 

Charles,  count  of 
Anjou  and  Provence, 
founder  of  the  Royal 
House  of  Naples. 


Philip  III.  (le  Hardi), 
k.  1270-1285. 

I 


Robert,  count  of  Clermont, 
founder  of  the  House  of  Bourbon. 


Philip  IV.1  (le  Bel), 
k.  1285-1314. 


Charles,  count  of  Valois, 
founder  of  the  House  of  Valois. 


Louis  X.  (le  Hutin), 
k.  1314-1316. 


Jeanne,  m.  Philip, 
k.  of  Navarre 
(d.  1349). 

Charles, 
k.  of  Navarre. 


Philip  V.  (le  Long), 

k.  J 316-1322. 


n[ 


Charles  IV.  (1®  Bel),  Isabella, 
k,  1322-1328.  m.  Edward  II.  of 
England. 

I 

Edward  III. 
of  England. 


?p2 


History  of  France . 


580 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  YALOIS  OF  FRANCE. 


Charles,  count  of  Yalois,  younger  son  of  king  Philip  III. 
Philip  YI.,  k.  1328-1350. 

John  (le  Bon),  k.  1350-1364. 


Charles  Y.  (le  Sage),  Louis,  duke  of  Anjou,  John,  duke 
k.  1364--1380.  founder  of  the  2nd  royal  of  Berry, 
house  of  Naples. 


Philip,  duke  of  Bur- 
gundy (d.  1404). 


Jean  Sans  peur,  killed  at  Montereau,  1419. 

Philip  (le  Bon)  (d.  1467). 

I 

Chai-les  (le  Temeraire)  (d.  1477). 

Mary,  duchess  of  = Maximilian,  archduke 
Burgundy  j of  Austria. 

Philip,  archduke  of  Austria,  = Juana,  heiress  of  Cas- 
and  sovereign  of  the  Nether- 
lands (d.  1506). 


tille  and  Aragron. 


Charles  Y.,  king  of  Spain,  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands, 
and  emperor,  1519. 


Charles  YI.  (le  Bien-aime),  (k.  1380-1422). 
= Isabella  of  Bavaria. 


Louis,  duke  of  Orleans, 
assassinated  1407,  founder  of  the 
line  of  Yalois-Orleans. 


Louis  John 

. 1415).  (d.  1416). 


Charles  VII. 
(le  Victorieux), 
k.  1422-1461. 

1 


I 

Isabella 

=1.  Richard  II.  of  England. 
2.  Duke  of  Orleans. 


I 

Catherine 
= Henry  Y. 
of  England. 


Louis  XI.,  k.  1461-1483. 


Charles,  duke  of  Berry. 


Four  daughters. 


Charles  VIII., 
k.  1483-1498. 


Anne= 

Sire  de  Beaujeu. 


I 

Jeanne= 

Duke  of  Orleans, 
afterwards  Louis  XII. 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OE  THE  HOUSE  OF  VALOIS  ORLEANS. 


Historical  Tables . 


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TABLE  OF  THE  DUCAL  HOUSES  OF  LORRAINE  AND  GUISE. 

Raoul,  duke  and  marquis  of  Lorraine,  killed  at  Crdcy,  1346. 

John,  duke  and  marquis  of  Lorraine  ( d . 1390). 


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GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OE  THE  HOUSE  OP  BOURBON. 

Robert,  count  of  Clermont  = Beatrice,  beires3  of  Bourbon,  1272. 
younger  son  of  St.  Louis.  I 


Louis,  duke  of  Bourbon  (d.  1341). 

I 


Peter,  duke  of  Bourbon, 
ancestor  of  the  Constable 
Charles,  duke  of  Bourbon. 


James,  count  de  la  Marche. 

John,  count  de  la  Marche = Catherine,  heiress  of  Vend6me. 
Louis,  count  of  Vendome  id.  1447). 

John,  count  of  Vendome  ( d . 1477). 

I 


Louis,  prince  of  La  Roche-sur-Yon 
= Louisa,  countess  of  Montpensier. 
This  branch  became  extinct  1608. 


Francis,  count  of  Vendome. 

Charles,  first  duke  of  Vendome. 

Antoine,  duke  of  Vendome = Jeanne  d’Albret,  queen  of  Navarre  (d.  1572). 

Henry  IV.  king  of  France  and  Navarre,  1589-1610. 

= 1.  Marguerite  de  Valois,  d.  of  Henry  II. 

2.  Mary  de’  Medici. 


Louis  XIII.  king, 
1610-1613= Anne 
of  Austria  d.  of 
Philip  III.  of  Spain. 


Gaston,  duke  of 
Orleans 
(d.  1660). 

“La  grande 
mademoiselle  ’* 
id.  1693). 


Elizabeth 
= Philip  IV. 
of  Spain 
(d.  1644). 


Christiana 
= duke  of 
Savoy 
(d.  1663). 


Henrietta  Maria 
= Charles  I. 
of  England 
{d.  1669). 


Louis  XIV.  king,  1643-1715 
= Maria  Theresa,  d.  of 
Philip  IV.  of  Spain. 


Philip,  duke^of  Orleans 
(founder  of  the  branch  of  Bourbon-Orleans) 
id.  1701). 


Louis,  the  dauphin,  ob.  17ll=Mary  Anne  Christine  Victoire  of  Bavaria. 


Louis,  duke  of  Burgundy 
id.  1712)  = Mary  Adelaide 
of  Savoy. 


Philip  V.  of  Spain. 


Charles,  duke  of  Berry 
id.  1714). 


Louis  XV.  king,  1715-1774= Mary  Leczynska  of  Poland. 


Louis,  the  dauphin  id.  1765). 

I 


Six  daughters. 


Louis  XVI. 
king,  1774-1793. 

= Marie  Antoinette 
of  Austria. 

I 


Louis  Stanislas  Xavier,  Charles  Philip  Three 

count  of  Provence,  count  of  Artois,  daughters, 

afterwards  Louis  XVIII.  afterwards  Charles  X. 
king,  1814-1824.  king,  1824-1830.  id.  1836). 

i 


1 . 1 .1 

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Louis,  duke  (d.  1795).  Angouleme  Berry,  assassinated,  Feb.  1820. 
of  Angouleme.  = Maria  Theresa, 

daughter  of  Louis  XVL 


Henry,  duke^of  Bordeaux, 
Comte  de  Chambord— “ Henry  V.1 


Louisa, 

duchess  of  Parma. 


584 


History  of  France . 


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INDEX 


A. 

Abdel-Rhaman,  38. 

Abelard,  103 ; a Freethinker,  his  struggles 
with  the  Church,  104. 

Academy,  the  French,  founded  by  Riche- 
lieu. 363. 

~ ^De  (see  also  French  Academy), 

and  Corneille’s  Cid,  365  ; and  Racine, 
429.  ’ 

— of  Sciences,  the,  434;  and  Fonte- 

nelle,  514. 

Acadia,  French  colony  of,  and  M.  de 
Monts,  489;  and  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht, 
491. 

Acadians,  Emigration  of,  to  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  492. 

Adalhard,  Scholar  of  the  School  of  the 
Palace,  time  of  Charlemagne,  50. 

Adams,  John,  548. 

Adhemar,  Bishop  of  Puy,  76. 

Adrets,  Baron,  294. 

Adrian  I.,  Pope,  44. 

.Eduans,  the,  3,  8. 

Egidius,  Roman  General,  29. 

Etius,  Roman  General,  28. 

Agatha  (Agde),  Founding  of,  2. 

Agenois  ceded  to  Edward  I.  of  England 
by  Philip  III.,  122. 

Agincourt,  the  battle  of,  Oct.  25,  1415 
178.  ’ 

Agnadello,  the  battle  of,  between  the 
French  under  Louis  XII.  and  the  Vene- 
tians, 1509,  231. 

Agobard,  scholar  of  the  School  of  the 
Palace,  time  of  Charlemagne,  50. 
Aguesseau,  Chancellor  d’,  449;  exiled 
458.  ’ 

Aigues  - Mortes,  meeting  at,  between 
Francis  I.  and  Charles  V.,  261. 

Aiguillon,  the  Duke  of,  501,  507. 

Aire,  John  d\  149. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  residence  of  Charle- 
magne, 46;  the  Peace  of,  1668,  378; 
Peace  Congress  and  Treaty  of  1748’ 
477. 

Alais,  the  Peace  of,  354. 

Alaric  II.,  King  of  the  Visigoths,  30. 

Alans,  the,  28. 


Alauda,  the,  Julius  Caesar’s  “Wakeful” 
Gallic  Legion,  17. 

Albemarle,  the  Duke  of,  396. 

Alberoni,  455 ; fall  of,  456. 

Albigensians,  the,  104 ; crusade  against, 
105,  106  ; and  Louis  VIII.,  111. 

Albret,  Jeanne  d’,  297. 

Alcuin,  45. 

A14red’  Archbishop  of  York,  anoints 
Harold  King  of  England,  69. 

£o°n’ ttie  ^uke  killed  at  Agincourt, 
j- 1 y. 


Alesia,  the  town  of,  15. 

Alexander  IV.,  Pope,  and  St.  Louis,  119. 
~~  " Pope,  222,  223;  and  Louis 

Alexis  Comnenus,  the  Emperor,  and  the 
Crusaders,  76,  81. 

Allemanians,  the,  invade  the  settlements 
of  the  Franks,  a.d.  496,  29. 

Allobrogians,  the,  8,  9. 

Almanza,  the  battle  of,  1707,  390. 

Alphonso  II.,  King  of  Naples,  and  Charles 
VIII.,  223. 

Alps,  the,  crossed  by  Francis  I.  and  his 
army,  243. 

Alsace,  368 ; restored  to  France,  398. 

Alviano,  Barthelemy  d’,  at  the  battle  of 
Agnadello,  231. 

Amadeo,  Victor,  Duke  of  Savoy,  385,  390, 
391,  392  ; and  Law,  the  Scotch  adven- 
turer, 448,  449. 

Amboise,  Cardinal  d’,  229,’  death  and 
character,  232. 


"295  296  6 FeaCG  an<3  EdiCt  °f’  1563, 


Ambrons,  the,  and  Teutons,  the,  defeated 
by  the  Romans  under  Marius  at  the 
Campi  Putridi,  102  b.c.,  9. 

America  and  French  enterprise,  488. 
American  Independence,  the  Declaration 
of,  July  4,  1776,  543. 

American  Colonies,  the,  independence  of 
recognized  by  England,  548. 

War  of  Independence,  the,  510 

et  seq. 

Ampsuarians,  the,  a tribe  of  the  Franks,  27. 
Amsterdam,  gallant  defence  of,  against 

Louis  XIV.  379. 


586 


History  of  France . 


Amyot,  James,  359. 

Anastasius,  Emperor  of  the  East,  32. 

Ancenis,  the  Treaty  of,  1468,  204. 

Ancre,  Marshal  d’  (see  also  Concini), 
death  of,  337. 

Andelot,  Francis  d’,  297. 

Angilbert,  scholar  of  the  School  of  the 
Palace,  time  of  Charlemagne,  50. 

Anjou,,  the  Duke  of,  and  Charles  VI , 
171. 

- , the  Duke  of,  son  of  John  II, 

breaks  his  word  of  honour  and  escapes 
to  France,  161. 

, Henry,  Duke  of,  and  the  massa- 
cre of  St.  Bartholomew,  300 ; and  the 
siege  of  La  Rochelle  in  1573,  305 ; 
elected  King  of  Poland,  305 ; recalled 
from  Poland  to  the  crown  of  France  as 
Henry  III.,  306. 

, the  Duke  of,  becomes  Philip  V. 

of  Spain  by  the  will  of  Charles  II.,  388. 

Anne  of  Austria  and  Louis  XIII.,  337  ; 
and  the  Broussel  affair,  369. 

Anne  de  Beaujeu,  217,  221 ; government 
of,  218. 

Anne  of  Brittany,  220;  marriage  of,  with 
Charles  VIII.,  221;  wife  of  Louis  XII., 
239. 

Anne,  Queen  of  England,  and  the  Duke 
of  Marlborough,  388. 

Anselm,  St.,  265. 

Antioch  and  the  Crusaders,  77,  79. 

Antipolis  (Antibes),  founding  of,  2. 

Antoinette,  Marie,  and  Louis  XVI.,  551 ; 
and  court  intrigues,  552 ; growing  un- 
popularity of,  554 ; increase  of  the 
popular  feeling  agaiust,  555. 

Antwerp  surrenders  to  Louis  XV.,  475. 

Aquae  Sextiae  (Aix),  the  first  Homan 
settlement  in  Transalpine  Gaul,  123 
B.C.,  8. 

Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  265. 

Aquitania,  34;  conquered  by  the  Visigoths, 
30  ; district  of,  35. 

Aquitanian  province,  the,  of  ancient  Gaul, 
2,  17. 

Aquitanians,  the,  2. 

Arabs,  the,  37,  44  ; incursions  of  the,  in 
Southern  Gaul,  38. 

Avbogastes,  a leader  of  the  Franks,  27. 

Arelate  (Arles),  the  town  of,  2. 

Argenson,  Marquis  d’,  476;  and  the 
Orleans  Regency,  452 ; quoted,  462, 
469;  and  M.  de  Lally,  486;  and  the 
decline  of  the  kingship  in  France,  494  ; 
dismissed  by  Louis  XV.,  497. 

Arians,  the,  29. 

Ariovistus,  10,  11 ; is  defeated  by  Julius 
Csesar,  12. 

Armagnac,  Count  Bernard  d’,  177. 

, the  Constable,  torn  to  pieces 

by  the  mad  mob  of  Burgundians,  180. 


Armagnac,  Count  James  d’,  and  Louis  XI., 

202,  212. 

Armagnacs  and  Burgundians,  civil  war 
between  the,  179. 

, Massacre  of  the,  180. 

Armoric  League,  the,  3. 

Armorica,  the  Britons  of,  3. 

Army  reforms  < f Louvois,  404. 

Arnaulds,  the,  and  M.  de  St.  Cyran,  414, 
415. 

Arouet,  Francis  Marie,  see  Voltaire. 

Arques,  battle  of,  gained  by  Henry  IV., 

318. 

Arras,  siege  of,  July  1414,  178;  the  Peace 
of  (1435),  191 ; treaty  at,  in  1482,  be- 
tween Louis  XI.,  and  Maximilian  of 
Austria,  215. 

Artevelde,  James  Van,  the  brewer  of 
Ghent,  and  Edward  III.  of  England, 
142. 

, Philip  Van,  leader  of  the  in- 
surgent Flemings,  172. 

Artois,  Count  Robert  of,  commands  the 
army  of  Philip  IV.  raised  to  subdue  the 
revolt  in  Flanders,  and  is  defeated 
and  killed  at  the  battle  of  Courtrai, 
124. 

Arvernians,  the.  3. 

Assas,  Chevalier  d*,  heroic  death  of, 
502. 

Assembly  of  Notables,  convocation  of  the, 
proposed  by  M.  de  Calonne  (1787), 
555. 

Assizes  of  Jerusalem,  Godfrey  de  Bouillon’s 
Code  of  Laws,  79. 

Ataulph,  King  of  the  Visigoths,  28. 

Attila,  the  famous  Hun  King,  28. 

Aubin  du  Cormier,  St.,  battle  of,  220. 

Audenarde,  the  battle  of,  391. 

Augsburg,  the  League  of,  1686,  384. 

Augustus,  sole  master  of  the  Roman 
world,  17 ; forms  roads  in  Gaul,  17- 

III.  of  Poland,  death  of,  465. 

, Stanislaus,  of  Poland,  465. 

Auneau,  the  battle  of,  310. 

Auray,  battle  of,  costs  Charles  of  Blois 
his  life  and  the  countship  of  Brittany, 
144. 

Aurelian,  the  Roman  Emperor,  20. 

Aurelius,  Marcus,  19 ; persecutes  the 
Christians,  25. 

Aurillac,  Gerbert  de,  265. 

Austrasia,  kingdom  of,  33,  35. 

Austria  and  France,  commencement  of 
the  rivalry  between,  211. 

and  Henry  IV.,  331. 

and  the  Partition  of  Poland, 

1772,  510. 

, Margaret  of  (see  also  Margaret), 

216. 

, Anne  of,  wife  of  Louis  XIII-, 

337. 


Index.  587 


Avaux,  M.  d*,  368. 

Avenio  (Avignon),  the  town  of,  2. 

Avernians,  the,  9,  10,  11. 

Avignon,  chosen  as  the  Papal  residence 
by  Clement  V-,  130. 

Aydie,  Odet  d’,  and  Louis  XI.  213. 

B. 

Baldwin  III.,  King  of  Jerusalem,  and 
Louis  VII. , 82. 

Balue,  Cardinal  de  la,  211. 

Balzac,  363. 

Barbarigo,  Doge  of  Venice,  and  Charles 
VIII.,  222. 

Barbarities  of  the  early  French  Kings, 
31. 

Barbarossa,  Frederic,  85. 

Barbezieux,  406. 

Barbier,  Advocate,  492,  506. 

Barfleur  taken  by  Edward  III.,  146. 

Barri,  Godfrey  de.  Lord  of  Renaudie, 
289. 

Barricades  in  Paris  in  1648,  369. 

Bart,  John,  a corsair  of  Dunkerque,  ex- 
ploits of  381. 

Bartholomew,  St , the  Massacre  of,  events 
which  led  to,  300;  commencement  of 
the  Massacre  of,  by  the  murder  of 
Admiral  Coligny,  301. 

Basques,  the,  2. 

Bastille,  the,  begun  by  Charles  V.,  171. 

Baudricourt  and  Joan  of  Arc,  186. 

Bavaria,  the  Duke  of,  asked  to  give  his 
daughter  Isabel  in  marriage  to  Charles, 
173. 

— - , Judith  of,  becomes  the  wife  of 
Louis  the  Debonnair,  55. 

—  , the  Elector  of,  and  the  battle 

of  Blenheim,  389,  claims  to  the  Empire, 
469;  made  lieutenant-general  of  the 
armies  of  France,  470 ; proclaimed 
Emperor  as  Charles  VII.,  471. 

Bavarians,  the,  43. 

Baville,  Lamoignon  de,  412 

Bayard,  Peter  du  Terrail,  the  Chevalier 
de,  knights  Francis  I.,  244;  wounded 
near  Romagnano;  death  of  that  “gentle 
knight,  well-beloved  of  every  one,” 
252. 

Bayonne,  loss  of,  by  the  English  after 
holding  it  for  three  centuries,  194. 

Bazin,  Thomas,  quoted,  195. 

Beachy  Head,  naval  engagement  off,  in 
which  the  English  and  Dutch  are  de- 
feated by  the  French  under  Tourville, 
385. 

Beaujeu,  Anne  de,  government  of,  218. 

Beaumarchais,  aids  the  Americans  against 
England,  541. 

Mariage  de  Figaro,  554. 

Beaumont,  Christopher  de,  Archbishop  of 
Paris,  497. 


Beauvais,  siege  of,  by  Charles  the  Rash, 
206. 

■  , the  Bishop  of,  and  the  trial  of 

Joan  of  Arc,  190. 

■  , Vincent  of,  writings  of,  264. 

Beauvilliers,  the  Duke  of,  416. 

Beda,  Noel,  denounced  by  Erasmus.  272. 

Bedford,  the  Duke  of,  regent  of  France, 
184  ; and  Joan  of  Arc,  421 ; has  King 
Henry  VI.  crowned  at  Paris,  1431, 
191. 

Belgian  province,  the,  of  Roman  Gaul,  17. 

Belgians,  the,  1. 

Belle-Isle,  Count,  character  of,  469. 

, Marshal,  coldly  received  at 

Paris,  478 ; and  the  Italian  campaign 
of  1745,  474;  death  of,  500 

Belleville,  Joan  of,  wife  of  Oliver  de 
Clisson,  revenges  her  husband’s  death, 
145. 

Belzunce,  Mon  seigneur  de,  heroic  self- 
sacrifice  and  benevolence  of,  during  the 
time  of  the  Plague  in  Marseilles,  459. 

Benedict  XI.,  Pope,  and  Philip  IV.  of 
France,  130 

Benefices,  39. 

Bentinck,  Earl  of  Portland,  386. 

Beranger,  Raymond,  Count  of  Provence, 
gives  his  daughter  Marguerite  in  mar- 
riage to  Louis  IX.,  113. 

Berbers,  the  or  Moors,  44. 

Berengaria  of  Navarre,  married  to  Ri- 
chard ( ’ceur  de  Lion  at  Cyprus,  86. 

Bergen-op  Zoom,  captured  1747,  479. 

Beryerac,  the  Peace  of,  in  1577,  309. 

Berlin,  captured  and  pillaged  by  the 
Russians,  502. 

Bernard,  St.,  81 ; death  of,  84  ; and  Abe- 
lard, 103 ; in  concert  with  Cardinal 
Alberic,  preaches  against  the  heretics 
in  the  Countship  of  Toulouse,  105. 

, Duke,  of  Saxe-Weimar,  357, 

358. 

Bernis,  Abbe  de,  496;  dismissed  by  Louis 
XV.,  500. 

Berquin,  Louis  de,  burnt  as  a heretic, 
272. 

Bertrand  du  Guesclin,  164,  169. 

Berry,  the  Duke  of,  and  Charles  VI , 
174. 

the  Duchess  of,  death  of,  459. 

Berulle,  Cardinal,  350. 

Berwick,  Marshal,  and  Philip  V.  of  Spain, 
390 ; gains  the  victory  of  Almanza, 
390  ; commences  the  campaign  of  1734 
against  Austria,  and  is  killed,  466. 

Beziers,  capture  of,  106. 

Bibracte  (Ainim),  the  town  of,  3. 

Biron,  Marshal  de,  conspiracy  against 
Henry  IV.,  334. 

Black  Plague,  the,  1347—1349,  149. 

Blanche,  Queen,  of  Castille,  aids  her 


538 


History  of  France . 


husband,  Prince  Louis,  in  his  expe- 
dition against  England,  108  ; character 
of,  112;  mother  of  St.  Louis,  111. 

Blenheim,  the  battle  of,  1704,  189. 

Blois,  Charles  of,  war  with  John  of  Mont- 
fort,  143. 

Treaty  of,  between  Louis  XII.  and 

Venice,  235. 

Buileau,  430. 

, Stephen,  Provost  of  Paris,  117. 

Bolingbroke,  Lord,  (see  also  St.  John), 
and  Voltaire,  516. 

Bologna,  meeting  of  Francis  I.  and  Pope 
Leo  II.,  245 ; siege  of,  raised  by  Gaston 
de  Foix,  233. 

Boniface  VIII.,  Pope,  St.  Louis,  claims 
temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  power 
in  the  affairs  of  Christendom,  126,  127  ; 
and  his  Bull,  “ Hearlcen,  most  dear 
Son”  128 ; narrow  escape  of,  death 
of,  130. 

Bonifacius,  Homan  General,  27- 

Bonnivet,  Admiral,  entrusted  by  Francis 
I.  with  the  conduct  of  the  war  in  Italy, 
251. 

Bordeaux,  loss  of,  by  the  English,  1451, 
194 ; retaken  by  Lord  Talbot,  195 ; revolt 
of,  against  the  Salt  Tax,  1548,  277. 

Borgia,  Caesar,  222. 

Bossuet,  and  the  works  of  Madame 
Guyon,  417 ; and  Fenelon,  417 ; head 
of  the  great  French  Catholic  Party, 
421 ; and  the  B evocation  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  418  ; death  of,  422. 

Bouchain,  captured  by  Villars  and  the 
French,  397- 

Boucicaut,  Marshal  de,  178. 

Boufflers,  Marshal,  386,  388 ; defends 
Lille  against  Marlborough  and  Eugene, 
391 ; at  Malplaquet,  393. 

Bougainville,  M.  de,  world  circumnaviga- 
tor, 554. 

Bouillon,  the  Duke  of,  arrested  for  con- 
spiring with  Cinq  Mars,  343. 

Bourbon,  Francis  of.  See  Count  d’En- 
ghien. 

■ , Charles,  Duke  of,  and  Francis  I., 

243. 

, Charles  II.,  Duke  of,  revolt  of, 

250;  interview  with  Bayard,  252;  lays 
siege  to  Marseilles,  253  ; is  repulsed, 
and  has  to  fall  back  on  Italy,  254 ; 
leaves  the  Imperial  army  in  Italy  and 
raises  an  army  in  Germany,  255  ; killed 
at  the  storming  of  Rome,  1527,  259. 

, the  Constable  de.  See  Charles  II. 

of  Bourbon. 

, Louis  de.  See  Prince  Louis  de 

Conde. 

• , Henry  de,  son  of  Prince  Louis  de 

Conde.  See  Hem  y de  Conde. 

■,  Cardinal  Charles  de,  317. 


Bourbon,  the  Duke  of,  and  the  legitimized 
princes,  453. 

—  , French  colony,  482. 

Bourdaloue,  Father,  death  and  character 

of,  422. 

Bourges  besieged  by  the  Burgundians, 
178. 

Bouteville,  M.  de,  executed  for  duelling, 
341. 

Bouvines,  battle  of,  won  by  the  French 
under  Philip  II.,  101. 

Boyne,  battle  of  the,  385. 

Brabant,  the  Duke  of,  kil  ed  at  Agin- 
court,  179. 

Breda,  Peace  of,  between  England  and 
Holland,  377. 

Brenn  (the  Brennus  of  the  Greeks  and 
Latins),  the  great  Gallic  chieftain,  4. 
Brescia  captured  by  Gaston  de  Foix, 
233. 

Bretigny,  the  Treaty  of,  between  the 
English  and  French,  1360,  160. 

Breze,  Peter  de,  seneschal  of  Louis  XI., 

203. 

, Sire  de,  250. 

Bricjonnet,  William,  271. 

Brienne  and  Louis  XIV.,  375. 

, Lom^nie  de,  555. 

Brissac,  Charles  de  327. 

Brittany,  the  Parliament  of,  494. 

—  , John  III.  of,  143. 

, Arthur  of,  100. 

, Francis  II.  of,  and  Louis  XI., 

204,  208. 

, Anne  of,  wife  of  Louis  XII., 

239. 

Broglie,  Marshal,  472. 

, the  Duke  of,  defeated  at  Minden, 

502. 

Broussel,  arrest  of,  369. 

Broye,  castle  of,  147. 

Bructerians,  the,  27. 

Brunehaut,  Queen,  35. 

Brunswick,  Grand  Duke  Ferdinand  of, 
defeats  Count  Clermont  at  C revolt, 
500,  defeats  the  French  at  Minden, 
502. 

Brussels  captured  by  Marshal  Saxe, 
476. 

Bude  (or  Budaeus),  273. 

Buffon,  523—525. 

, Count  de,  death  of,  in  the  Re- 
volution, 525. 

Burgundy,  kingdom  of,  33. 

and  Edward  III.  of  England, 

159 ; taken  possession  of  by  John  II., 
161 ; the  Dukes  of,  and  Charles  VI., 
175,  176,  177. 

, Philip  the  Bold,  Duke  of,  and 

Charles  VI.,  176,  177. 

, Duke  John  the  Fearless  of, 

murders  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  176 ; 


Index . 


returns,  and  becomes  master  of  Paris, 
180  ; death  of,  181. 

Burgundy,  Charles  the  Eash,  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  and  Louis  XI.,  205 ; and 
the  siege  of  Beauvais,  206 ; and  the 
English  in  France,  207  ; defeated  by 
the  Swiss  at  Morat,  209  ; defeated  and 
killed  at  the  battle  of  Nancy,  210. 

, the  Duke  of,  takes  command  of 

the  French  army  in  Flanders,  384 ; 
death  of,  394. 

, the  Duchess  of,  and  Louis  XIV., 

439  ; death  of,  440 

Burgundians,  the,  16;  and  Armagnacs, 
civil  war  between  the,  177 ; obtain  pos- 
session of  Paris,  180. 

Bussy,  M.  de,  484 — 486. 

Butchers,  the,  of  Paris,  177. 

Bute,  Lord,  and  Mr.  Pitt,  503 ; demands 
the  destruction  of  Dunkerque,  504. 

Byzantium  in  danger  from  the  Crusaders, 
81. 

C. 

Cabellio  (Cavaillon),  the  town  of,  2. 

Caen  taken  by  Edward  III.,  146. 

Caesar  Borgia,  222. 

, Julius,  and  the  conquest  of  Gaul, 

10,  defeats  the  Helvetians,  b.c.  58,  12  ; 
begins  his  conquest  of  Gaul,  9 ; defeats 
the  Germans  who  had  invaded  Gaul 
under  Ariovistus,  10 ; character  of,  13  ; 
defeats  the  Gauls  under  Vercingetorix, 
14 ; encloses  eighty  thousand  Gallic  in- 
surgents under  Vercingetorix  in  the 
town  of  Alesia,  16. 

Calais,  siege  of,  by  Edward  III.,  147,  148, 
captured  from  the  English  by  Duke  de 
Guise,  1558,  281;  and  the  treaty  of 
Cateau-Cambresis,  282. 

Calas,  520 ; the  persecution  of  the,  and 
Voltaire,  463. 

Caligula,  government  of,  18. 

Calixtus  III.,  Pope,  rehabilitates  Joan  of 
Arc,  191. 

Calonne,  M.  de,  made  comptroller-general 
by  Louis  XVI.,  551 ; extravagant  mea- 
sures of,  553  ; proposes  to  convoke  the 
Assembly  of  Notables,  555. 

Calvin,  274,  275 ; Christian  Institutes, 
274. 

Calvinists,  the,  and  Henry  IV.,  322,  323. 

Cambrai,  the  League  of,  230 ; the  Peace 
of,  1529,  260;  captured,  381. 

Camisards,  revolt  of  the,  412,  413. 

Canada,  early  French  settlements  in, 
488;  and  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  491; 
abandoned  by  France,  493. 

Canadians,  the  French,  491;  character  of, 
492 ; devotion  and  courage  of,  491. 

Canals,  the,  of  Languedoc  and  Orleans, 
402. 


589 

Cape  Breton,  captured  by  the  English, 
1745,  492. 

Capet,  Hugh,  62 ; and  Feudal  France, 
63  ; has  his  son  Eobert  crowned  with 
him,  death  of,  A.D.  996,  63. 

Capitularies,  the,  of  Charlemagne  and  the 
Frankish  Kings,  48,  49. 

Capponi,  Peter,  and  Charles  VIII , 223. 

Captal  of  Buch,  capture  of,  164,  166. 

Carcassonne,  105. 

Carloman,  son  of  Pepin  the  Short,  42,  43. 

Carlovingian  line,  fall  of  the,  A.D.  937, 
57. 

Carnatic,  the,  484. 

Cartier,  James,  489. 

Cassel,  172. 

Castelnaudary,  battle  of,  343. 

Castillon,  death  of  Lord  Talbot  and  his 
son  at  the  siege  of,  195. 

Castries,  Marshal  de,  502,  548; 

Cateau-Cambresis,  Treaty  of,  1559,  281. 

Catherine  de  Medici.  See  Medici. 

, Princess,  daughter  of  Charles 

VI.,  offered  in  marriage  to  Henry  V.  of 
England,  182. 

II.  of  Eussia,  504,  505;  and 

Voltaire,  521. 

Catholics,  the,  and  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
323. 

Catinat,  385,  386,  387. 

Cattians,  the,  a tribe  of  the  Franks,  27. 

Cauchon,  Peter,  Bishop  of  Beauvais,  and 
Joan  of  Arc,  189. 

Cavalier,  the  Camisard,  413. 

Cellamare’s  conspiracy  453,  454. 

Celts,  the,  2. 

Ceresole,  victory  of  the  French  over  the 
Imperial  forces  at,  1544,  262. 

Cerignola,  battle  of,  between  the  French 
and  Spaniards,  1503,  228. 

Cevennes,  ruins  in  the,  413. 

Chabannes,  Philip  of,  Count  de  Damp- 
martin.  See  Dampmartin. 

Chalais,  Count  of,  341. 

Chalons,  the  battle  of,  between  the  Franks 
and  Huns,  in  which  the  latter  are  de- 
feated, 28. 

Chalotais,  M.  de  la,  506,  507. 

Chamavians,  the,  a tribe  of  the  Franks,  27. 

Chamillard,  388,  392,  406. 

Champagne,  Philip  of,  435. 

Champeaux,  William  of,  265. 

Champlain,  Samuel  de,  489,  490. 

Chandernugger,  French  colony,  485  ; re- 
stored to  the  French,  493. 

Chandos,  John,  leader  of  the  English  at 
the  battle  of  Auray,  104;  defeats  Gues- 
clin,  166;  and  the  Prince  of  Wales 
enter  Spain  with  an  army  of  27,000 
men,  167. 

Chararic,  king  of  the  Terouanne  Franks, 
32. 


590 


History  of  France . 


Charibert  of  Paris,  33. 

Charlemagne,  42  ; sole  king  of  the  Gallo- 
Franco- Germanic  Monarchy,  a.d.  771, 
43  ; summary  of  the  wtrs  of,  43;  in- 
vades Lombardy,  44 ; enters  Rome, 
A D.  774,  46;  invades  Spain,  44;  and 
his  government,  46  ; his  missi  dominici 
or  chief  agents  of  government,  47  ; Ca- 
pitularies, 48  ; great  men  of  the  reign 
of,  49 ; forms  a school  of  the  palace, 
50 ; death  of,  on  Jan.  28,  814,  51. 

Charles  of  Austria  and  Francis  I.,  com- 
mencement of  the  struggle  between ; 
elected  Emperor  of  Germany  as  Charles 
V.  at  the  Diet  of  Frankfort,  1519, 
248. 

YI.  of  Austria,  390. 

— of  Blois,  143,  144. 

the  Bad.  See  Navarre. 

the  Bald,  son  of  Louis  the  De- 

bonnair,  bom,  56. 

— — of  Burgundy.  See  Burgundy. 

— ——  • — the  Dauphin  re  enters  Paris, 

153. 

•  Edward,  Prince,  expelled  from 

France,  479. 

the  Fat,  53,  58,  62. 

— — — ■ — , son  of  Pepin  the  Short,  42. 

•  the  Rash.  See  Burgundy. 

—  — the  Simple,  a.d.  898,  54. 

•  I.  of  England  and  Henrietta  of 

France,  353. 

II.  of  England  and  Louis  XIY., 

secret  alliance  between,  378. 

—  -r-  II.  of  Spain  and  the  claimants 

to  his  kingdom,  387. 

III.  of  Spain  and  Louis  XV., 

treaty  between,  1761,  503. 

•  IV.,  called  the  Handsome,  152. 

•  — V.  of  France,  162;  the  Fifth’s 

brothers  and  sister3,  163  ; government 
of,  163,  169,  commands  Edward  the 
Black  Prince  to  come  to  Paris ; the 
Prince’s  answer,  167 ; death  of,  1380, 
170  ; character  of,  170,  171. 

V.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  and 

Francis  1 , 248 ; and  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war  with  France,  249  ; and 
Charles  II  of  Bourbon,  250;  and  his 
prisoner  Fiancis  I.,  256;  demands  the 
Duchy  of  Burgundy  of  Francis  I., 
258 ; and  the  Holy  League,  259 ; and 
the  treaty  of.  Cambrai,  260  ; enters 
Provence  with  50,000  men  in  1536, 
261 ; and  Francis  I.,  treaty  and  meet- 
ing between,  1538,  261 ; and  Henry 
VIII.  of  England,  treaty  between,  1543, 
262 ; and  Francis  I.,  renewal  of  war 
qetween,  1542 — 1544,  262  ; invades 
France,  and  forces  terms  on  Francis  I., 
263 ; and  the  Protestant  Princes  of 
Germany,  273 ; at  the  siege  of  Mezt, 


279 ; captures  Therouanne,  280 ; ab- 
dication of,  280 ; and  the  capture  of 
Saint  Quentin,  281. 

Charles  VI.  and  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
171 ; minority,  171 ; of  France  invades 
Flanders,  172 ; enters  Paris,  172 ; and 
the  Princess  Isabel  of  Bavaria,  173; 
character  of,  184 ; mental  derangement 
of,  174 ; mad  freaks  of,  174  ; and  the 
civil  war  between  the  Armagnacs  and 
Burgundians,  177 ; and  Odette,  174; 
by  the  treaty  of  Troyes,  leaves  the 
crown  of  France  to  Henry  V.  of  England, 
182 ; death  of,  184. 

VII,,  184;  youth  of,  185;  first 

hears  of  Joan  of  Arc,  186 ; and  Joan  of 
Arc,  187 ; coronation  of,  at  Bheims, 
188  ; remorse  for  the  death  of  Joan  of 
Arc,  190  ; convokes  the  States- General 
at  Tours  to  ratify  the  peace  with  Bur- 
gundy, 193 ; and  the  Constable  De 
Richemont,  196 ; re-enters  Paris  Nov. 
12th,  1437,  192 ; besieges  Montereau  in 
person,  and  is  one  of  the  first  assailants 
to  penetrate  into  the  place,  192  ; expe- 
dition against  Aquitaine,  194  ; renews 
the  war  with  England,  1419,  194,  195; 
renders  tardy  homage  to  the  memory 
and  fame  of  J oan  of  Arc,  196 ; and 
Jacques  Cceur,  196;  character  of,  197; 
and  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  199 ; 
troubles  with  his  son,  199 ; death  of  200. 

Emperor,  397  ; death  of,  469. 

VIII.,  217 ; and  the  States- 

General  of  1484,  218 ; and  Duke  Louis 
of  Orleans,  219 ; marriage  of,  with 
Anne  of  Brittany,  210;  prepaies  to  win 
bank  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  221 ; 
enters  Italy,  222  ; and  Pope  Alexander 
VI-,  223  ; enters  Rome  1495,  and 
Naples,  223 ; league  of  the  Italian 
Princes  against,  224 ; starts  to  return 
to  France  ; wins  the  battlb  of  Foruovo 
and  returns  to  Frauce,  224 ; govern- 
ment of,  death  of,  225,  Commynes’ 
character  of,  226. 

IX.  and  the  religious  wars,  1560 

— 1574,  accession  of,  291;  and  the  St. 
Bartholomew,  301 ; and  the  battle  of 
Dreux,  294  ; and  the  Huguenots, 
296;  and  the  marriage  of  Mai’guerite 
de  Valois  and  the  Prince  of  Navarre, 
299 ; and  Coligny,  299 ; the  Guises 
and  Coligny,  300 ; and  the  murder  of 
Coligny,  301 ; and  Michel  de  l’Hospital, 
292 ; excuses  for  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  301 ; and  the  fourth 
religious  war,  304 ; and  the  peace 
of  La  Rochelle,  305 ; death  of,  1574, 
305. 

Charolais,  Count  Charles  of,  202;  and 
Louis  XI.,  203. 


Index.  591 


Chartier’s  Alan,  Quadrihge  invectif,  309 
poet,  183. 

Chastel,  John,  attempts  to  murder  Henry 
IV.,  328. 

Chateauroux,  the  Duchess  of,  and  Louis 
XV.,  474. 

Chatelet,  Madame  du,  and  Voltaire, 
517. 

Chatham,  Lord,  (see  also  Pitt),  500, 

503. 

Chatillon,  Madame  de,  242. 

Chaucians,  the,  a tribe  of  the  Franks, 
27. 

Chauvelin,  467. 

Chavigny,  366. 

Cherbourg  taken  by  Edward  III.,  146. 

Cheruscans,  the,  a tribe  of  the  Franks, 
27. 

Chevert,  471. 

Chevreuse,  the  Duke  of,  416. 

Childebert  of  Paris,  33. 

Ill , 36. 

Childeric,  King  of  the  Franks  5 33, 

36. 

Chilperic  of  Soissons,  33. 

Chiverny,  Chancellor  de,  326. 

Choiseul,  the  Duke  of,  Ministry  of,  500  ; 
attempt  to  invade  England  defeated, 
501 ; and  the  Family  Pact,  503 ; dis- 
missed by  Louis  XV.,  507 ; his  attempts 
to  obtain  colonies  for  France,  501 ; and 
the  Polish  insurrection,  511 ; and  the 
approaching  rupture  between  England 
and  the  American  colonies,  5 10. 

Christian  zeal  superior  to  pagan  persecu- 
tion, 25. 

Christianity,  establishment  of,  in  Gaul, 
25  ; rise  of,  24 ; peculiar  and  glorious 
characteristic  of,  25  ; influence  of,  on 
the  order  of  knighthood,  and,  through 
it,  on  civilization  in  general,  66. 

Christians,  persecution  of,  by  Marcus 
Aurelius,  a.d.  177,  25 ; the,  expected 
the  end  of  the  world  a.d  1000,  66 ; 
and  the  Holy  Land,  74;  persecuted, 
77. 

Church  and  State  in  the  time  of  Louis 
XIII.  and  Richelieu,  350. 

Cimbrians,  or  Kymrians.  the,  and  the 
Teutons  driven  from  their  homes  on 
the  shores  of  the  Baltic  by  an  earth- 
quake and  inundations,  spread  south- 
wards over  Europe  and  threaten  Gaul 
and  Italy,  113,  b.c.,  9 ; invade  Gaul  by 
. way  of  Belgica,  110  b.c.,  9. 

Cinq- Mars,  M.  de,  favourite  of  Louis 
XIII.,  343 ; imprisonment  of,  344 ; 
condemned  to  death  and  threatened 
with  torture,  344. 

Cisalpine  Gaul,  7. 

Citeaux,  twelve  abbots  and  twenty  monks 
of  Citeaux  disperse  themselves  in  all 


directions,  preaching  the  crusade  against 
the  Albigensians,  105. 

Civilization,  progress  of,  in  the  time  of 
Louis  XI.,  215. 

Civita  Vecchia  provisionally  given  up  to 
Charles  VIII.,  223. 

Claude,  the  Princess,  of  Franco,  daughter 
of  Louis  XII.,  and  Charles  of  Austria, 
228. 

Claudius,  policy  of,  in  Gaul,  18. 

Clement,  James,  stabs  King  Henry  III., 
315. 

V.,  Pope,  and  Philip  IV.,  130 ; 

abolishes  the  order  of  the  Templars, 
130;  death  of,  131. 

=—  VII.,  Pope,  260. 

VIII.,  Pope,  322;  and  Henry 

IV.,  543;  absolves  Henry  IV.,  328; 
annuls  the  marriage  of  Henry  IV.  with 
Marguerite  of  Valois,  333. 

Clermont,  grand  Council  at,  in  1095, 
under  Pope  Urban  II.,  74. 

, Count,  beaten  at  Crevelt, 

500. 

Clisson,  Oliver  de,  attempted  assassi- 
nation of,  173. 

Clive  “ a heaven-born  general,”  483  ; his 
early  successes  against  the  French  and 
their  Indian  allies,  returns  to  India 
and  conquers  Bengal,  484. 

Clodomir  of  Orleans,  33. 

Cluster- Severn,  the  convention  of,  1757» 
498. 

Clotaire  I.  of  Soissons,  33. 

II.  of  Soissons  murders  his  nephew, 

33. 

Clovis,  King  of  the  Salian  Franks,  29  ; 
and  Glotilde,  marriage  of,  29 ; at  the 
battle  of  Tolbiac,  30 ; baptism  of,  30 ; 
makes  Paris  the  centre  of  his  dominions, 
32  ; death  of,  in  a.d.  511,  32. 

Clovis  III.,  37. 

Code  Micliau,  349. 

Coettier,  James,  214. 

Cceur  de  Lion,  Richard,  in  the  Holy  Land, 
85,  86,  87. 

, Jacques,  a great  merchant  and 

statesman,  196,  197. 

Cognac,  Francis  I at,  in  1527,  257. 

Coigny,  Marshal,  467. 

Colbert,  M.,  376 ; and  Louis  XIV.  399 ; 
able  administration  of,  400,  402  ; 

literary  taste  and  work  of,  43 1. 

Coligny,  Admiral  de,  and  the  Refor- 
mation, 294,  296 ; influence  with 

Charles  IX.,  299;  attempted  murder  of, 
300,  301,  431;  and  the  early  French 
Settlements  in  America,  488. 

College  Royal,  the,  268. 

Colonna,  Sciarra,  and  Pope  Boniface 
VIII.,  129. 

Colonna,  Prosper,  249. 


592 


History  of  France. 


Common  weal , war  of  the,  against  Louis 
XI.,  202. 

Communes,  the,  and  the  Third  Estate, 
134 ; rise  of  the,  135  ; Roman  traditions 
and  Christian  sentiments  had  their 
share  in  the  formation  of  the,  135, 
136. 

Commynes,  Philip  de,  quoted,  202,  205, 
206,  211,  216  ; and  Louis  XL,  213, 
216 ; character  and  works  of,  267. 

Compagnie  des  Indes,  Law’s,  451. 

Concini,  Concino,  337  ; see  Marshal 
d’Ancre. 

Concordat,  the,  between  Pope  Leo  X and 
Francis  I.,  247. 

Conde,  Prince  Louis  de,  283,  289,  290  ; 
295,  297 ; and  the  Reformation,  and 
the  Guises,  287 ; trial  of,  sentenced  to 
death,  set  at  liberty,  291  ; taken 
prisoner  at  Dreux,  294 ; death  of,  at 
Jarnac,  298. 

, the  Duke  of  Enghien,  Prince  of, 

at  the,  367  ; and  the  Frondeurs,  369- 
371 ; arrested,  370 ; taken  back  to 
favour  by  Louis  XIV.,  and  restored  to 
all  his  honours,  374 ; placed  by  Louis 
XIV.  in  command  of  the  army  to  be 
employed  in  the  reduction  of  the 
Netherlands,  commands  the  French 
army  in  Holland,  378,  379;  gains  the 
bloody  battle  of  Seneffe  over  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  1674,  380 ; and  Bossuet, 
421 ; and  Moliere,  432,  433. 

Conflans,  Lord  de,  assassinated,  154. 

, the  Marquis  of,  defeated  by 

Admiral  Hawke,  501. 

, treaty  of,  between  Louis  XI. 

and  the  Count  of  Charolais,  203. 

Conquest  of  England  by  the  Normans,  70- 
73. 

III.,  Emperor  of  Germany, 

arrives  at  the  Holy  City  almost  alone, 
82. 

Constantine,  the  Emperor,  26. 

Constantinople,  in  danger  from  the  Cru- 
saders, 81  ; perils  of  the  Latin  empire 
of,  in  the  13th  century,  88. 

Contades,  the  Marquis  of,  500. 

Conti,  the  Prince 'of,  369,  370. 

Cook,  Captain,  and  the  generous  attitude 
of  the  French  towards  his  mission, 
554. 

Coote,  Colonel,  captures  Bussy,  486;  cap- 
tures Pondicherry,  487. 

Corneille,  Peter,  364 ; and  Richelieu, 
365  ; his  Cid,  365,  366 ; works  of,  428, 
429. 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  forced  to  capitulate  to 
Washington,  394. 

Corsica,  and  Pascal  Paoli,  510. 

Cosse,  Marshal  de,  301,  327. 

Council  of  Clermont,  74. 


Courtrai,  battle  of,  in  which  the  French 
are  defeated  by  the  Flemings,  124. 

Coustou,  533. 

Coy se vox,  435. 

Craon,  Peter  de,  173. 

Crecy,  arrival  of  the  English  under  Edward 
III.,  146 ; commencement  of  the  battle 
of,  147. 

Crequi,  Marshal  de,  subdues  Lorraine, 
382. 

Crespy,  the  peace  of,  263. 

Crevelt,  battle  of,  500. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  and  Mazarin,  treaty 
between,  and  English  aid  to  France, 
373. 

Crusade,  the,  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  74 — 
77  ; the  four  leaders  of  the  first  great, 
77  ; of  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  Philip 
Augustus  of  France,  and  Fredric  Bar- 
barossa  of  Germany,  85 ; end  of  the 
third  great,  87 ; the  sixth,  the  personal 
achievement  of  St.  Louis,  88 ; of  St. 
Louis,  end  of,  95. 

Crusaders,  ravages  of  the  early,  77 ; and 
Saladin,  80,  85. 

Crusades,  the,  their  origin  and  their 
success,  75;  mostly  from  France,  Eng- 
land, and  Italy,  80. 

Culloden,  battle  of,  477. 

D. 

Dagobert  I.,  35. 

III.,  37. 

D’Aguesseau,  character  of;  appointed 
chancellor,  449. 

D’Aiguillon,  the  Duke  of,  507. 

D’Albret,  the  Constable,  killed  at  Agin- 
court,  179. 

D’Alembert,  522. 

Damiens  attemps  to  assassinate  Louis 
XV.,  496. 

Damietta  captured  by  St.  Louis,  90. 

Dampierre,  Guy  de.  Count  of  Flanders, 
his  challenge  to  Philip  IV.,  123  ; death 
of,  in  the  prison  of  Compiegne,  124. 

Dampmartin,  Count  de,  213. 

Damville,  Marshal  de,  301. 

D’Andelot,  297. 

Danes,  (Danesius),  268. 

Dantzick,  siege  of,  465,  466. 

D’Argenson,  M.,  quoted,  464. 

D’Asfeldt,  Count,  and  the  campaign  of 
1734,  466. 

D’ Aubigne,  Theodore  Agrippa,  290 ; cha- 
racter of,  332,  333. 

Daun,  General,  defeats  the  Prussians  at 
Hochkirch,  500. 

Dauphin,  the,  and  Edward  III , and  the 
English,  158. 

, the,  son  of  Charles  VI.,  assumes 

the  title  of  Regent,  175;  treaty  between, 
and  John,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  177. 


Index . 593 


Dauphin,  the,  son  of  Louis  XV.,  character 
and  death  of,  509. 

Dauphiny,  the  parliament  of,  558. 

Deconing,  Peter,  leader  of  the  revolt  of 
the  Flemings,  124. 

De  Cosse,  Marshal  de,  301,  327. 

Decius,  the  Roman  Emperor,  20. 

D’ Emery,  368. 

Deffand,  Madame  du,  526. 

De  Luynes,  Constable,  339,  340. 

Denain,  captured  by  Villars  and  the 
French,  396  ; effects  of  the  battle  of, 
397. 

Denis,  Saint,  3^5. 

D’Epernon,  317. 

De  Richemont,  the  Constable,  his  cha- 
racter and  part  in  the  successes  of 
France  at  the  close  of  the  100  years’ 
war,  195,  196. 

Descartes,  Rene,  life,  character,  and  works 
of,  361. 

Desmarets,  401. 

Despreaux,  M.  See  Boileau. 

De  Thou,  307. 

Dettingen,  the  battle  of,  473. 

Diderot,  521,  523. 

Didier,  King  of  Lombardy,  44. 

Diocletian,  25. 

Dives,  the  town  of,  Duke  William  of  Nor- 
mandy s rendezvous  for  his  troops  and 
ships,  meant  for  the  invasion  of  Eng- 
land, 69. 

Divitiacus,  10. 

Domremy,  native  place  of  Joan  of  Arc,  186. 

Dormans,  William  de,  minister  of  Charles 
V , 163. 

D’Orte,  Yiscount,  303. 

Dorvleum,  the  Saracens  defeated  at,  by 
the  Crusaders,  77. 

Douai,  captured  by  Yillars  and  the  French, 
397. 

Dreux,  results  of  the  battle  of,  294. 

Dreux-Breze,  the  Marquis  of,  564. 

Druids,  persecution  of,  by  Claudius,  18. 

Druidism,  the  national  religion  of  the 
Gauls,  23,  24. 

Dubarry,  Madame,  and  Louis  XV.,  507  ; 
and  the  fall  of  the  French  Parliament, 
508 ; growing  contempt  of  her  by  the 
people,  509. 

Dubois,  Abbe,  character  of,  454;  and 
Lord  Stanhope,  455  ; how  he  became 
Archbishop  of  Cambrai,  458;  elected 
Cardinal,  460  ; becomes  premier  Minis- 
ter of  the  Orleans  regency;  death  and 
character,  460 ; and  the  Protestants, 
463. 

Dubourg,  A.  De,  martyrdom  of,  286. 

Duchatel,  Tanneguy,  leader  of  the  Arma- 
gnacs,  180. 

Duel  os,  quoted,  217. 

Duels,  severe  ordinance  against,  341* 


Dunkerque,  destruction  of,  demanded  by 
Pitt,  and  by  Lord  Bute,  504. 

Dunois  and  the  Maid  of  Orleans,  188. 

Dupleix,  Joseph,  479-85. 

Duplessis  Gueuegaud  and  Louis  XIV., 
375. 

Du  Plessis-Momay,  332. 

Duprat,  Anthony,  and  Francis  I.,  246 ; and 
the  Concordat,  247,  248 ; death  of, 
260. 

Duquesne  and  Admiral  Ruyter,  381  ; 
bombards  Algiers  and  Genoa,  383. 

Duras,  Marshal,  385. 

Dutch,  the,  declare  war  against  England, 

546. 

E. 

Ecluse,  defeat  of  the  French  fleet  at,  by 
Edward  III.  of  England,  142. 

Ecouen,  the  edict  of,  287. 

Edict  Chamber,  the,  329. 

of  Nantes,  the  (see  also  Nantes), 

issued  by  Henry  IY.,  329;  revoked  by 
Louis  XIY.,  1685,  384,  409. 

of  Grace,  the,  signed  at  Alais,  354. 

of  Union,  the,  368. 

of  1724,  the,  against  the  Protes- 
tants, 463. 

Edward  the  Black  Prince,  death  and 
character  of,  168. 

I.  of  England  receives  Agenois  of 

Philip  III.  of  France,  122 ; swears 
fealty  at  Paris  to  Philip  IV.  of  France, 
124. 

III.  of  England,  142 ; and  Robert 

of  Artois,  143;  declares  war  with  Philip 
YI.  of  France  on  August  21st,  1337, 
143  ; commences  war  with  Fiance, 
142 ; and  the  English  before  the 
battle  of  Cr£cy,  146;  and  the  Burghers 
of  Calais,  147 ; and  John  II.  of  France, 
151 ; and  his  prisoner,  King  John  of 
France,  153 ; again  invades  France, 
146;  declares  war  with  Charles  V.,  167; 
death  of,  168. 

IY.  of  England’s  claims  on 

France,  207. 

Eginhard,  quoted,  43  46. 

, biographer  of  Charlemagne,  46. 

Ehresburg,  castle  of,  43. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,  and  the 
treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  281 ; and 
the  French  Protestants,  304;  death  and 
character  of,  330. 

, Madame,  and  Marie  Antoinette, 

552 

Emporiae  (Ampurias,  in  Catalonia),  found- 
ing of,  2. 

Encyclopaedists,  the,  521,  522. 

Enghien,  Francis  of  Bourbon,  Count  d', 


594 


History  of  France. 


Enghien,  the  Duke  of,  and  the  relief  of 
Rocroi,  367. 

England,  conquest  of,  by  William  the 
Bastard,  1066,  66-72;  its  influence  on 
France,  123. 

and  the  Normans,  66 ; invaded 

by  the  Normans,  70  ; and  France,  ori- 
gin of  the  rivalry  between,  123  ; and 
Flanders  in  the  13th  century,  123  ; and 
France,  origin  of  the  Hundred  Years’ 
War  between,  142;  and  continental 
affairs,  150$,  230 ; and  France,  out- 
break of  war  between,  in  1512,  234; 
and  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
304 ; and  the  revolt  of  La  Rochelle, 
353 ; and  Holland,  alliance  between,  at 
the  marriage  of  William  of  Orange  and 
the  Princess  Mary,  1677,  381 ; and 
France  declare  war  with  Spain,  1719, 
458  ; and  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
1748,  479 ; rise  of  her  power  in  America, 
and  decline  of  that  of  France,  491 ; and 
France,  war  between,  in  1756,  495 ; 
French  attempt  to  invade,  in  1759,  de- 
feated by  Admiral  Hawke,  501 ; de- 
clares war  writh  Spain,  1762,  504;  and 
the  partition  of  Poland,  1772,  503  ; and 
the  American  War  of  Independence, 
540  et  seq. ; and  France,  commencement 
of  war  between,  1778,  543  ; threatened 
invasion  of,  by  France  and  Spain,  544; 
at  wrar  with  France,  Spain,  and  Ame- 
rica, declares  war  against  Holland,  546. 

English,  the,  and  Marcel,  157  ; defeated 
by  Joan  of  Arc,  raise  the  siege  of 
Orleans,  188 ; evacuate  Paris,  192 ; and 
France  under  Louis  XI.,  206;  invade 
France  under  Henry  VIII.,  and  take 
Boulogne,  263 ; and  Philip  II.  of  Spain 
invade  France  expedition ; against  La 
Rochelle  defeated,  353 ; and  the  battle 
of  Fohtenoy,  475. 

Epernon,  the  Duke  of,  317,  335. 

Epinay,  Madame  d’,  and  Rousseau, 
528. 

Erasmus,  quoted,  272 ; denounces  Noel 
Beda,  272 

Erigena,  John  Scot,  265. 

Escurial,  the,  330. 

Espremesnil,  M.  d’,  556,  557. 

Estates- General,  assembled  at  Paris,  129. 
See  States- General. 

, the  three,  of  1468,  204. 

Estaing,  Count  d’,  commands  the  French 
fleet  sent  to  aid  the  Americans,  543, 
544. 

Estelle,  Sheriff,  and  the  Plague  in  Mar- 
seilles, 459. 

Estienne,  Robert  (Stephanus),  268. 

Estrees,  Gabrielle  d’,  333. 

, Marshal  d’,  commander  of  the 

French  army  at  the  commencement  of 


the  Seven  Years’  War,  repulses  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  497. 

Etablissements  de  St.  Louis,  the, 
116. 

Etruria,  Tuscany,  ravaged  by  the  Gauls, 
587—581  b.c.,  6. 

Eudes,  Duke  of  Aquitania,  37. 

, Count  of  Paris,  defends  Paris 

against  the  Northmen,  53. 

Eugene,  Prince,  of  Savoy- Carignano,  38S; 
and  Marlborough,  388 ; and  Villeroi, 
389;  and  the  battle  of  Malplaquet,  393; 
and  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  397  ; and  the 
campaign  of  1734,  466. 

Europe,  trade  of,  in  the  13th  century, 
principally  carried  on  by  Flanders,  123; 
coalition  of,  against  France  under  Louis 
XIV.,  389. 

Euthymenes,  the  explorer,  2. 


F. 

Fagon,  437. 

Family  Pact,  the,  between  France  and 
Spain,  1761,  503. 

Farce  of  Patelin,  the,  267. 

Farel,  William,  270. 

Farnese,  Alexander.  See  Parma. 

Fenelon,  Bossuet,  and  Madame  Guyon, 
416 ; his  work'  on  the  Inner  Life,  417 ; 
birth  of,  1651,  and  early  life  of,  423  ; 
made  preceptor  of  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy, his  Teldmaque,  423  ; death  and 
character  of,  424 ; Pascal,  and  Bossuet, 
424. 

Ferdinand,  the  Catholic,  of  Spain  and 
Louis  XII.,  240. 

II.  of  Naples  and  Charles  VIII , 

223  ; energy  of,  225. 

Feria,  Duke  of,  leaves  Paris  with  the 
Spanish  troops,  327. 

Feudal  France  and  Hugh  Capet,  62. 

System,  the  essential  elements  of 

the,  59 ; consideied  by  the  mass  of 
the  population  a foe  to  be  fought,  and 
fought  down  at  any  cost,  59,  60. 

Society  and  Louis  XL,  202. 

Feudalism  in  France,  65. 

Fiefs,  the  owmers  of,  and  their  mutual 
relations  considered,  60. 

FielcL  of  the  Cloth  of.  Gold,  248. 

Flanders,  commercial  relations  of,  with 
England,  123;  submits  to  Philip  IV., 
125;  under  Count  Louis  de  Nevers,  142; 
and  the  threatening  100  years’  war 
between  France  and  England,  142;  and 
Charles  IX.  of  France,  299;  and  Louis 
XIII.,  358. 

, Joan  of,  her  intrepid  defence  of 

Hennebon  Castle,  144. 

, Louis,  Count  of,  and  Charles  VI., 

171, 172. 


Index . 


595 


Fleet,  the  French,  and  Colbert,  402;  under 
Louis  XV.,  495. 

Fleix,  the  Peace  of,  in  1580,  309. 

Fleurus,  battle  of,  1690,  385 

Fleury’s,  Cardinal,  ministry,  1723 — 1748, 
464  ; commencement  of  his  fostering 
administration,  464,  465;  concludes  the 
peace  of  Vienna,  1735,  467  ; and  Ghau- 
velin,  467 ; and  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 
468 ; and  Count  Belle-Isle,  469 ; death 
and  character  of,  472, 

Fleury,  M.  Joly  de.  529. 

Florence,  the  Republic  of,  and  Charles 

VIII.,  222. 

Floridas,  the,  confirmed  to  Spain,  493. 

Foix,  Gaston  de,  Duke  of  Nemours,  takes 
command  of  the  French  army  in  Italy, 

1512,  233  ; death  of,  at  the  victory  of 
Ravenna,  236. 

Fontaine,  La  (see  also  La  Fontaine ) , 431. 

Fontaine  Fran^aise,  encounter  at,  328. 

Fontainebleau,  Peace  of,  1762,  504. 

Fontenelle,  character  and  works  of,  514. 

Fontenoy,  the  battle  of,  475. 

Fontrailles,  Viscount  de,  344. 

Formigny,  the  battle  of,  1450,  193. 

Fornovo,  the  battle  of,  1495,  in  which 
Charles  VIII.  of  France  defeats  the 
army  of  the  Italian  league,  224. 

Fouquet,  Superintendent,  and  Louis  XIV., 
376. 

and  Moliere,  432. 

Fourquet,  Joan,  206. 

France,  kingdom  and  history  of,  really 
commenced  with  Clovis,  a.d.  481,  29; 
and  England,  origin  of  the  “rivalry” 
between,  108  ; the  kingship  in,  65,  96 ; 
extent  of  the  kingdom  of,  under  Philip 
II.,  97 ; and  England,  origin  of  the 
Hundred  Years’  War  between,  141 ; 
sends  an  army  to  aid  Sigismund  against 
the  Turks,  which  is  destroyed,  175 ; 
condition  of,  in  1440, 185  ; and  England, 
end  of  the  Hundred  Years’  War  be- 
tween, 195;  under  Charles  VII.,  197; 
and  Austria,  commencement  of  the 
rivalry  between,  223  ; invaded,  251  ; 
and  England,  renewal  of  the  war  be- 
tween, 1512,  234 ; the  situation  of,  in 

1513,  235;  and  the  Benaissance,  264; 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  265 ; and  the  nas- 
cent Reformation,  270;  and  the  Treaty 
of  Cateau-Cambresis,  281 ; state  of,  at 
the  commencement  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.,  307  ; condition  of,  after 
Henry  IV. ’s  abjuration,  327  ; and  Eng- 
land, treaty  between,  in  1697,  386 ; and 
sufferings  of,  during  the  reign  of  Louis 
XIV.,  407  ; and  England  declare  war 
with  Spain,  1719,  458 ; and  the  treaty 
of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  1748,  479  ; inability 
of,  to  turn  her  discoveries  in  foreign 


lands  to  her  own  profit,  491 : leaves 
Canada  to  her  fate,  493  ; position  of.  at 
the  end  of  the  Seven  Years’  War,  510 ; 
and  the  partition  of  Poland,  1772,  510  ; 
the  effects  of  Voltaire’s  writings  on, 
521 ; and  the  American  War  of  Inde- 
pendence, 540;  and  England  and  the 
American  War  of  Independence,  541 ; 
recognizes  the  Independence  of  the 
United  States,  1778,  and  declares  war 
with  England,  543  ; and  the  peace  be- 
tween England  and  America,  1783,  549; 
on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution,  556-560. 

Francis  de  Valois,  Count  of  Angouleme, 
afterwards  Francis  I.,  240. 

Francis  I.,  241  ; and  Charles  V.,  218;  the 
era  of  modern  France  commences  with 
his  government  and  times,  241  ; made 
king,  240 ; prepares  to  invade  Italy, 
243  ; and  his  army  cross  the  Alps,  and 
the  battle  of  Melegnano,  244  ; regains 
possession  of  Milaness,  250  ; Pope  Leo 
X.,  the  Pragmatic  Sanction,  246,  247  ; 
and  the  Concordat,  and  the  Parliament 
of  Paris’  refusal  to  acknowledge  the 
Concordat,  248  ; and  the  vacant  throne 
of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  248  ; and 
Charles  of  Austria,  commencement  of 
the  struggle  between,  249 ; meets  Henry 
VIII.  of  England  at  The  Field  of  the 
Cloth  of  Gold,  248  ; commences  war 
with  Charles  V.,  249 ; and  Charles  II. 
of  Bourbon,  250 ; and  the  conspiracy 
of  Charles  II.  of  Bourbon,  250;  entrusts 
the  conduct  of  the  war  in  Italy  to 
Admiral  Bonnivet,  251 ; loses  Milaness 
for  the  third  time,  252 ; advances  to 
the  relief  of  Marseilles,  253 ; enters 
Italy,  1524,  255;  bravery  and  capture 
at  the  battle  of  Pavia,  255 ; his  letters 
to  his  mother  and  to  Charles  V.  after 
his  defeat  and  capture  at  Pavia,  256  ; 
carried  prisoner  to  Spain  257  ; refuses 
to  accede  to  the  terms  of  Charles  V.  of 
Germany,  258 ; set  at  liberty,  enters 
into  the  Holy  League,  259 ; and  Henry 
VIII.  of  England  renew  their  alliance, 
260  ; challenges  Charles  V.  to  mortal 
combat,  260 ; makes  peace  with  Charles 
V.  at  Cambria,  260 ; and  Duprat,  260 ; 
and  Henry  VIII , meeting  and  treaty 
between,  1532,  260 ; and  Soliman  II., 
treaty  between,  262  ; and  Charles  V., 
war  renewed  between,  from  1542  to 
1544,  262 ; forced  to  terms  by  Charles 
V.  of  Germany,  263;  and  the  Renais- 
sance, 264  ; and  the  College  Royal,  or 
College  de  France , 268 ; Robert  Es- 
tienne,  and  Marot,  268 ; as  a poet, 
269 ; and  the  Reformation,  270 ; and 
the  Reformers,  272  ; and  the  Protes- 
tants of  Germany,  273;  and  the  mas- 


596 


History  of  France, 


sacre  of  the  Vaudians,  273,  274 ; and 
Calvin,  275  ; death  of,  1547,  276  ; and 
the  salt-tax  at  Rochelle,  277. 

Francis  I.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  476. 

II.  and  Mary  Stuart,  marriage 

of,  280  ; ascends  the  throne,  285  ; and 
the  Reformers,  286, 287;  and  the  Guises, 
286;  and  the  King  of  Navarre,  288; 
death  of,  290 ; death  of,  and  the  Guises, 
291. 

Franks,  the,  first  mention  of  in  history,  27. 

“ Freemen,”  or  Franks,  27. 

Fredegonde.  Queen,  death  of,  35. 

Frederick  Barbarossa  (Redbeard),  joins 
in  a new  crusade,  85  ; drowned  in  the 
Selef  on  his  way  to  the  Holy  Land,  85. 

— II.,  emperor  of  Germany,  his 

struggle  with  Popes  Gregory  IX.  and 
Innocent  IV.,  88. 

■  III.  of  Naples,  225. 

■  the  Great,  469  ; commences  the 

Silesian  campaign,  1740,  469 ; signs  a 
new  treaty  with  France,  1744,  470 ; 
and  the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  475  ; and 
Louis  XV.,  476  ; and  the  treaty  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle,  479 ; England,  and  the 
Franco  - Austrian  Alliance,  496  ; vic- 
torious at  Prague,  and  defeated  at  Kolin, 
497  ; reverses  of,  498 ; gains  the  battle 
of  Rosbach,  499  ; defeats  the  Austrians 
at  Lissa,  499;  gains  the  battle  of  Zorn- 
dorf,  and  loses  that  of  Hochkirch,  500  ; 
reverses  of,  in  1760,  502  ; finds  an  ally 
in  Peter  III.  of  Russia,  504;  and  the 
end  of  the  Seven  Years * War,  505  ; and 
the  partition  of  Poland,  510 ; invites 
Voltaire  to  Berlin,  518. 

Frejus,  the  Bishop  of,  created  Cardinal 
Fleury.  S eeVleury. 

French,  the,  rise  out  of  and  above  the 
feudal  system,  59;  and  English,  com- 
mencement of  hostilities  between,  in 
1292, 122 ; rejoicing  of  the,  at  the  peace 
of  Tours,  193. 

Communes,  the,  134-136. 

civilization,  The  Third  Estate,  the 

most  active  and  determining  element 
in  the  process  of  French  civilization, 
138. 

•  nationality  accomplished,  139. 

— language,  the,  and  the  Renais- 
sance, 266. 

■  Academy,  early  days  of  the,  363  ; 

its  rules  of  Election,  364;  and  Montes- 
quieu, 513 ; elects  Buffon,  525. 

Reformers,  the,  and  Louis  XLV., 

410. 

•  Court,  demoralization  of,  under 

Louis  XV.,  461. 

— enterprise  in  America,  488. 

pioneers,  the  earliest  in  North 

America,  488-490. 


French  Guiana,  510. 

Freundsberg,  George  of,  259. 

Prisons,  the,  43. 

Froissart,  quoted,  147,  148,  154,  167; 
character  and  works  of,  267. 

Fronde,  the,  369 ; of  the  Princes  of  France 
anil  of  the  people,  371  ; the  army  of, 
fighting  between,  and  the  Royal  troops, 
372  ; defeat  of,  373. 

Frondeurs,  the,  369. 

Furnes,  battle  of,  124. 

G. 

Gabel,  or  the  salt-tax,  277. 

Gaeta,  siege  of,  1504,  228. 

Galatians,  the,  5. 

Galigaf,  Leonora,  337. 

Gallia  Comata,  7,  17. 

Togata,  or  Roman  Gaul,  7,  17. 

Gallican  Confession,  the,  283. 

Gallo-Frankish  Society,  state  of,  in  the 
eighth  century,  39. 

Garonne,  the  river,  2. 

Gaston  de  Foix.  See  Fnix. 

Gaul,  1 ; conquered  by  Julius  Caesar,  12- 
16 ; under  Roman  dominion,  16 ; its 
Roman  rulers,  from  49  B.c. — a.d.  305, 
16-26 ; divided  into  three  provinces 
by  Augustus,  17 ; under  Augustus,  17 ; 
the  sixty  nations  or  peoplets  of,  recog- 
nized by  Augustus,  17  ; under  Caligula, 
Tiberius,  Claudius,  Nero,  17-19 ; the 
Germans  in,  27 ; the  Visigoths  and 
Burgundians  definitely  settle  in,  a.d. 
412,  28. 

Gauls,  the,  3;  send  representatives  to 
Rome,  6 ; emigration  of,  3 ; invade 
Germany,  4;  invade  Italy,  b.c.  587,  4; 
invade  Thrace,  Macedonia,  Thessaly, 
Greece,  4 ; defeated  by  King  Antiochus 
of  Syria,  5;  pass  into  Asia  Minor,  5; 
in  Asia  Minor  become  a people  under 
the  name  of  Galatians,  defeated  by 
Attalus,  keep  the  Phrygians  and  Greeks 
of  Asia  Minor  in  subjection,  5 ; of  Asia 
Minor  encountered  and  defeated  by  the 
Romans  in  pursuit  of  Hannibal,  B.c. 
189,  7 ; commence  their  400  years’  war 
with  Rome,  B.c.  391,  6;  defeat  the 
Romans  at  Aretium,  283  B.c.,  6 ; under 
Hannibal,  7. 

Genoa,  defence  of,  by  the  Duke  of  Boufflers, 
478 ; cedes  Corsica  to  France,  1768,  510. 

Genoese  cross-bowmen,  the,  at  Crecy,  147. 

George  I.  of  England  and  Dubois,  456. 

II.  of  England  and  the  Pragmatic 

Sanction,  470  ; and  the  war  with  France, 
1744,  472 ; death  of,  1760,  502. 

III.  of  England,  502,  543,  546,  548. 

Geoffrin,  Madame,  526. 

Gepidians,  the,  allies  of  the  Huns,  28. 


Index. 


597 


Gerbert,  secretary  of  Archbishop  Adal- 
beron,  and  afterwards  Archbishop  of 
Rheims  and  Pope,  265. 

Germanicus,  18. 

Germans,  the  Ancient,  9,  10;  in  Gaul,  10; 
first  become  a nation,  27. 

Germany,  joins  in  the  Crusades,  80. 

Gesta  Dei  per  Francos  (the  Crusades),  80 

Ghent,  alliance  at,  in  1310,  between  the 
Flemish  Communes  and  Edward  III.  of 
England,  142;  insurrection  of  the  bur- 
ghers of,  under  Philip  Van  Artevelde, 
171 ; captured  by  Louis  XIV.,  391. 

Gibraltar,  548. 

Girardon,  435. 

Gluck,  533. 

Gnostics,  the,  101. 

God's  Peace,  God's  Trtice,  64. 

“God  willeth  it!”  war-cry  of  the  early 
crusaders,  75. 

Godeau,  Bishop  of  Grasse,  363. 

Godeheu,  M.,  supersedes  Dupleix,  484. 

Godfrey  de  Bouillon  (see  Bouillon),  Duke 
of  Lorraine,  martial  and  noble  character 
of,  77;  accepts  the  office  of  King  of 
Jerusalem,  78. 

of  Paris,  quoted,  131. 

Godwin,  Earl,  67. 

Golo,  defeat  of  the  Corsicans  at,  231. 

Gondebaud,  30. 

Gondegisile,  30. 

Gondi,  Paul  de,  afterwards  Archbishop  of 
Betz,  369. 

Gontran  of  Orleans  and  Burgundy,  33. 

Gonzalvo  of  Cordova,  the  great  Captain  of 
Ferdinand  of  Spain,  228. 

Goodfellows,  the,  156. 

Gordes,  the  Count  de,  303. 

Goths,  the,  27 ; under  Alaric  II.,  beaten 
by  Clovis  near  Poitiers,  a.d.  507,  31. 

Graeco-Roman  Paganism,  24 

Grailli,  John  de,  called  the  Captal  of 
Buch,  164,  166. 

Grand  Alliance,  the,  against  France  and 
Louis  XIV.,  381,  389. 

Grand  Company,  the,  and  Bertrand  Gues- 
clin,  165. 

Grand  Monarque,  440- 

Grange,  Jotin  de  la,  minister  of  Charles 
V.,  163. 

Granson,  Charles  the  Rash  of  Burgundy 
defeated  at,  by  the  Swiss,  209 

Grasse,  Count  de,  captures  Tobago,  and 
aids  the  Americans,  546. 

Great  Britain  and  the  American  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  1776,  543. 

Mogul,  the,  483. 

Greeks,  the,  1. 

Gregory  of  Tours,  historian,  31. 

VII.,  Pope,  and  the  Crusades,  85. 

IX.,  Pope,  and  Frederick  II.  of 

Germany,  88. 


Gregory  XIV-,  Pope,  319. 

Gretry,  musician,  533. 

Greuze,  painter,  532. 

Grignan,  Madame  de,  and  Madame  de 
Sevigne,  424,  425. 

Grimaldi,  Regnier  de,  a celebrated  Italian 
admiral,  employed  by  Philip  IV.  in  his 
war  with  Flanders,  125. 

Grisons,  the,  156. 

Guastalla,  the  battle  of,  467. 

Guasto,  Marquis  de,  262. 

Guesclin,  Bertrand  du,  164 ; is  set  at 
liberty  for  a ransom,  166 ; is  made 
Constable  of  France  by  Charles  V , 
169  ; death  of,  169 

Guinegate,  oattle  of,  236. 

Guise,  286. 

, the  Cardinal  of,  death  of,  313. 

■ , Francis  de  Lorraine,  Duke  of,  279  ; 

and  the  siege  of  Metz,  279  ; recalled 
from  Italy  by  Henry  II.  to  repel  the 
Spaniards,  281 ; captures  Calais,  282  ; 
Conde,  283 ; and  the  Huguenots  of 
Vassy,  292  ; at  the  battle  of  Dreux, 
294  ; and  Charles  IX.,  298 ; assassina- 
tion of,  294. 

, Duke  Henry  de,  308 ; obtains  his 

name  of  The  Scarred , whilst  putting 
down  the  Protestant  revolt,  308 ; be- 
comes master  of  Paris,  311 ; murdered 
by  order  of  Henry  III.,  312. 

Guises,  the,  286  ; cruelties  of,  287,  289 ; 
and  the  death  of  Francis  II.,  290 ; and 
the  Catholic  party  declare  war  against 
Conde  and  the  Protestants,  292;  and 
Coligny,  300;  and  the  murder  of  Coligny, 
301 ; and  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  309. 

Guiton,  John,  burgess  of  La  Hochelle  at 
the  time  of  the  siege  by  Louis  XIII., 
353. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  and  Richelieu,  356. 

Guyenne,  the  conquest  of,  194,  195. 

Guyon,  Madame,  teachings  and  works  of, 
416,  417. 

H. 

Hadrian,  19. 

Hainault,  Isabel  of,  wife  of  Philip  Augus- 
tus, 99. 

Hanover,  the  Elector  of,  and  the  Seven 
Years’  War,  498. 

Hapsburg,  Rudolph  of,  Emperor,  121. 

Harlay,  Francis  de,  and  Innocent  XI., 
418,  423. 

Haro,  Don  Louis  de,  Ambassador  to 
France,  of  Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  373 

Harold,  son  of  Earl  Godwin,  and  after- 
wards king  of  England,  67 ; visits 
William  of  Normandy,  and  is  detained 
by  him  until  he  swears  over  the  relics 
to  aid  the  Duke  to  maintain  the  English 
crown,  68 ; anointed  King  of  England 


598  History  of  France . 


by  Aldred,  arcbbisbop  of  York,  69 ; 
inarches  to  subdue  Tostig,  70 ; death 
of,  at  Hastings’  fight,  72. 

Haroun  al-Raschid,  74. 

Hastenc  of  Hastings,  chieftain  of  the 
Northmen,  ravages  France,  52. 

Hastings,  the  battle  of,  70. 

Hautefort,  Marie  d’,  and  Louis  XIII.,  343. 

Havenought,  or,  the  moneyless,  Walter, 
his  crusade,  76. 

Hawke,  Admiral,  501. 

Heinsius,  grand  pensionary,  388,  392. 

Helvetians,  the,  burn  their  houses  and 
abandon  their  territory,  58  B.C.,  but 
are  thwarted  in  their  project  of  settling 
in  Gaul  by  Julius  Caesar,  and  defeated 
and  driven  back  by  him,  11,  12. 

Hennebon  Castle,  gallant  defence  of,  by 
Joan  of  Flauders,  144. 

Hennuyer,  John  le,  303. 

Henrietta  of  England,  378. 

of  France  and  Charles  of  Eng- 
land, 353,  356. 

Henry  I.,  grandson  of  Hugh  Capet,  64,  65. 

II.  of  England  and  Philip  II.  of 

France,  100. 

II.  of  France,  1547 — 1559,276;  and 

the  revolt  against  the  Gabel  or  salt-tax, 
277;  and  the  treaty,  prepares  for  war  with 
Charles  Y.  of  Germany,  279;  and  Mary 
of  England,  war  declared  between,  281 ; 
and  the  Spanish  invasion  of  France, 
281  ; and  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cam- 
bresis,  281 ; and  the  Reformation,  282  ; 
and  Francis  d’Andelot,  283 ; acciden- 
tally mortally  wounded  by  the  Count 
de  Montgomery,  death  of,  286 ; and 
the  Lutherans,  287. 

III.  of  Frauce  and  the  Religious 

Wars,  1574 — 1589,  307;  disappointment 
caused  by  his  first  acts  as  king,  307 ; 
and  the  League,  308  ; difficulties  of  his 
government,  309  ; and  Henry  of  Na- 
varre, 310  ; and  Duke  Henry  de  Guise, 
310  ; escapes  from  Paris  and  the  Duke 
de  Guise,  311 ; at  the  States- General  of 
Blois,  312  ; and  the  murder  of  Guise, 
312;  and  Henry  of  Navarre,  314;  stabbed 
by  a Monk,  314 ; besieges  Paris,  1589, 
death  of,  15*9,  315. 

IV.  of  England  and  the  war  with 

France,  178. 

IV.  of  France,  314;  policy  of,  316; 

Protestant  king,  1589 — 1593,  323  ; and 
the  Cardinal  de  Bourbon,  317 ; defeats 
the  Duke  of  Mayenne  at  Arques,  318  ; 
foreign  opinion  of,  318  ; at  the  battle 
of  Ivry,  319  ; besieges  Paris,  320  ; and 
the  Duke  of  Parma,  321 ; and  the  siege 
of  Rouen,  328  ; decides  to  turn  Catholic, 
323;  besieges  Dreux,  324;  turns  Catholic, 
325  ; Catholic  king,  1593 — 1610,  326  ; 


anointed  at  Chartres,  326 ; enters  Paris, 
1594,  327 ; attempted  murder  of,  by 
John  Chastel,  328  ; declares  war  with 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  328 ; gallant  con- 
duct at  the  encounter  of  Fontaine- 
Fran9aise,  328 ; makes  peace  with  Spain 
at  Vervins,  issues  the  Edict  of  Nantes, 
329;  and  the  House  of  Austria,  330; 
foreign  policy  of,  331  ; his  ministers, 
331-333  ; and  Marguerite  of  Valois, 
annulment  of  their  marriage,  333  ; and 
Biron’s  conspiracy,  334;  assassinated, 
335  ; Work  of,  completed,  374. 

Henry  V.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  declines 
battle  with  Louis  VI.,  98. 

V.  of  England,  designs  on  the 

Crown  of  France,  177 ; lands  with  his 
army  near  Harfleur  on  the  14th  August, 
1415,  178  ; and  the  battle  of  Agincourt, 

178  ; resumes  his  campaign  in  France, 

179  ; death  of,  at  Vincennes,  184. 

VI.  of  England,  185 ; crowned  at 

Paris,  1431,  191;  marries  Margaret  of 
Anjou,  193. 

VIII.  of  England  and  the  League 

of  the  Holy  Union,  1511,  234 ; sends  a 
fleet  to  aid  Ferdinand  of  Spain,  234; 
and  the  affair  of  the  Spurs,  1513,  236 ; 
makes  peace  with  Louis  XII.  236 ; and 
European  affairs  in  1519,  247  ; meets 
Francis  I.  at  The  Field  of  the  Cloth  of 
Gold,  248 ; agrees  to  aid  Charles  II.  of 
Bourbon  against  Francis  I.,  250 ; and 
the  Holy  League,  259  ; and  Charles  V. 
of  Germany,  treaty  between,  1543,  262; 
invades  France,  263 ; and  the  Refor- 
mation, 270. 

Plantagenet,  Duke  of  Normandy, 

Count  of  Anjou,  marries  Eleanor  of 
Aquitaine,  and  on  the  death  of  Stephen, 
in  1154,  he  becomes  King  of  England,  84. 

Heraclea  Cacabaria  iSaint-Gilles),  found- 
ing of,  2. 

Heretics  first  burnt  in  France,  106- 

Hermengarde,  wife  of  Louis  the  Debon- 
nair,  death  of,  55. 

Hildebrand,  the  celebrated  Monk,  after- 
wards Pope  Gregory,  85. 

Hochkirch,  the  battle  of,  500. 

Hochstett,  the  battle  of,  1704,  389. 

Holland,  liberty  and  prosperity  of,  se- 
cured by  Heinsius,  at  the  expense  of 
her  political  position  in  Europe,  392  ; 
joins  England  against  Louis  XV.,  472. 

Holy  City,  the,  73. 

League,  259. 

Sepulchre.  74. 

Honorius  III.,  Pope,  107. 

Hospital,  Chancellor  de  l*,  290,  291,  298, 
303. 

Hotel  des  Invalides  and  Louvois,  404. 

Houdon,  sculptor,  533. 


Index. 


599 


Kowe,  Lord,  revictuals  Gibraltar  during 
th'e  three  years’  siege,  548. 

Huguenots,  the,  270,  271 ; Montluc's  per- 
secution of,  294 ; and  the  Fall  of  La 
Rochelle,  353  ; and  Richelieu,  354 ; and 
Louis  XIV.,  384  ; loyalty  of,  411. 

Human  sacrifices,  23. 

Hume,  History  of  England,  quoted,  115 ; 
and  Rousseau,  325. 

Hundred  Years’  War,  the,  141 ; Charles 
V.,  and  the,  162  ; Charles  VII.,  Joan  of 
Arc,  1422 — 1461,  and  the,  186;  Joan  of 
Arc's,  the  glory  of  bringing  to  an  end 
the,  196. 

Hungarians,  the,  or  Magyars,  invade 
France,  27. 

Huns,  the,  28 ; arrival  of,  in  Gaul,  under 
their  King  Attila,  a.d.  451,  28 ; driven 
out  of  Gaul,  29. 

Huss,  John,  270. 

Hyder  Ali  and  the  struggle  against  the 
English  in  India,  484,  547. 


I. 

Ibarra,  Don  Diego  d’,  327. 

Iberians,  the,  1,  2. 

Ibn-al-Arabi,  Saracen  chief,  44. 
lie  de  France,  colony  of,  482. 

Illyria,  settlement  of  the  Gauls  in,  b.c. 
587,  4. 

India  Company,  the  French,  478. 

Companies,  the,  rivalry  between 

the  French  and  English,  479-487. 

, the  French  in,  479. 

lost  to  France,  504. 

Ingeburga,  Princess,  of  Denmark,  wife  of 
Philip  Augustus,  108 
Innocent  II.,  Pope,  and  Louis  VII.,  80. 

- III.,  Pope,  summons  France  to 
extirpate  the  Albigensians,  105 ; and 
Simon  de  Montfort,  106  ; death  of,  107  ; 
and  the  conjugal  irregularity  of  Philip 
Augustus,  108. 

. XI.,  Pope,  and  the  Augsburg 

League  against  Louis  XIV.,  384. 

—  XIII.,  Pope,  makes  Dubois  a 

Cardinal,  460. 

IrenEeus,  St.,  second  Bishop  of  Lyons,  a.d. 

177  to  202,  75 
Iron  Mask,  the,  437. 

Iroquois,  the,  491. 

Isabel,  daughter  of  Philip  IV.,  espoused 
by  Edward  II.  of  England,  174. 

of  Bavaria,  Queen,  173,  175. 

Islamism,  the  tide  of,  rolled  back  by  the 
wars  of  the  Crusades,  38 
Isle-de- France,  personal  domain  of  the 
King  of  France,  62. 

Italian  League,  the,  and  Charles  VIII., 
223. 


Italy,  the  wars  of,  and  Charles  VIII.,  222 ; 
the  wars  in,  and  Louis  XII , 226,  227. 

Ivry,  the  battle  of,  1590,  319. 

J. 

Jacobite  rising,  the  Scottish,  of  1745, 476. 

Jacquery,  the,  155. 

Jacques,  Bonhomme,  origin  of  the  term, 
155. 

Coeur.  See  Cceur. 

James  I.  of  England  and  the  marriage  of 
his  son  Prince  Charles,  353,  356. 

II.  of  England  abdicates,  and  is 

splendidly  received  by  Louis  XIV.  in 
France,  385 ; his  expedition  to  take 
Ireland,  and  the  battle  of  the  Boyne, 
385. 

Jansenism  in  France,  414;  Louis  XIV.’ s 
last  blow  at,  415  ; Jansenism  and  Mme. 
de  Maintenon,  416 ; in  Paris  in  1735, 
468. 

Jansenists,  the,  set  at  liberty,  449. 

Jansenius  and  his  teaching,  414. 

Ja/rdin  des  Plantes,  Le,  and  Richelieu,  366  ; 
and  Bufifon,  523. 

Jarnac,  the  battle  of,  1569,  298. 

Jeannin,  President,  303. 

Jerome  of  Prague,  270. 

Jerusalem,  the  cradle  of  Christianity,  73  ; 
besieged  by  the  Mussulmans,  74  ; siege 
and  capture  of,  by  the  Crusaders,  77 ; 
under  Christian  rule,  1100 — 1^86,  79  ; 
the  fall  of  the  Christian  kingdom  of, 
causes  great  consternation  throughout 
Christendom,  84. 

Jesuits,  the,  328,  490;  the  Portuguese, 
under  Louis  XV.,  505,  506;  the  Order 
of,  dissolved  by  Rome,  506 ; the  Society 
of  the,  suppressed  in  France  by  the 
Edict  of  1764,  506 ; expelled  from  Spain, 
506. 

Joan,  wife  of  Louis  XII.,  217- 

of  Pentbievre,  the  cripple,  wife  of 

Charles  of  Blois,  energy  of,  143,  144. 

Ho,chette,  206. 

of  Arc,  186-191. 

Joans,  history  of  the  war  of  the  Three, 
143-145. 

John  Lackland,  King  of  England,  and 
Philip  II.  of  France,  102  ; murders  his 
nephew  Arthur,  100. 

I.  of  France,  133. 

— — II.,  King  of  France,  called  the  Good , 
150 ; and  Charles  of  Navarre,  151 ; with 
his  army,  comes  up  with  the  Prince  of 
Wales  and  the  English  near  Poictiers  ; 
defeated  and  taken  prisoner  at  the 
battle  of  Poictiers,  152  ; his  captivity 
in  England,  158 ; his  ransom  ; set 
at  liberty  and  escorted  to  France  by 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  159;  takes  pos- 


6oo 


History  of  France. 


session  of  the  duchy  of  Burgundy,  and 
bestows  it  on  his  son  Philip,  161 ; volun- 
tarily returns  to  captivity  in  England, 
and  dies  in  London,  1364,  162. 

Joinville,  Sire  de,  “ One  of  the  most 
sprightly  and  charming  writers  of  the 
nascent  French  language,”  266,  267; 
quoted,  91,  92,  ] 14,  115,  118. 

Jornandes,  the  Gothic  historian,  28. 

Joyeuse,  Anne,  Duke  of,  328. 

Judith,  the  Empress,  55. 

Julius  II.,  Pope,  229;  and  the  Venetians, 
230  ; his  joy  at  the  death  of  Cardinal 
Amboise,  232  ; the  soldier  pope,  energy 
of,  233;  death  of,  235. 

K. 

Karikal,  483  ; restored  to  the  French,  549. 

Karle,  or  Cal  let,  William  of,  155,  156. 

Kaunitz,  Count,  495. 

Keith,  Lord,  and  Voltaire,  519. 

Keppel,  Admiral,  544. 

Kersaint,  Admiral  de,  546. 

Khevenhuller,  General,  471. 

Kingship,  the,  in  France,  decline  of,  446  ; 
decay  of,  493,  505. 

Kolin,  battle  of,  497. 

Kymrians,  the,  3. 

Kymro-Belgians,  3. 

L. 

La  Bourdonnais,  482. 

La  Bruyere,  his  account  of  Richelieu,  366 ; 
estimate  of  Richelieu,  213  ; character 
and  works  of,  427,  428. 

Ladies’  Peace,  the,  260. 

La  Fayette,  Louis  de,  and  Louis  XIII., 
343. 

, Madame  de,  and  Rochefou- 
cauld, 426. 

lands  in  America,  1777,  542 ; 

at  the  capture  of  Yorktown,  394  ; and 
Washington,  543. 

La  Fontaine,  431. 

Lagrange,  553. 

La  Hire,  186. 

Lally-Toleudal,  Count  ; saBs  with  a 
French  fleet  to  avenge  the  French  re- 
verses in  India,  486  ; accused  of  treason 
and  beheaded,  487. 

Languedoc,  ravaged  by  the  Black  Plague, 
149  ; the  estates  of,  and  the  Chancellor 
Duprat,  246. 

Canal,  the,  402. 

, persecution  of  the  Protestants 

of,  under  Louis  XIV.,  412,  413. 

Lannoy,  Viceroy  of  Naples,  252,  •257- 

La  Noue,  297  ; quoted,  294. 

La  Pey rouse,  M.  de  la,  554, 

Laplace,  M.  de,  553. 


La  Rochefoucauld,  the  Duke  of,  369;  and 
Madame  de  La  Fayette,  426. 

La  Rochelle,  and  the  English,  168;  re- 
bellion in  1542,  277;  siege  of,  in  1572, 
304,  305  ; obstinate  resistance  of  the 
citizens  of,  to  Louis  XIII.,  353  ; capitu- 
lation of,  to  Louis  XIII.,  1628,  353. 

La  Salle,  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  Ame- 
rican Pioneers,  490. 

Latin  Paganism,  24. 

La  Tremoille,  220,  224,  226,  228,  235, 
251. 

Lautrec,  Marshal  de,  249,  251 ; death  of, 
260. 

Lauzun,  M.  de,  437. 

La  Valette,  the  Duke  of,  trial  of,  347. 

La  Vallicre,  Mdlle.  de,  and  Louis  XIV., 
436. 

Lavoisier,  553. 

Law,  John,  the  Scottish  adventurer, 
birth,  character  and  schemes  of,  450 — 
452. 

Lawfeldt,  the  battle  of,  479. 

League  of  the  Holy  Union,  against  Louis 
XII.,  234. 

League,  the,  of  the  Sixteenth  Century, 
308 ; and  Henry  III.,  310 ; and  Henry 
IV.,  317. 

—  , the  Spanish,  321. 

, the  French,  321,  322,  326. 

Leaguers,  the,  and  the  murder  of  Guise, 

312 ; defeated  by  Henry  IV.  at  Arques, 
318. 

Leake,  Admiral,  captures  Sardinia,  Mi- 
norca, and  Port  Mahon,  391. 

Lebrun,  Charles,  435. 

Leclerc,  John,  first  French  martyr  of  the 
Reformation,  272. 

Leckzinskaj  Maryland  Louis  XV.,  509. 

Lecocq,  Robert,  Bishop  of  Laon,  158. 

Lefevre,  Jacques,  of  Etaples,  270. 

Lens,  the  victory  of,  367,  369. 

Leo  III.,  Pope,  224,  296. 

— X , Pope,  and  Louis  XII  of  France, 
235;  and  Francis  I.,  243;  and  the 
battle  of  Melegano,  244  ; and  the  Con- 
cordat with  Francis  I.,  245. 

Le  Poussin  and  Louis  XIV.,  435. 

Le  Quesnoy,  captured  by  Villars  and  the 
French,  397. 

Lerida,  captured  1707,  390. 

Lesdiguieres,  340. 

Lespinasse,  Mdlle.,  526. 

L’Estoile,  quoted,  305,  306. 

Lesueur,  Eustaehe,  and  Poussin,  435. 

Lettres  Persanes,  the,  512. 

Leudes’,  the,  39. 

Leyva,  Antony  de,  governor  of  Pavia,  de- 
fends it  against  Francis  I.,  270. 

L’ Hospital.  See  Hospital. 

Liege,  the  siege  of,  by  Louis  XI.  and 
Charles  the  Rash,  205. 


Index . 


6oi 


Lille  captured,  1707,  by  Eugene  and  Marl- 
borough. 391. 

Lincoln,  General,  545. 

Lionne,  De,  and  Louis  XIV.,  375. 

Lissa,  the  battle  of,  499. 

Literature,  French,  Geoffrey  de  Viilehar- 
douin’s  history  of  the  conquest  of  the 
Greek  Empire  by  the  Latin  Christians, 
one  of  the  earliest  and  finest  monuments, 
of  French  literature,  267  ; of  the  Renais- 
sance, 269;  tempo  Richelieu,  361-364; 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.,  245. 

Livre,  Le , des  Metiers  d’ Etienne  Boileau, 
117. 

Lombards,  the,  42,  44. 

London  and  William  the  Conqueror,  73. 

Londonderry,  the  105  days’  siege  of,  by 
the  French  and  the  Irish  Catholics, 
385. 

Longueville,  the  Duke  de,  369,  370. 

Longjumeau,  the  Peace  of,  297. 

Lorrain,  Claude,  434. 

Lorraine,  58,  382;  the  annexation  of, 
468. 

, Cardinal  Louis  of,  279. 

, Charles  de,  Duke  of  Mayenne. 

See  Mayenne. 

, Prince  Charles  of,  474 ; and  the 

battle  of  Raucoux,  477 ; defeated  at 
Lissa  by  Frederick  the  Great,  499. 

■  , Francis  de,  Duke  of  Guise,  279, 

282,  292. 

Lorris,  the  treaty  of,  114. 

Lothaire,  Emperor  of  the  Franks,  A.D. 
817,  55,  56. 

Louis  the  Debonnair,  or,  Louis  the  Pious, 
55 ; divides  his  kingdom  between  his 
sons  Lothaire,  Pepin,  and  Louis,  55 ; 
death  of,  a.d.  840,  56. 

■  the  Germanic,  56. 

, Prince,  son  of  Philip  Augustus,  his 

enterprise  against  England,  107,  108. 

the  Stutterer,  54. 

. the  Ultramarine,  58,  61. 

III.  and  the  Northmen,  53. 

V.,  the  Sluggard,  61. 

VI.,  the  Fat,  or,  the  Wide  Awalce, 

also  called  the  Fat,  energy  and  effi- 
ciency of,  97  ; his  numerous  and  suc- 
cessful expeditions  against  his  rebel 
subjects,  98. 

VII.,  the  Young,  his  unimportant 

but  long  reigu,  99. 

VIII  of  France,  a man  of  downright 

mediocrity,  110. 

IX.  or  St.  Louis.  See  St.  Louis. 

X.,  called  the  Quarreller,  at  his 

death  leaving  only  a daughter,  the 
Salic  Law  is  called  into  effect  for  the 
first  time,  and  the  crown  passes  to 
Philip  the  Long,  132,  133. 

XI.,  youth  of,  200 ; called  the  Uni- 


versal Spider,  1461 — 1483,  201 ; ami 
the  rebel  barons,  202  ; and  the  Count  of 
Charolais,  203  ; makes  peace  with  his 
barons,  203 ; and  Charles  the  Rash  of 
Burgundy,  204 ; held  in  the  Castle 
of  Peronne  by  Charles  the  Rash,  205 ; 
accompanies  Charles  the  Rash  to  the 
siege  of  Liege,  205  ; returns  to  Paris 
after  passing  the  most  trying  three 
weeks  of  his  life,  206;  and  Edward  IV. 
of  England,  206  ; Commynes’  account 
of,  206,  216 ; and  Edward  IV.,  meeting 
of,  at  Amiens,  207  ; and  the  death  of 
his  brother  Charles,  208  , and  the 
Swiss  Cautons  209  ; and  the  news  of 
the  death  of  Charles  the  Rash,  210; 
aod  Mary  of  Burgundy,  210  ; failure  of 
the  main  policy  of,  211 ; and  the  Count 
de  Dampmartin,  213  ; his  three  great 
services  to  France,  213;  character  of, 
214 ; death  of,  1483,  216 ; the  family 
of,  217. 

Louis  XII.,  crowned  at  Rheims,  reign,  his 
home  and  foreign  policy,  226  ; and  the 
Italian  states,  226;  and  the  Duchy  of 
Milan ; his  army  invades  Milaness, 
enters  Milan,  227  ; and  Ferdinand  of 
Spain,  229 ; prepares  for  the  conquest 
of  Naples,  226 ; and  the  French  re- 
verses in  Italy,  221 ; declares  war 
against  the  Venetians,  230 ; at  the 
battle  of  Agnadello,  238 ; and  the 
victory  of  Ravenna,  234;  reopens  the 
Italian  campaign  and  concludes  a 
treaty  with  Venice  at  Blois,  234 ; 
foreign  policy  and  home  government 
of,  236,  237 ; character  of,  private 
life  of,  238 ; marries  Princess  Mary, 
sister  of  Henry  VIII. , 239  ; death  of, 
240. 

XIII , youth  of,  336;  and  the  murder 

ofD’Ancre,  237;  and  Anne  of  Austria, 
337 ; and  Richelieu,  338 ; and  Luynes, 
338;  Mary  de’  Medici,  civil  war  be- 
tween, 342;  and  the  death  of  Duke 
Luynes,  340 ; and  Talleyrand,  Count 
of  Chalais,  341 ; severe  ordinances  of, 
against  duels,  341  ; and  the  revolt  of 
Duke  Gaston  of  Orleans  and  the  Duke 
of  Montmorency,  has  Duke  Henry  of 
Montmorency  beheaded,  342,  343  ; and 
Louise  de  La  fayette  and  Marie  d’ Haute- 
fort,  343  ; and  his  favourite  Cinq-Mars, 
343  ; and  the  trial  of  La  Valette,  347  ; 
Cardinal  Richelieu  and  the  Provinces, 
348  ; Cardinal  Richelieu,  the  Catholics, 
and  the  Protestants,  350  - 355 ; his 
rigorous  policy  against  the  Rochellese, 
353 ; the  capitulation  of  La  Rochelle, 
Richeliqu  and  Foreign  Affairs,  355 ; 
and  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  356  ; declares 
war  with  Spain,  357  j and  the  death  of 


602 


History  of  France . 


Cardinal  Richelieu,  358;  illness  and  1 
death  of,  359 ; Richelieu  and  literature, 
360-366. 

Louis  XIV.,  and  the  policy  of  Richelieu, 
367  ; the  Fronde  and  the  government 
of  Cardinal  Mazarin,  1643 — 1661,  366 ; 
and  the  great  Conde,  370 ; marriage  of, 
with  the  Infanta  of  Spain,  373  ; com- 
mences to  reign  with  a splendour  and 
puissance  without  precedent,  375;  the 
council  of,  375  ; his  wars  and  his  con- 
quests, 1661 — 1697,  377  ; and  Fouquet, 
376  ; waiting  to  recommence  war,  377  ; 
and  John  Van  Witt,  379 ; and  Vauban 
at  Lille,  377 ; places  Conde  in  com- 
mand of  the  new  army  to  reduce  the 
Netherlands,  378 ; and  the  Peace  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  1668,  378  ; determines 
to  make  war  with  the  Netherlands, 
378  ; prepares  to  subdue  the  Nether- 
lands, the  successful  commencement  of 
the  war  with  Holland,  379 ; reduces 
Franche- Comte,  378 ; his  account  in 
his  Memoires  of  his  eagerness  to  begin 
the  campaign  of  1678,  380  ; concludes 
the  Peace  of  Nimeguen  with  Holland, 
382 ; is  intoxicated  with  his  successes, 
383  ; declares  war  against  Holland  and 
the  Empire  and  captures  the  Palati- 
nate, 385  ; effects  of  his  revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  384  ; his  magni- 
ficent reception  of  James  II.,  late  King 
of  England,  385 ; the  grand  alliance 
against,  386 ; consents  to  recognize 
William  III.  as  King  of  England,  386  ; 
his  Wars  and  the  partition  of  the  King 
of  Spain’s  dominions,  387;  throws  over 
the  Treaty  of  Partition  and  confirms  the 
will  of  Charles  II.  of  Spain,  which  left 
that  kingdom  to  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
388  ; and  the  defeats  of  Villeroi  by 
Marlborough,  389-391 ; proposes  peace, 
394 ; his  courage  under  reverses,  394  ; 
and  the  battle  of  Malplaquet,  393 ; 
family  losses  of,  394;  and  Villars,  395  ; 
disastrous  effects  of  his  ambition  on 
France,  397 ; and  Louvois’  work,  404  ; 
and  home  administration,  400 ; and 
Colbert’s  administration  of  the  finances, 
401 ; reckless  expenditure  of,  403  ; the 
three  passions  of,  402 ; and  the  death 
of  Louvois,  405  ; his  affection  for  Cha- 
millard,  406 ; mistakes  of,  407 ; and 
religion,  408 ; revokes  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  409  ; and  the  revolt  of  the 
Camisards,  413  , and  the  Jansenists, 
414 ; and  Fenelon,  416 ; answerable 
for  the  religious  persecutions  of  his 
reign,  418;  and  literature  and  art,  419- 
435;  and  his  Court,  436;  Mdlle.  de 
la  Valliere,  and  Madame  de  Montes- 
pan,  436  ; and  the  death  of  his  queen, 


438;  his  affection  for  the  Duchess  of 
Burgundy,  439  ; egotism  of,  440 ; his 
will,  442,  443 ; death  bed  of,  443 ; 
death  of,  September  1st,  1715,  444 ; 
and  the  Scottish  adventurer  Law,  451. 

Louis  XV.,  character  of  his  reign,  447  ; 
the  regency  and  Cardinal  Dubois,  1715- 
1723,  448  ; and  Peter  the  Great,  455  ; 
and  the  Regent  Orleans,  452-461 ; de- 
moralization of  his  court,  461 ; and 
the  ministry  of  Cardinal  Fleury,  1723 
— 1748,  464 ; and  the  persecution  of 
the  Protestants,  462  ; his  proposed 
marriage  with  the  Infanta  broken  off, 
465 ; and  Fleury  as  his  prime  minister, 
464 ; and  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  468 ; 
and  the  death  of  Fleury,  472  ; he  de- 
clares war  against  England  and  Maria 
Theresa,  472 ; joins  the  army  in  person, 
473  ; illness  of,  and  the  consternation 
of  his  subjects,  474 ; Marshal  Saxe, 
and  the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  475 ; re- 
turns in  triumph  to  Paris,  476 ; and  the 
treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  479  ; France 
in  the  Colonies,  1745 — 1763,  481-494; 
at  fifty  years  of  age,  and  Madame  de 
Pompadour,  494 ; declares  war  with 
England,  1755,  495  ; and  the  Franco- 
Austrian  alliance,  1756,  496  ; attempted 
assassination  of,  1757,  496;  and  the 
outbreak  of  the  Seven  Years’  War, 
497  ; and  the  Family  Pact  with  Spain, 
503  ; the  Parliament,  and  the  Jesuits, 
505-508;  Madame  Dubarry;  dismisses 
Choiseul,  507 ; suspected  of  private 
speculation  and  of  keeping  up  the  price 
of  corn,  509 ; and  the  annexation  of 
Corsica,  510 ; political  annihilation  of, 
in  Europe  completed  by  the  dismissal 
of  Choiseul,  507 ; his  fluctuations  be- 
tween remorse  and  depravity,  illness, 
death,  and  character  of,  1774,  511 ; the 
philosophers  of  his  time,  512 ; and 
Diderot,  521 ; and  Buffon,  523. 

XVI.,  and  Marie  Antoinette,  532 ; 

and  the  ministry  of  M.  Turgot,  533, 
et  seq. ; recalls  M.  de  Maurepas,  533  ; 
recalls  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  536 ; 
and  the  bread  riots,  536 ; the  coro- 
nation of,  537  ; dismisses  Turgot.  539 ; 
France  abroad,  United  States  War  of 
Independence,  1775 — 1783,  540;  and 
the  American  War  of  Independence, 
540;  his  aid  to  the  Americans,  542; 
France  at  Home — Ministry  of  M. 
Necker  1776  — 1781,  550  ; and  M. 
Necker’s  reforms,  551  ; M.  de  Calonne 
and  the  Assembly  of  Notables,  1781 — 
1787,  553  ; and  the  disgrace  of  Car  dinal 
Rohan,  555 ; and  Captain  Cook’s 
voyage,  554 ; and  the  Mariage  de 
Figaro , 554 ; and  the  Assembly  of  the 


Index. 


603 


Notables,  555 ; and  the  Protestants, 
554,  555 ; convocation  of  the  States- 
general,  1787 — 1789,  555 ; and  the 
protest  of  the  French  Parliaments, 
556;  recalls  M.  Necker,  558;  and  the 
Third  Estate,  560 ; and  the  States- 
general  of,  1789,  561. 

Louisbourg,  surrendered  to  France,  479. 

Louise  of  Savoie,  242,  260,  272  ; death  of, 
1531,  276. 

Louvois,  Marquis  de,  admitted  to  Louis 
XIV. ’s  council,  376;  and  Turenne,  380; 
increasing  power  of,  only  resisted  by 
Colbert,  and  the  successes  of  Louis 
XIV.,  332;  harsh  policy  of,  in  the  Pala- 
tinate, 385  ; and  influence  with  Louis 
XIV  , 386;  by  the  death  of  the  Colberts 
is  left  alone  in  his  work,  404 ; death  of, 
405;  and  the  conversion  of  the  Refor- 
mers, 443. 

Lowendabl,  Count,  479. 

Lu9on  (Richelieu,  Bishop  of).  See  Riche- 
lieu. 

Ludovic  the  Moor,  Duke  of  Milan,  and 
Charles,  222. 

Lugdunensian  Province,  the,  of  Roman 
Gaul,  17. 

Lusignan,  Hugh  de,  Count  de  la  Marche, 
113. 

Lutetia,  or  Mud  Town,  the  ancient  name 
of  Paris,  109. 

Luther,  Martin,  270. 

Lutherans,  the,  and  Henry  II.,  283. 

Luxembourg,  John  of,  captures  Joan  of 
Arc,  189. 

, Louis, of.  and  Louis  XI.,  212. 

— , Marshal,  379;  placed  by  Louis 

XIV.  in  command  of  the  French  armies, 
385 ; defeats  William  III.  of  England, 
385 ; death  and  character  of,  386. 

Luynes,  Albert  de,  338;  and  Richelieu, 
339 ; and  Louis  XIII.  339  ; the  duke 
of,  at  the  siege  of  Montauban,  death  of, 
340. 

Lynar,  Count,  498. 

Lyonness,  conquered  by  the  Burgundians, 
28. 

Lyons  the  chief  centre  of  early  Christi- 
anity in  Gaul,  24. 

M. 

Machault,  M.  de,  494,  497. 

Madras,  captured  by  the  French,  482 ; re- 
stored to  the  English,  484. 

Madrid,  Treaty  of,  between  Francis  I. 
and  Charles  V.,  257. 

Maestricht  invested,  1748,  479. 

Magna  Charta,  upheld  by  St.  Louis,  115. 

Mahe,  482. 

Maillart  and  Marcel,  157. 

Maillebois,  Marshal,  470. 


Maine’s,  the  Duke  of,  position  as  regent 
usurped  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  448 ; 
and  the  Orleans  regency,  453. 

, the  Duchess  of,  her  mortification 

and  rage  at  the  decree  against  her  hus- 
band, 453 ; her  plot  against  the  re- 
gency ; arrested  and  removed  to  Dijon, 
456. 

Maintenon,  Madame  de,  and  Louis  XIV., 
438;  and  the  persecution  of  the  Refor- 
mers, 384;  and  Racine.  430;  and  the 
death  of  Louis  XIV.,  443 ; death  of, 
444. 

Maisonneuve,  Paul  de,  490. 

Malagrida  burnt  as  a heretic,  506. 

Malebranche,  422. 

Malesherbes,  L.  de,  called  to  the  Ministry 
by  Turgot,  537  ; and  Diderot,  522. 

Malherbe,  362  ; his  account  of  the  assas- 
sination of  Henry  IV.,  335. 

Malleteers,  the,  172. 

Malouet,  and  the  convocation  of  the 
States- General,  1789,  562,  564. 

Malplaquet,  the  battle  of,  1709,  393. 

Man  with  the  Iron  Mask,  the,  437. 

Mandubians,  the,  15. 

Mansard,  435 

Manicheans,  the,  persecution  of,  104. 

Manny,  Walter  de,  148. 

Mantes,  the  Conference  of,  324. 

Marcel,  Stephen,  Provost  of  the  trades- 
men of  Paris,  154-157. 

Marche,  Count  de  la,  and  the  Count  of 
Poitiers  ; defeated  by  St.  Louis,  113. 

Marcus  Aurelius,  account  of,  19. 

Margaret  of  Anjou,  wife  of  Henry  VI.  of 
England,  received  by  Louis  XI.,  207. 

Marguerite  of  Austria  betrothed  to  the 
Dauphin  Charles,  son  of  Louis  XI., 
216;  removed  fiom  France  by  the 
Archduke  Maximilian,  220;  death  of, 
1530,  260. 

■ of  Provence,  wife  of  St.  Louis 

IX.,  112. 

de  Valois  and  Francis  I , 

beautiful  character  of,  242 ; the  writ- 
ings of,  269;  death  of,  276. 

Maria  Theresa,  470. 

Mariage  de  Figaro,  the,  and  its  effects, 
459. 

Marie  Antoinette,  532.  See  Antoinette. 

Marigny,  Enguerrand  de,  chief  adviser  of 
Philip  IV.,  131 ; hanged  on  the  gibbet 
of  Montfaucon,  132 

Marillac,  Francis  de,  346. 

Marlborough,  the  Duke  of,  and  Blenheim, 
389 ; checked  by  Villars,  390  ; and  the 
battle  of  Ramilies,  389 ; defeats  Ven- 
dome  at  Audenarde,  391 ; and  the 
battle  of  Malplaquet,  393  ; dismissed 
by  Queen  Anne,  394. 

Marot,  Clement,  268. 


6o  4 


History  of  France . 


Marseilles,  the  founding  and  rise  of,  2 ; 
horrors  of  the  plague  of,  and  heroic  de- 
votion of  the  religious  orders,  459 

Marsin,  Marshal,  at  the  battle  of  Blen- 
heim, 389. 

Martel,  Charles,  37-39. 

Martin  V.,  Pope,  and  affaiis  in  France, 
179. 

Martyrs,  the,  of  Lyons,  25 

Mary  of  Anjou,  wife  of  Charles  VII.,  192. 

, Queen,  of  England,  and  Philip  II.  of 

Spain,  280. 

of  Burgundy  weds  the  Archduke 

Maximilian,  220. 

Stuart.  See  Stuart. 

Masselin,  John,  character  of,  218,  219. 

Massilia  (Marseilles),  founding  of,  2. 

Massillon,  422. 

Maupeou,  M.  de,  Chancellor,  and  the  fall 
of  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  507,  508  ; 
dismissal  and  death  of,  534. 

Maurepas,  M.  de,  recalled  by  Louis  XYI., 
532  ; and  M.  Necker,  550. 

Maximilian,  Archduke,  weds  Mary  of  Bur- 
gundy at  Ghent,  220  ; of  Austria,  221 ; 
and  Anne  of  Brittany,  221. 

I.,  Emperor,  and  Louis  XII.,  230 ; 

joins  the  Holy  League,  234  ; and  Henry 
VIII  of  England  in  France,  236  ; death 
of,  218. 

Mayenne,  the  Duke  of,  308,  310 ; defeated 
by  Henry  1Y.  at  Arques,  318 ; at  Paris, 
322,  323  ; joins  Henry  IV.,  328. 

Maynier,  John  de,  baron  of  Oppede,  273. 

Mayors,  the,  of  the  palace,  36. 

Mazarin,  Julius,  concludes  a treaty  of 
peace  and  commerce  with  Cromwell, 
373. 

•  , Cardinal,  366  ; recommended  to 

Louis  XIII.  by  Richelieu,  366;  de- 
nounced by  the  Parliament  of  Paris, 
369 ; defeated  and  obliged  to  leave 
France,  371 ; his  state-stroke,  372  ; be- 
comes all-powerful,  372 ; concludes 
the  Peace  of  the  Pyrenees  with  Spain, 
373;  death  of,  374. 

Medici,  Peter  de’,  and  Charles  VIII., 

222. 

•  , Queen  Catherine  de’,  288  ; cha- 

racter of,  292  ; and  the  St.  Bartholo- 
mew, 302,  303 ; and  the  death  of 
Charles  IX.,  306 ; and  the  League,  308  ; 
and  the  duke  de  Guise,  311 ; death  of, 
313. 

•  , Ferdinand  de’,  333. 

•  , Queen  Mary  de’,  marries  Henry 

IV.,  333,  334;  Regency  of,  1610—1617, 
336;  and  Richelieu,  her  flight  from 
Blois,  338 ; and  Louis  XIII.,  civil  war 
between,  339  ; flight  of,  339. 

, the  family  of  the,  and  Francis  I., 


Mediterranean,  pirates  of  the,  in  1532, 
262. 

Melancthon,  and  Francis  I.,  273. 

Melegnano,  the  battle  of,  244. 

Mello,  Don  Francisco  de,  invades  France, 
367. 

Mellobaudes,  a leader  of  the  Franks,  27. 

Menageot,  painter,  533. 

Merania,  Princess  Agnes  of,  and  Philip 
Augustus,  108. 

Meroveus,  29 

Merovingian  kings,  the  greedy,  licentious, 
and  cruel,  34. 

Mesmer,  553. 

Messina  gives  herself  up  to  France,  381. 

Metz,  the  siege  of,  in  1552,  279  ; restored 
to  France,  281. 

Micheli,  John,  his  account  of  Catherine  de 
Medici,  292. 

Mignard,  435. 

Milan,  the  duchy  of,  and  Charles  VIII., 
222  ; siege  of,  raised  by  Gaston  de 
Foix,  233. 

Milaness  and  Louis  XII.,  226. 

Minden,  the  battle  of.  1759,  501,  502. 

Minorca  captured  by  Admiral  Leake.  391 ; 
captured  from  the  English,  1782,  547. 

Mirabeau,  birth  and  character  of,  560; 
and  the  Revolution,  561 ; and  M. 
Necker,  564 ; and  the  title  of  the 
States-general,  565. 

Missi  dominici,  Charlemagne’s  chief  agents 
in  his  government,  47. 

Missionaries,  the  first  Christian,  in  Gaul, 
23,  24. 

Mississippi,  the  scheme  of  Law,  451. 

Molay,  James  de,  Grand  Master  of  the  Tern- 
plars,  arrested,  accused,  and  burnt,  131. 

Mole,  President,  369. 

Moliere,  431 ; early  dramatic  works  of, 
432 ; his  Misanthrope,  &c.,  432  ; Bour- 
geois Gentilhomme,  &c.,  433. 

Moncontour,  battle  of,  1569,  298. 

Monge,  M.,  553. 

Monoecus  (Monaco),  founding  of,  2. 

Mons  captured  by  Louis  XIV.,  385. 

Monseigneur,  Grand  Dauphin,  394. 

Monsieur's  Peace,  1576,  309. 

Monsigny,  musician,  533. 

Montaigne,  Michael  de,  character  and 
essays  of,  359,  360. 

Montauban,  siege  of,  1621,  340. 

Montcalm,  the  Marquis  of,  death  of,  and 
the  loss  of  Quebec,  492. 

Montecuculli,  General,  and  the  death  of 
Turenne,  381. 

Montereau.  siege  of,  by  Charles  VII.  in 
person,  192. 

Montespan,  Madame  de,  and  Louis  XIV., 
436. 

Montesquieu,  his  Lettres  Persanes , 512  ; 
the  works  of,  512,  513. 


245, 


Index. 


605 


Montfort,  John  of,  his  war  with  Charles  of 
Blois,  143,  144. 

, Simon  de.  See  Simon. 

Montgolfier,  MM.  de,  and  the  first  balloon, 
554. 

Montgomery,  Count  de,  by  accident  mor- 
tally wounds  King  Henry  II , 284. 

Moutlhery,  engagement  at,  between  Louis 
XI.  and  the  rebel  barons,  303. 

Montluc,  Blaise  de,  cruelties  of,  294. 

Montmorency,  Marshal  de,  death  of,  342, 
343. 

, the  Constable  Anne  de,  277,278, 

279 ; wounded  and  captured  at  St. 
Quentin,  281 ; taken  prisoner  at  the 
battle  of  Dreux,  294. 

, Henry,  Duke  of,  wounded  at 

Castelnaudary,  executed,  342,  343. 

Montpensier,  the  Duchess  of,  327. 

■ , Mdlle.  de,  called  the  Great 

Mademoiselle,  and  the  Fronde,  371,  372. 

Montreal,  capitulation  of,  1760,  493. 

Monts,  M.  de,  appointed  viceroy  of  Acadia, 
489. 

Montsabert,  M.  de,  arrest  of,  557. 

Moors,  the,  38,  39. 

Morat,  defeat  of  Charles  the  Bash  at,  by 
the  Swiss,  209. 

Mornay,  Du-Plessis,  and  the  Protestants, 
332. 

Motte,  Admiral  de  la,  546. 

Mounier,  M.  558 ; and  the  Third  Estate, 
565. 

Mount  of  Olives,  the,  74. 

Mulhausen,  fight  of,  380. 

Muretus,  268. 

Mussulman  Arabs,  the,  pass  over  into 
Europe,  establish  themselves  in  Spain, 
and  invade  France,  37,  38. 

N. 

Najara,  the  battle  of,  gained  by  the  Eng- 
lish in  Spain  over  Henry  of  Transta- 
mare  and  Guesclin,  166. 

Nan6y,  defeat  and  death  of  Charles  the 
Rash  of  Burgundy  at,  210. 

Nantes,  the  Edict  of,  329 ; revoked  by 
Louis  XIV..  384 ; in  1685,  409,  410. 

Naples  and  Louis  XII.,  234. 

Narbonness,  conquered  by  the  Visigoths, 
28. 

Nassau,  the  Count  de,  220. 

National  Assembly,  adopted  as  the  style  of 
the  States- General,  565. 

Navarre,  Anthony  de  Bourbon,  King  of, 
293,  294 ; death  of,  294. 

, Charles  the  Bad  of,  151 ; his 

treason,  151 ; accepts  the  leadership  of 
Marcel’s  party,  156 ; submits  to  the 
Dauphin,  158. 

— — Henry  of,  and  Marguerite  de 


"Valois,  299;  and  Henry  III.,  314 ; be- 
comes heir  to  the  French  throne,  315; 
and  the  murder  of  Henry  III.,  316. 

Navarre,  Jeanne  d’Albret,  Queen  of,  297. 

Navy,  the,  and  Richelieu,  349  ; the  French, 
under  Louis  XV.,  492,  495,  510. 

Necker,  M.,  Director-General  of  Finance 
under  Louis  XVI.,  558 ; financial  ad- 
ministration of,  551 ; resigns,  551 ; re- 
called by  Louis  XVL,  558;  in  the 
States-General  of  1789,  563. 

Nerac,  the  Peace  of,  in  1579,  309. 

Nero,  hatred  of,  by  the  Gauls,  18. 

Neustria,  kingdom  of,  33,  35. 

Nevers,  Duke  de,  357. 

Newfoundland,  ceded  to  England  by 
France  at  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  1712, 
491. 

New  France,  and  Cardinal  Richelieu,  489. 

Newton,  516. 

Nicaea  (Nice),  founding  of,  2. 

Nicholas  V.,  Pope,  and  Jacques  Coeur,  97. 

Nicole,  M.,  quoted,  197. 

Nicopolis,  battle  of,  between  the  Chris- 
tians and  the  Turks,  in  which  the  former 
are  destroyed,  175. 

Nimeguen,  the  Peace  of,  between  Louis 
XIV.  and  Holland,  382. 

Noailles,  Cardinal  de,  and  the  Orleans, 
Regency  449. 

, Marshal,  and  the  campaign  of 

1734,  406  ; at  Dettingen,  473. 

, the  Duke  of,  made  head  of  the 

Council  of  Finance  during  the  Orleans 
Regency,  449  ; and  Law’s  schemes,  450. 

Nogaret,  William  de,  129. 

Norman,  the.  Conquest  of  England,  69,70. 

Normandy,  the  Estates  of,  offer  to  under- 
take, at  their  own  expense,  to  re-con- 
quer  England,  which  had  just  declared 
war  with  Phillip  VI.  of  France,  142  ; 
completely  won  back  to  France  by 
Charles  VII.,  1450,  193  ; the  revolt  of, 
against  the  taxation  of  Louis  XIII., 
347 ; emigration  of  persecuted  reformers 
from,  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  412. 

, William  of.  See  William.. 

Normans,  the,  and  the  discovery  of  Ame- 
rica, 488. 

North,  Lord,  544. 

Northmen,  the,  their  incursions  into 
France,  52,  53. 

Notables,  assembly  of  the,  555. 

Notre-Daine  de  Paris,  cathedral  of,  com- 
pleted in  the  reign  of  Philip  Augustus, 
110. 

Noue,  La.  See  La  None. 

Novara,  battle  of,  1513,  in  which  the 
French  are  defeated,  236. 

Noyon,  treaty  of,  between  Francis  I.  and 
the  Arohduke  Charles  of  Austria,  245. 
Nu-pieds,  revolt  of  the,  347. 


6o6 


History  of  France . 


0. 

Olier,  M.,  490. 

Oliver  de  Clisson,  173. 

- — - and  Roland,  45. 

Omar  captures  Jerusalem,  74. 

Oppede,  Baron  d’,  273. 

Orange,  William,  the  Prince  of,  and  Louis 
XIV.,  the  campaign  against  the  Nether- 
lands, 379;  and  the  murder  of  the 
Witts,  380;  opposition  of,  to  the  peace 
party,  383  ; and  the  battle  of  Mons, 
382 ; and  the  deputies  of  the  estates, 
and  Mary,  marriage  of,  and  its  con- 
sequences to  France,  381. 

Orders,  the  three,  composing  the  States- 
General,  129. 

Orleans,  siege  of,  by  Attila  and  the  Huns, 
28 ; the  Maid  of  (see  Joan  of  Arc)  ; be- 
sieged by  the  English  under  the  Duke 
of  Bedford,  1428.  187;  the  siege  of, 
raised  through  the  Maid  of  Orleans, 
188  ; tribute  of,  to  the  memory  of  Joan 
of  Arc,  191 ; the  siege  of.  in  1563,  291. 

, Louis,  Duke  of,  175;  death  of, 

176. 

, the  Duke  Charles  of,  and  Henry  V. 

at  the  battle  of  Agincourt,  179. 

Duke  Gaston  of,  and  Richelieu, 

342,  343  ; and  Mazarin,  366  ; submis- 
sion, retirement,  and  death  of,  372. 

, the  regency  of  the  Duke  of,  is 

confirmed  by  the  Parliament,  448 ; re- 
gency, the,  and  the  reduction  of  taxa- 
tion, 450 ; and  the  policy  of  Alberoni, 

457  ; declares  war  with  Spain,  1719, 

458  ; and  the  Dubois  treaties  with  Eng- 
land and  Holland,  1717,  457 ; and  the 
plague,  459. 

, the  Regent,  and  the  Scotch  ad- 
venturer Law,  450;  outstrips  Law  in 
his  wild  financial  schemes,  452  ; and  the 
exclusion  of  the  legitimatized  princes’ 
right  of  succession  to  the  throne,  453 ; 
and  the  Duchess  of  Maine’s  plot,  453  ; 
and  Dubois,  451;  and  Dubois  as  Arch- 
bishop of  Cambria,  458  ; and  Belzunce, 

459  ; death  and  character  of,  461. 

• , the  Duke  of,  and  Louis  XVI., 

536 ; and  the  States- General  of,  1789, 
563. 

Ornano,  Alphonso  Corso  d’,  341. 

Orvilliers,  Count  d’,  541. 

Ossat,  Arnauld  d’,  333. 

Otho  IV.,  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  John 
Lackland  plan  a grand  attack  upon 
Philip  II.  of  France,  100 ; his  proposed 
dismemberment  of  France,  101,  102. 

P. 

Paderborn,  Saxons  baptized  at,  by  Charle- 
magne, 43. 


Paganism,  fall  of,  24. 

Painters  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  434- 
436. 

Palace,  the  School  of  the,  50. 

Palatinate,  the,  devastated  by  the  French 
in  1689,  385. 

Palisse,  Chabannes,  Lord  of  La,  254,  255. 

Paoli,  Pascal,  the  hero  of  Corsica,  510. 

Pare,  Ambrose,  305. 

Paris,  ancient  name  of.  see  Lutetia ; 
chosen  as  the  seat  of  Government  of 
the  Franks  by  Clovis,  32 ; death  of 
Clovis  at,  32;  pillaged  by  the  North- 
men, 53 ; improvements  of  Philip 
Augustus  in,  109;  threatened  by  Ed- 
ward III.,  146 ; besieged  by  the  Eng- 
lish, 1360,  160  ; the  university  of,  and 
Charles  V.,  170 ; given  up  to  Riche- 
mont and  the  National  Party  in  France, 
and  evacuated  by  the  English,  190;  the 
Parliament  of,  and  Duprat’s  sale  of 
public  appointments,  246 ; the  Parlia- 
ment of,  and  the  Concordat  between 
Francis  I.  and  Leo  X.,  247  ; revolt  of 
the  populace  of,  1588>  under  Duke  Henry 
de  Guise,  311;  siege  of,  by  Henry  III., 
1589,  314 ; the  Parliament  of,  and  the 
Bourbon  Pretender,  317;  besieged  by 
Henry  IV.,  320 ; the  Parliament  of, 
and  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  329;  and 
Louis  XIII.,  342;  and  Mazarin,  369; 
and  the  Fronde,  368,  369 ; the  Parlia- 
ment of,  and  its  struggles  with  Fleury, 
468 ; and  Louis  XV.,  497,  507 ; the 
Peace  of,  1762,  505 ; the  Parliament  of, 
and  the  Jesuits,  506. 

Paris-Duverney,  462. 

Parker,  Admiral  Hyde,  546. 

Parliament,  the,  of  Paris  (see  also  Paris). 
banished  by  Louis  XV.,  507  ; recalled 
by  Louis  XVI.,  534 ; arrest  of  members 
of  the,  1788,  556,  557. 

Parliaments,  the,  of  France  and  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  329 ; protests  of  the,  556. 

Parma  annexed  by  Francis  I.,  245. 

, Duke  Alexander  of,  invades 

France,  320,  321. 

, the  battle  at,  467. 

Pascal,  Blaise,  419,  420. 

Pasquier,  Stephen,  266. 

Patay,  the  battle  of,  in  which  the  French, 
with  Joan  of  Arc  defeat  the  English, 
188. 

Patelin , the  Farce  of,  267. 

Paul,  St.  Vincent  de,  350. 

Pavia,  besieged  by  Charlemagne,  44 ; the 
battle  of,  between  Francis  I.  of  France 
and  the  Imperial  troops  under  Bourbon 
and  Pescara,  255. 

Pecquigny,  the  Peace  of.  between  Louis 
XI.  and  Edward  IV.,  207. 

People’s  Battle,  the,  of  Bouvines,  101. 


Index.  607 


Pepin  of  Landen,  called  The  Ancient,  37. 

•  of  Heristal,  glorious  acts  of,  his 

death,  37. 

the  Short,  40  ; proclaimed  King  of 

the  Franks  at  Soissons,  a.d.  752,  41 ; 
his  expeditions,  41,  42. 

Perelle,  Abbe,  460. 

Peronne,  Treaty  of,  205. 

Perrault,  435. 

Pescara,  the  Marquis  of,  252, 253,  256. 

Peschiera,  capture  of,  by  Louis  XII.,  231. 

Peter  de  la  Brosse  and  Phillip  III.,  121. 

the  Great  and  Madame  de  Main- 

tenon,  444;  visits  France,  -i 55,  456. 

— , the  Hermit,  74,  75,  76. 

the  Venerable,  Abbot  of  Cluni,  104. 

•  III.,  Czar,  and  Frederick  the  Great, 

504. 

Petigliano,  Count,  at  the  battle  of  Agna- 
dello,  231. 

Philip  1.,  64,  65. 

■ II.,  or  Philip  Augustus  of  France, 

99;  joins  in  a new  Crusade,  85;  and 
Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  at  Messina,  86 ; 
leaves  the  Holy  Land,  87  ; his  relations 
with  Henry  II  of  England,  Richard 
Coeur  de  Lion,  and  John  Lackland,  100; 
in  order  to  avert  a joint  attack  from 
John  Lackland,  King  of  England,  and 
Otho  IV.  of  Germany,  threatens  to  in- 
vade England,  100 ; at  the  battle  of 
Bouvines,  101  ; and  Agnes  of  Merania, 
108 ; administrative  acts  of,  109  ; re- 
ceives a present  of  fawns,  hinds,  does, 
and  bucks  from  the  King  of  England  to 
stock  his  wood  of  Vincennes,  109  ; 
death  of,  110. 

•  III.  of  France,  surnamed  the  Bold, 

his  disastrous  termination  of  his  father’s 
crusade,  120 ; government,  character, 
acts,  and  death  of,  121. 

IV.,  called  the  Handsome,  cha- 
racter of,  122  ; defeats  Guy  de  Dam- 
pierre,  Count  of  Flanders,  123,  124 ; 
Flanders  submits  to,  124 ; defeated  by 
the  Flemings  at  Courtrai,  prepares  to 
renew  the  war,  124;  defeats  the 
Flemings  at  Mons-en-Puelle,  and  lays 
siege  to  Lille,  125, 126  ; and  Pope  Boni- 
face VIII.,  126, 127,  128, 129  ; death  and 
character  of,  131 ; the  three  sons  of, 
132. 

- ■ V.,  called  the  Long,  132,  133. 

VI.,  or  Philip  of  Valois,  140  ; and 

Robert  of  Artois,  141 ; his  preparations 
for  war  with  England,  142  ; aids  Count 
Louis  de  Nevers  against  the  Flemings, 
142 ; and  Edward  III.,  renewal  of  the 
war  between,  143,  144 ; and  the  French 
before  the  battle  of  Crecy,  146  ; flight 
from  Crecy  fight,  147 ; fears  to  raise 
the  siege  of  Calais,  and  returns  to 


Amiens,  148 ; death  of,  1350,  149 ; and 
James  Van  Artevelde,  142. 

Philip  II , of  Spain,  240 ; captures  St. 
Quentin,  281;  and  the  peace  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis,  281 ; and  the  Duke  of 
Parma,  320;  and  Henry  III.,  309  ; and 
Henry  IV.,  war  between,  formally  de- 
clared, 328 ; character  of,  death  of, 
September,  1598,  330. 

IV.,  of  Spain,  and  the  Peace  of 

the  Pyrenees,  374. 

V.  of  Spain,  renounces  all  claim 

to  the  throne  of  France,  388 ; refuses 
to  abdicate,  392  ; and  his  claims  to  the 
Frence  throne,  453  ; death  of,  478 

Philippa,  Quaen,  intercedes  for  the  six 
Burghers  of  Calais  with  Edward  III., 
146. 

Philosophers,  the,  of  the  reign  of  Louis 
XV  , 512—531. 

Philosophy  in  France  in  the  Middle  ages, 
103,  264,  265. 

Phocean  colony  established  in  Gaul,  4. 

Phoenicians,  the,  2. 

Piacenza  annexed  by  Francis  I.,  245. 

Piccini,  533. 

Piedmont,  and  Charles  VIII.  of  France, 

* 222. 

Pillar- house,  the,  of  Marcel,  155. 

Pisa,  the  Council  of,  1511,  230. 

Pitt,  William,  returns  to  office,  500 ; 
haughty  prejudice  of,  against  France, 
503. 

Pius  Antoninus,  19. 

Plague  of  Florence,  the,  or  the  Black 
Plague,  149 ; ravages  of  the,  in  1363, 
162. 

, the,  in  France  in  1719,  459. 

Plelo,  Count,  killed  at  Dantzic,  465,  466. 

Plessis-les-Tours,  residence  of  Louis  XI., 
215. 

Plessis  Mornay,  Philip  du,  89.  See  Du 
Plessis-Mornay. 

Poets,  the,  of  France  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
267,  268. 

Poictiers,  the  battle  of,  September  19th, 
152  ; see  also  Poitiers. 

Poisson,  Mdlle.  See  Pompadour. 

Poitiers  (see  also  Poictiers ),  battle  near, 
between  the  Goths  under  A^ric  II. 
and  the  Franks  under  Clovis,  a.d.  507, 
31 ; great  battle  at,  between  the  united 
Franks  under  Charles  Martel  and  the 
Arabs  under  Abdel-Rhaman,  in  which 
the  latter  are  defeated,  a d 732,  38. 

Poitou,  100. 

Poland,  the  crown  of,  offered  to  the  Duke 
of  Anjou,  306 ; events  preceding  the 
Partition  of,  465  ; the  Partition  of,  by 
the  Treaty  of  Warsaw,  1772,  510,  511. 

Policists,  the,  298. 

Polignac,  Madame  de,  552. 


6o8 


History  of  France . 


Poltrot,  John,  294,  295. 

Polycarp,  St.,  25. 

Pompadour,  Madame  de,  494;  death  and 
character  of,  507. 

Pompignan,  Lefranc  de,  558. 

Pondicherry  and  Governor  Dupleix,  483, 
484 ; captured  by  the  English,  1778, 
547 ; restored  to  the  French,  547. 

Pouts  de  Ce,  engagement  of,  339. 

Poquelin,  John  Baptist.  See  Muliere. 

Poree,  Gilbert  de  la,  265. 

Port-Royal  des  Champs,  351,  352,  414- 
416. 

Pothinus,  St.,  first  Bishop  of  Lyons,  25. 

Pragmatic  Sanction,  the,  116  ; of  Charles 
TIL,  199;  and  Francis  I.  and  Leo  X., 
246  ; its  three  principal  objects,  247. 

, relating  to  Maria  Theresa,  gua- 
ranteed by  France,  469,  470 ; recognized 
by  France,  479. 

Prague,  the  siege  of,  given  up  by  Chevert, 
471. 

Praguery,  the,  200. 

Preston-Pans,  the  battle  of,  476. 

Prie,  the  Marchioness  of,  462-464. 

Probus,  Roman  emperor,  20. 

Prose  writers,  the,  of  France  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  266. 

Protestants,  the,  after  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  304;  and  Henry  IV., 
323  ; and  the  issue  of  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  329 ; persecutions  of,  under 
Louis  XIV.,  408 — 413  ; under  the  Or- 
leans Begeucy,  449;  and  the  terrible 
edict  of  1724,  463 ; and  Louis  XVI., 
527. 

Protestantism  in  Louis  XIV.’ s reign,  408- 
413 

Provence,  ravaged  by  the  Black  Plague, 
149 ; the  Parliament  of,  560. 

Prussia  and  France,  and  the  Partition  of 
Poland,  1772,  510,  511. 

Puget,  435. 

Pyrenees,  Peace  of  the,  1659,  puts  an  end 
to  the  twenty -three  years’  war  between 
France  and  Spain,  374. 

Pytheas,  the  explorer,  2. 

Q. 

Quebec,  Champlain  made  first  governor 
of,  489 ; gallant  defence  of,  by  the 
French  Canadians  against  Wolfe;  capi- 
tulation of,  1759,  493. 

Quesnel,  Father,  416. 

Quietism , 416  ; and  Madame  de  Mainte- 
non,  417. 

Quincampoix,  the  street  of  the  specula- 
tors, during  John  Law’s  reign,  452. 

R. 

Rabelais,  Francis,  269. 


Rabutin-Chantal,  Marie  de,  Marchioness 
of  Sevigne.  See  Sevignd. 

Racine,  429,  430. 

Ragnacaire,  King  of  the  Franks  of  Cam- 
brai,  32. 

Rambouillet,  H6tel,  meetings  of  the  Lite- 
rati of  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.  at, 
362. 

Ramifies,  the  battle  of,  1706,  389.  * 

Ramus,  Peter  la  Ramee,  268. 

Ratisbonne,  the  Diet  of,  1687,  384. 

Raucoux,  battle  of,  477. 

Ravaillac  assassinates  Henry  IV.,  235. 

Ravenna  the  battle  of,  1512,  234. 

Raymond  VI  , of  Toulouse  105  — 107. 

VII , of  Toulouse,  107. 

Reformation,  the,  and  Francis  I.,  270 ; 
state  of  the,  in  France  in  1561,  291  ; in 
the  latter  half  of  the  16th  century, 
304. 

Reformers,  the  French,  and  Mary  de’ 
Medici,  337  ; rising  of  the,  against 
Louis  XIII.,  353. 

Religion  in  France  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
102,  103 ; in  the  reign  of  Louis  XV., 
461. 

Religious  Wars  in  France,  outbreak  of  the, 
275. 

War,  outbreak  of  the  Fourth, 

1572,  306 ; outbreak  of  the  Fifth  in 
France,  310. 

Renaissance,  the  age  of  the,  264. 

Benart,  the  Romances  of,  267. 

Renaudie,  Lord  de  la,  death  of,  289. 

Rene,  II.,  King  of  Lorraine,  and  Louis 
XI.,  210. 

Retz,  Cardinal  de,  369,  370. 

Reveillon  riot,  the,  561. 

Revolution,  the,  the  eve  of,  562. 

Ribaut,  John,  heroic  death  of,  488. 

Richard  Cceur  de  Lion,  in  the  Holy  Land, 
79,  85,  86. 

Richelieu,  Arman d John  du  Plessis  de, 
Bishop  of  Lu^on  (afterwards  Cardinal), 
birth  and  early  life  of,  338;  effects  a 
treaty  between  Mary  de’  Medici  and 
Louis  XIII.,  339 ; and  Luynes,  339 ; 
his  character  of  Luynes,  340 ; and  the 
great  lords,  341 ; and  the  ordinance 
against  duels,  341 : designs  of  Mary  de’ 
Medici  against,  342 ; and  the  revolt  of 
Montmorency,  343  ; and  Cinq-Mars* 
343  ; illness  of,  and  conspiracy  of  Cinq- 
Mars  against,  344,  345;  and  the  Par- 
liament, 346 ; and  the  French  navy, 
349 ; and  St.  Cyran,  351 ; and  the 
Church  and  State,  352  ; and  the  revolt 
of  La  Rochelle,  353  ; and  the  expedition 
against  Buckingham  in  the  island  of  Rhe, 
351 ; and  the  capitulation  of  La  Rochelle, 
1628,  353  ; and  the  Duke  of  Rohan, 
353;  and  the  capitulation  of  Montau- 


Index. 


Cog 


ban,  355  ; foreign  policy  of,  355  ; and 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  357  ; seventy-four 
treaties  concluded  by,  355 ; and  the  mar- 
riage of  the  Prince  of  Wales  with  Hen- 
rietta of  France,  356;  and  the  French 
settlements  in  Canada,  489 ; death  of, 
358;  and  Louis  XIII.  and  literature, 
359-366;  La  Bruyere’s  estimate  of,  366  ; 
his  monument,  and  Peter  the  Great,  456. 

Richelieu,  the  Duke  of,  477. 

, Marshal,  defeats  Admiral  Byng 

and  captures  Minor  ca,  495. 

Richemont,  the  Constable  de,  193. 

Ricimer,  a Suevian  leader,  27. 

Rigaud,  435 

Rignomer,  King  of  the  Frauks  of  Le 
Mans,  32. 

Ripuarian  Franks,  the,  32. 

Robais,  Van,  401. 

Robert  of  Artois  and  Philip  VI.,  141,  142. 

, Count  of  Paris,  and  the  Emperor 

Alexis, 

, the  Strong,  61. 

— , son  of  Hugh  Capet,  63. 

Robertet,  Florimond,  Finance  Minister  of 
Louis  XII. ; and  Francis  I.,  243. 

Rochambeau,  Count  de,  and  the  capture  oi 
Yorktown,  546. 

Rochefoucauld,  see  La  Rochefoucauld. 

Rodney,  Admiral,  546. 

Rohan,  Duke  Henry  of,  353 ; death  of, 
354. 

, the  Duchess  of,  and  the  siege  of  La 

Rochelle,  353. 

■ , Cardinal,  arrested  and  disgraced, 

556. 

Roland,  the  Song  of,  45,  267. 

, death  of  44. 

, the  Camisard,  413. 

Rolf  (or  Rollo),  the  Northman,  invades 

France,  54. 

Roman  Armies,  the,  and  the  Barbarians, 
last  grand  struggle  between,  28. 

, Empire,  the  decay  of,  20  ; division 

of,  21  ; final  dissolution  of,  21. 

— customs  and  manners  forced  on 

the  Gauls,  17. 

Municipal  regimen,  the,  18. 

States,  the,  settled  on  the  Popes 

by  Pepin  the  Short,  42. 

— — — Victories  over  the  Gauls,  b.c.  200 
to  170,  9 et  seq. 

Romance  of  the  Rose,  267. 

Romances  of  Renart,  267. 

Romans  defeat  the  Gauls  of  Asia  Minor 
B.c.  189 ; the,  in  Gaul,  8. 

Rome  plants  colonies  among  the  Gauls,  8 ; 
aids  Marseilles  against  the  Gauls,  9 ; 
and  the  Papacy,  and  Charles  VIII.  223  ; 
stormed  and  plundered  by  the  Im- 
perialist forces,  1527,  259. 

Roncesvalles,  death  of  Roland  at,  44. 


Ronsard,  361. 

Bos  bach,  the  battle  of,  499. 

Boscelin,  265. 

Bosebecque,  battle  of,  172. 

Rosny,  Marquis  of.  See  Sully. 

Rouault,  Marshal  Joachim,  205- 

Rouen,  captured  by  the  English,  recap- 
tured from  the  English  by  Dunois, 
1449,  123;  siege  of,  by  Henry  IV.,  328. 

Rousseau,  birth,  character,  and  works  of, 
527-529 

Rouvre,  Philip  de,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  161. 

Rovera,  Julian  della.  See  Pope  Julius  II. 

Roze,  Chevalier,  and  the  plague  in  Mar- 
seilles, 459. 

Russia  and  the  Partition  of  Poland,  1772, 
510. 

Ruyter,  Admiral,  381. 

Ryswick,  the  Peace  of,  1697,  386,  387. 


S. 

Saint  Andre,  Marshal  de,  killed  at  the 
battle  of  Dreux,  294. 

Saint  Bartholomew,  The,  and  the  Re- 
formers, incidents  of  the  Massacre  of, 
300-303. 

Saint  Bernard.  See  Bernard. 

Saint  Cyran,  M.  de,  character  and  work 
of,  351,  352 

Saint  Germain-en-Laye,  the  Peace  of,  298. 

Saint  Germain,  the  Duke  of,  called  to  the 
Ministry  by  Louis  XVL,  his  character, 
538. 

Saint  Irenaeus,  25,  26. 

Saint  John,  afterwards  Lord  Bolingbroke, 
516. 

Saint  Louis,  or  Louis  IX.,  powerful  king, 
valiant  warrior,  splendid  knight,  and 
true  Christian  88 ; his  Christian  en- 
thusiasm due  to  his  mother  ; aids  the 
Crusaders;  his  illness,  89;  leaves  for  the 
Holy  Land,  89 ; winters  with  his  crusade 
in  Cyprus,  90  ; lands  in  Egypt,  repulsed 
by  the  Saracens,  his  popularity  with 
his  army,  captured  by  the  Saracens,  90, 
91 ; arrives  with  the  remnant  of  his 
army  at  St.  Jean  d’ Acre,  22  ; hears  the 
news  of  his  mother’s  death,  leaves  St. 
Jean  d’Acre  and  enters  Paris  again 
Sept.  7,  1254,  93 ; starts  on  his  second 
crusade,  94 ; arrives  at  Tunis  arid  dies 
Aug.  27,  1270,  95 ; “ rarest  and  most 
original  on  the  roll  of  glorious  kings,” 
111 ; description  of  his  person  and 
tastes,  his  marriage  with  Marguerite, 
daughter  of  Raymond  Beranger,  Count 
of  Provence,  1 1 2 ; struggles  with  the 
groat  vassals,  113  ; chosen  arbiter  be- 
tween Henry  III.  and  the  English 
barons,  114;  and  Hume’s  History  of 
R R 


6 io 


History  of  France. 


England,  115  ; his  interest  in  the  pri- 
vate affairs  of  his  subjects,  115  ; acts  of 
legislation  and  administration  of  his 
reign,  116;  and  literature,  119;  mis- 
taken zeal  of,  and  religious  liberty,  119, 
120. 

Saint  Omer  kept  by  France,  382. 

Saint-Quentin,  captured  by  Philip  II.  of 
Spain,  281. 

Saint  Pierre,  Eustace  de,  148. 

— — — , Abbe,  514. 

*s,  Bernardin  de,  Paul  and  Vir- 
ginia, 554. 

Saint  Pol,  death  of,  212. 

Saint  Pothinus,  25. 

Saladin,  Sultan,  puts  an  end  to  the  Chris- 
tian rule  in  Jerusalem,  117. 

Sales,  St.  Francis  de,  and  the  Introduction 
to  a Devout  Life,  360. 

Salian  Franks,  the,  28,  29. 

Salic  Law,  the,  133. 

Saracens,  the,  and  Charlemagne,  their 
invasion  of  Southern  Gaul,  44. 

Sardinia,  captured  by  Admiral  Leake,  391. 

Saunders,  English  governor  of  Madras,  and 
Dupleix,  484. 

Savoy,  Duke  Charles  of,  and  Charles  VIII., 

222. 

, Louise  of.  See  Louise  of  Savoy. 

, the  Duke  of,  and  Louis  XIII.,  357. 

• Saxe,  Marshal,  character  of,  475;  at  the 
battle  of  Fontenoy,  475. 

Saxons,  the,  defeated  by  Charlemagne,  43. 

Saxony,  Augustus  II.  of,  is  secured  the 
crown  of  Poland  by  Russia  and  Austria, 
465. 

— , conquered  by  Frederick  the 

Great,  499. 

Scaliger,  J.  G.,  268. 

Scarron,  Madame.  See  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon 

Schomberg,  Count  Gaspard  de,  320. 

, Marshal,  and  the  siege  of  Lon- 
donderry, 385. 

School  of  the  Palace,  formed  by  Charle- 
magne, 50. 

Scottish  Cameronians,  the,  compared  to 
the  Camisards,  413. 

Scudery  and  the  Cid,  365. 

Seignelay,  M de,  character  of,  406. 

Semblanc^ay,  Baron  de,  250. 

Seneffe,  the  battle  of,  1674,  380. 

Senegal  settlements,  the,  ceded  to  France, 
519. 

Senlac,  the  English  position  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  battle  of  Hastings, 
70. 

Sepoys,  the  483. 

Septimania,  34. 

Serfs,  enfranchisement  of  the,  by  Louis 
the  Quarreller,  133. 

Servandoni,  533 


Seven  Tears’  War,  outbreak  of  the,  497 ; 
end  of  the,  505. 

Sevigne,  Madame  de,  letters  and  opinions 
of,  424,  425. 

Sequanians,  the,  11,  12. 

Sforza,  Ludovic,  duke  of  Milan,  222. 

t , Maximilian,  243. 

Sicambrians,  the,  a tribe  of  the  Franks, 
27. 

Sicilian  Vespers,  the  massacre  known  by 
the  name  of  the,  121. 

Sieyes,  Abbe,  and  the  Third  Estate,  560, 
565. 

Sigebert,  king  of  the  Ripuarian  Franks, 
32. 

I.  of  Metz,  33. 

Simon,  Count  of  Montfort  l’Amaury,  or 
Simon  de  Montfort,  and  the  Albi- 
gensian  War,  106. 

Sixteen,  the  Committee  of,  313,  321. 

Slavons,  the,  43. 

Sluggard  Kings,  the,  36. 

Sluys.  See  Ecluse. 

Soliman  II.,  Sultan,  262. 

Song  of  Roland,  the,  45,  267. 

Sorbon,  Robert  of,  Founder  of  the  Sor- 
bonne,  119. 

Sorbonne,  the,  and  the  Reformation,  271 ; 
and  Henry  III.,  314  ; and  Buffon,  529. 

Sorel,  Agnes,  “ Queen  of  Beauty,”  and 
Charles  VII.,  192. 

Soubise,  the  Duke  of,  captures  the  French 
fleet,  353. 

, Prince  of,  defeated  by  Frederick 

the  Great  at  Rosbach,  419. 

Soufflot,  533. 

Spain  and  France,  treaty  between,  of 
1761,  503. 

Spinola,  celebrated  Spanish  General,  357. 

Spur  , the  affair  of,  1513,  236. 

Stahrenberg,  Count  von.  393. 

Stain ville, -Count.  See  Choiseul. 

Stafarde,  battle  of,  1690,  385. 

Stanhope,  Lord,  and  the  fall  of  Alberoni, 
457. 

Stanislaus,  King,  4^5  ; and  the  national 
party  in  Poland  defeated,  468. 

States- General  (see  also  Estates-GeneraV), 
the  first  in  French  history,  129 ; con- 
voked by  John  II.,  150;  assembled, 
1358,  159 ; convoked  at  Tours,  Jan. 
5,  1484,  218 ; convoked  at  Tours  by 
Louis  XII.,  1506,  230 ; meeting  of  the, 
at  Paris,  1527,  258;  of  1560,  290  ; con- 
voked in  1576,  309  ; meeting  of  the,  at 
Blois,  1588,  311 ; of  the  League,  319, 
322;  and  Louis  XIII.,  338;  of  1789, 
559. 

Stephanus,  Robert  Estienne,  268. 

Stephen  II.,  Pope,  visits  France  to  obtain 
the  aid  of  Pepin  the  Short  against  the 
Lombards,  41. 


Index. 


6 II 


Strasburg  captured  by  Louis  XIV.,  383, 
387. 

Stuart,  Mary,  and  Francis  II.,  marriage 
of,  280. 

— , Charles  Edward,  lands  in  the 

Highlands  of  Scotland,  “ 1745,”  short 
account  of  his  career,  476,  477. 

Suevians,  10. 

Suffren,  Peter  Andrew  de,  and  French 
successes  in  the  East  Indies,  547,  549. 

Suger,  Abbot  of  St.  Denis,  the  Solomon 
of  his  age,  83,  84. 

Sully,  character  of,  331 ; and  Mary  de’ 
Medici,  336. 

Surat,  482. 

Swiss  Cantons,  army  of  the,  defeats 
Charles  the  Rash  at  Granson,  209. 

Swiss,  the,  defeat  Charles  the  Rash  at 
Morat,  209 ; invade  France  and  lay 
siege  to  Dijon,  1513,  235 ; defeated  at 
Melegnano  by  the  French  under  Fran- 
cis L,  244. 

Syagrius,  Roman  general,  27. 

T. 

Tabula  Peutingeri,  or  Chart  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  27. 

Taillebourg,  battle  of,  113. 

Talbot,  Lord,  retakes  Bordeaux,  1452, 
194 ; death  of,  at  the  siege  of  Castillon, 
195. 

Tallard,  Count  de,  388  ; defeated  at  Blen- 
heim, 389. 

Talleyrand,  Henry  de,  341. 

Tavannes,  Marshal  de,  and  the  Massacre 
of  St.  Bartholomew,  303. 

Taxation  in  France,  temp.  Louis  XIV., 
400 ; reforms  of  the  Orleans  Regency, 
450. 

Tectosagians,  the,  5. 

Teligny,  303. 

Tellier,  Le,  and  Louis  XIV.,  410. 

Templars,  persecutions  of  the,  by  Philip 
IV.  and  the  Pope,  130,  131. 

Tende,  Count  de,  303. 

Terouanne,  the  Franks  of,  32. 

Terrail,  Peter  du,  the  Chevalier  Bayard. 
See  Bayard. 

Teiray,  Abbe,  extravagant  expedients  of, 
to  fill  the  Royal  treasury,  508;  dis- 
missed by  Louis  XVI.,  533. 

Theobald  IV.,  Count  of  Champagne  and 
Blanche  of  Castille,  113. 

Theodebert,  King  of  Austrasia.  34. 

Theodoric,  King  of  the  Visigoths,  killed,  28. 

or  Thierry  1.  of  Metz,  33. 

Theodulph,  scholar,  50. 

Theresa,  Maria  (see  also  Maria),  469,  470, 
475,  495. 

Thierry  HI.,  37. 

IV.,  40. 


Third  Estate,  the,  and  the  Communes,  dif- 
ferences between,  131 ; and  French 
civilization,  136,  137 ; and  Louis  XVI., 
560 

Thirty  Years’  War,  end  of  the,  368. 

Thou,  Nicholas  de,  arrested,  condemned 
to  death,  and  executed,  344,  345. 

Tiberias,  terrible  battle  at,  between  Sala- 
din  and  the  Crusaders,  84 

Tiberius,  the  policy  of,  in  Gaul,  18. 

Tippoo  Sahib,  547. 

Tobago,  ceded  to  France,  549. 

Tolbiac,  battle  of,  between  Clovis  and  the 
Allemanians,  29. 

Tostig,  rebellion  of,  70. 

Tours,  truce  concluded  at,  between  the 
English  and  French,  1441,  193. 

Tourville,  defeats  the  English  and  Dutch 
fleets  off  Beachy  Head,  385. 

Trajan,  19. 

Transalpine  Gaul,  the  first  Roman  settle- 
ment in,  B.c.  123,  8. 

Transtamare,  Prince  Henry  of,  and  Gues- 
clin,  165. 

Tremoille,  Louis  de  la,  and  Anne  de  Beau- 
jeu,  220 ; in  Italy  with  Charles  VIII., 
224;  sent  to  command  the  troops  of 
Louis  XI T.  in  Italy,  228  ; at  the  battle 
of  Agnadello.  231  ; and  the  revolt  of 
Charles  II  of  Bourbon,  251. 

, George  de  la,  favourite  of 

Charles  VII.,  187. 

Trianon,  the  Manor-House  of,  residence  of 
Marie  Antoinette,  551. 

Triple  Alliance,  the,  signed  at  the  Hague, 
377. 

Trivulzio,  John  James,  at  the  battle  of 
Fornovo,  224;  and  Louis  XII.,  227;  at 
the  battle  of  Agnadello,  231. 

Troyes,  treaty  of,  between  the  English  and 
the  Burgundians,  182. 

Truce  of  God,  the,  64. 

Tuileries,  the,  and  Louis  XIV.,  403. 

Turckheim,  fight  of,  380. 

Turenne,  Viscount  de,  369,  380,  381. 

, M de,  and  Louvois,  404. 

Turgot,  M.,  the  Ministry  of,  and  Louis 
XVI.,  532  ; acts  of  his  Ministry,  535, 
536 ; dismissed  by  Louis  XVI.,  539  ; so- 
licitations of  the  American  colonies  for 
aid  against  England,  541. 

Turin,  the  siege  of,  1706,  390. 

Turnebius,  268. 

Turpin,  Archbishop,  45. 

Tuscany,  the  Grand  Duke  of,  proclaimed 
Emperor  as  Francis  I.,  470. 

IT. 

Ultramontanes,  the,  and  Cardinal  Riche- 
lieu, 352. 

Unigenitus,  the  bull,  416. 


6 12 


History  of  France . 


Union , £7ie,  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
308. 

United  Provinces,  the,  and  Richelieu,  355. 

United  States  of  America,  and  the  war  of 
Independence,  540 — 543. 

University  of  Paris  and  Philip  Augustus, 
110;  and  Charlemagne,  49;  and  the 
Concordat,  247. 

Unterwalden,  the  cow  of,  209. 

Urban  II.,  Pope,  and  Peter  the  Hermit 
74,  75. 

■ IV.,  Pope,  receives  the  county  of 

Venaissin  of  Phillip  III.  of  France,  122. 

Uri , the  bull  of,  209 

Ursins,  the  Princess  des,  441. 

Ursulines,  351. 

Utrecht,  the  Treaty  of.  between  England, 
the  Allies,  and  France,  1712,  396,  397. 

V. 

Valenciennes,  capture  of,  381. 

Valentine,  Visconti,  wife  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  176. 

Valois,  Joan  of,  212. 

, Prince  Henry  of,  son  of  Francis  I., 

marries  Catherine  de’  Medici,  1533,  260. 

, Marguerite  de,  271. 

Valteline.  the  war  in  the,  and  Richelieu, 
356,  357. 

Van  Artevelde,  142. 

Vassy,  the  massacre  of,  292, 

Vatable  (Watebled),  268. 

Vauban,  the  celebrated  engineer,  his  work 
and  Louis  XIV.,  404,  405. 

Vaudians,  persecution  and  massacre  of 
the,  273. 

Vaux,  Marshal,  557. 

Vendome,  the  Duke  of,  388,  390;  defeated 
by  Marlborough  at  Oudenarde,  391 ; 
sent  to  the  aid  of  Philip  V.  of  Spain,  393. 

Venetians,  the,  and  Louis  XII.,  228 ; de- 
feat of,  by  Louis  XII.  at  Agnadello,  231. 

Venice,  the  Republic  of,  and  Charles 
VIII.,  222  ; and  the  Venetians  in  1509, 
251. 

Ventadour,  Madame  de,  448. 

Vercingetorix  heads  the  Gauls  in  their 
rising  against  the  Romans,  13,  14. 

Verdun,  the  Treaty  of,  57. 

Vergennes,  M.  de,  540,  541,  542. 

Vergne,  Madelaine  de  la,  Marchioness  of 
La  Fayette.  See  La  Fayette. 

Versailles,  the  Palace  of,  built  by  Louis 
XIV.,  403 

Vervins,  Peace  of,  between  France  and 
Spain,  329. 

Vesontio  (Besan<jon),  the  town  of,  3. 

Vezelay,  81. 

Vic,  Henry  de,  constructs  for  Charles  V. 
the  first  public  clock  ever  seen  in 
France,  171. 


Villehardouin,  Geoffrey  de,  one  of  the 
earliest  and  best  of  French  writers,  267. 

Villeneuve  la  Hardie,  Edward  III.  of  Eng- 
land’s temporary  town  round  Calais, 
148. 

Vien,  painter,  532. 

Vienna,  the  Peace  of,  1735,  and  its  condi- 
ditions,  467. 

Vienne,  John  de,  governor  of  Calais  dur- 
ing its  siege  by  Edward  III.,  148. 

Villars,  Andrew  de  Brancas,  Lord  of,  325, 
326. 

, Marshal,  388,  390  ; and  the  battle 

of  Malplaquet,  393;  and  the  battle  of 
Denain,  395, 396  ; and  the  revolt  of  the 
Camisards,  413. 

Villeroi,  Nicholas  de  Neufville,  Lord  of, 
character  of,  332. 

, Marshal,  388,  389  ; defeated  by 

Marlborough,  389. 

Villon,  Francis,  269. 

Visconti,  John  Galeas,  Duke  of  Milan,  161. 

Visigoths,  the,  18. 

Viterbo,  the  Treaty  of,  between  Francis  I. 
and  Pope  Leo  X , 245. 

Vitry,  80. 

, Baron  de,  337. 

Vivonne,  the  Duke  of,  381. 

Voltaire,  515  ; and  the  execution  of  Lally, 
487 ; his  campaign  against  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  520 ; and  Frederick  the 
Great,  518  ; imprisoned  in  the  Bastille, 
515  ; in  England,  516 ; and  Madame  du 
Chatelet,  517  ; in  Switzerland,  519  ; acts 
of  humanity  of,  520  ; returns  to  Paris, 
and  is  enthusiastically  welcomed,  521 ; 
and  the  Encyclopaedists,  522. 

Vouet,  Simon,  434. 

Vouille,  battle  of,  between  Clovis  and 
Alaric,  31. 

Voysin,  Chancellor,  406,  407. 

W. 

Waldensians.  See  Vaudians. 

Wales,  the  Prince  of,  son  of  Edward  III., 
also  called  Edward  the  Black  Prince, 
at  Crecy,  146  ; and  John  Chandos,  151  ; 
defeats  and  captures  John  II.  of  France 
at  Poictiers,  152  ; with  John  Chandos, 
enters  Spain  with  an  army  of  27,000 
men,  165  ; creates  discontent  in  Aqui- 
taine by  his  imposts,  167  ; declares 
war  with  Charles  V.,  167. 

Walpole,  Robert,  and  Fleury,  465. 

Warsaw,  the  Treaty  of,  providing  for  the 
partition  of  Poland,  511. 

Washington,  his  mistrust  of  French  aid 
to  America,  542 ; and  La  Fayette,  543 ; 
forces  Lord  Cornwallis  to  capitulate  at 
Yorktown,  545. 

Watebled,  Francis.  See  Vatable. 


Index.  613 


Westphalia,  the  Peace  of,  and  its  conse- 
quences, 368 ; the  Peace  of,  recognized 
by  Spain,  374. 

William  of  Normandy,  the  Conqueror,  see 
also  Normandy ; 66-73. 

William  the  Silent,  Prince  of  Orange,  and 
the  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambiesis,  281. 

— III.  of  England,  lands  in  Ireland 
and  gains  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  over 
James  II.  and  the  French,  385  ; and  the 
naval  defeat  off  Beachy  Head,  385  ; and 
the  Treaty  of  By s wick,  387  ; death  of, 
388. 

Witt,  John  and  Cornelius  van,  assassinated, 
379. 

Wittikind,  Saxon  Chieftain,  43. 

Wolfe,  General,  and  the  siege  of  Quebec, 
493. 


Woollen  Trade,  the,  of  Flanders,  with 
England,  123. 

World,  end  of  the,  expected  by  the  Chris- 
tians, a.d.  1000,  64. 

Worms,  general  assembly  convoked  at,  by 
Louis  the  Debonnair,  A..D.  839,  5G. 

X. 

Xaintrailles,  187. 

Y. 

Yorktown,  capitulation  of  Lord  Cornwal- 
lis at,  1781,  546. 

Ypres,  taken  by  Louis  XIV.,  382. 

Z. 

Zachary,  Pope,  41* 

Zwingle,  271. 


THE  END. 


University  Press  : John  Wilson  & Son,  Cambridge. 


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